MSakhi Android App

mSakhi Is A Mobile Friend (in Hindi)

In India, IntraHealth developed and tested a smartphone-based application, mSakhi, to support community health workers to deliver routine MNCH services, as well as recognize when pregnant women and newborns need referral. The audio/video content is based on national guidelines and best practices, and uses the vernacular to more effectively deliver information. Based on positive pilot results, the government is scaling up mSakhi geographically as well as to other health worker cadres and is expanding content to include family planning and additional child health and nutrition topics.

In collaboration with the Government of Uttar Pradesh, India, the Manthan Project (funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) developed mSakhi, an interactive vernacular audio/video-guided mobile application that provides support to Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) in conducting routine activities across the continuum of maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) care.

• Provides easily accessible on-the-go content via standard mobile phone

• Refreshes knowledge on key health messages in an engaging and interactive manner

• Facilitates better counseling

• Includes audio messages, text messages, illustrations, and animations.

ASHAs register beneficiaries (pregnant women and/or newborns) by entering basic information such as name, village, etc. into mSakhi during home visits. Upon registration, mSakhi generates a home visit schedule for each beneficiary and provides a set of audio-video guided instructions for counselling, assessment, and referral specific to each visit. The ASHAs' supervisors (auxiliary nurse midwives or ANMs) receive the data entered by ASHAs into mSakhi, and the data are stored in the mSakhi central database, allowing for real-time tracking of both ASHAs and beneficiaries. The database is designed for seamless integration with existing government information and communication technology (ICT) systems such as the Mother-Child Tracking System (MCTS) and the Health Management Information System (HMIS).This integration has the potential to save time and reduce delays.

Results:

--Improved ASHAs’ knowledge and counseling skills in important MNCH areas.

--ASHAs using mSakhi much more likely to identify sick newborns. The built-in decision-support and algorithms in mSakhi appear to help ASHAs reach correct diagnoses and guide families to seek help when needed.

The mSakhi app is available for Android smartphones on the Google Play Store[1]. It is available in English and Hindi.