E-Janani App

COVID-19 has multiplied the challenges of pregnant and lactating women and their new-born children especially in rural areas. In the absence of frequent face-to-face consultations with medical practitioners, they are finding it difficult to take care of themselves and their young ones. To ensure dignified healthcare for these women and children, we propose to build and launch a mobile-based e-Janani application. This digital resource would be accessible to the women with and without internet,supported in low-cost android phones as a knowledge base, regularly informing them about their health, through regular self-care videos from the doctors, prescribed diets and self-assessment records. With unhindered contacts with nearest public hospitals/doctors/health-workers, they will be immediately alerted for providing quick and appropriate response, in case of any complications. We will have this solution for Panki (rural Jharkhand). If scaled globally, this would ensure healthy rural women contributing the development of the society and nations.

We are proposing a solution under ‘Maternal and New-Born Health’ to enable mothers and new-born children for surviving and thriving in pandemics and other emergencies. With our proven experience we will create an e-Janani (Janani means mother) mobile-based application to empower women as health of their new-born and of themselves is in their own hands. Routine check-ups have been restricted by the pandemic and lockdowns and women in rural and remote areas of India are finding it difficult to cater to their health. We are proposing to work for the health security of the mothers and new-borns in the far-flung Panki in Palamu district of one of the poorest and least-developed state Jharkhand, which was a Naxal-hit belt. COVID19 has added to the woes of development. The data of new-born children, pregnant and lactating mothers will be secured from each of the Anganwadi center working to provide health and food security for them. Since most rural women in Panki are also poor and burdened with unpaid care work, caring for their own health comes last. Our solution would empower these women to ensure good health and energize their capacities to contribute to the economic development of their families and societies. 

Given the above challenge where maternal and new-born health is being jeopardised due to the ongoing COVID19 and has become worse for rural poor, our solution will provide basic digital literacy training along with access to android phones and hospitals/health workers/doctors to the rural women of Panki. Through this, they will be able to continuously monitor the health status of their children and themselves. The bilingual (Hindi and English) e-Janani app will provide videos for self-health assessment, post-partum exercises and proper diets and recipes. It will also link the Anganwadi centres and record the health supplements and ration provided to each woman. This would help in reducing the leakages in the Public Distribution System. The app will have the function of sending audio messages, wherein the mothers can record and send their questions and they would receive appropriate solutions/answers by the trained health practitioners who would be trained for this purpose. Thiswill greatly reduce the necessity of physical interactions. This would prove to be a revolutionary step and complement the efforts of the governments for ensuring healthy lives and maternal and new-born well-being while simultaneously combating the pandemic. This can be scaled to other constituencies of rural India as well.

This solution will help the pregnant and lactating mothers who are not able to take proper care of themselves and their new-born children during the times of physical distancing and lockdown amid the pandemic. Our e-Janani app would not only empower them digitally and give them access to a platform where their healthcare including regular digital assessments will be at one place, but would also provide them with greater health security. These health data from each woman using the app would be vetted by a medical practitioner. Timely alerts about the health check-ups, information on the nutrition needs of the child and the mother, update on the health status of the child, videos on care needs of the child will reduce the mobility of the mother and child from one place to another in earlier stages giving them more comfort. Any major discrepancy from the accepted levels of vital statistics including nutrition levels would be alerted to the nearest 24*7 hospital for immediate and appropriate assistance. The challenge of digital illiteracy would be met by training them in partnership with the Anganwadi Centres and with the help of local elected representatives and officials. This training would be provided by us. 

Our proposed solution aligns perfectly with the Challenge category of ‘Maternal and New-Born Health.’ This is very timely because the government of India has launched the Digital India initiative. Such efforts should not be restricted to the educated and well-off sections of population, but also reach to the lesser privileged. Women in general have been disproportionally impacted by COVID-19, and rural poor pregnant and lactating mothers have faced the worst brunt. This solution would come as a relief to them and complement their ante-natal and post-partum carethrough the use of digital technology and ensure dignity and health empowerment.