BS RAWAT
NEW DELHI: 80% of maternal and infant deaths in India can be prevented by improving coverage and quality of evidence based health services to be provided by health workers, says a new study by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and World Health Organization Implementation Research Project in New Delhi.

The randomized study stressed that a new mobile phone application called ImTeCHO as job-aid for frontline health workers can help improve coverage of health services and health outcomes.

Conducted by voluntary organization SEWA Rural-Gujarat, the study, however, found that good training, supportive supervision and ongoing resolution of technology problems are critical operational requirements for the success of such technology intensive interventions.

“This is the first randomized study globally which proves the effectiveness of a mobile phone application for frontline health workers in government-run system throughout the continuum of care in difficult to reach tribal areas,” noted Dr. Pankaj Shah, principal investigator of the study.

Dr. Gaurav Dahiya, MD- National Health Mission, Gujarat, noted, “The health department has scaled up the project in the entire state. We aim to taper off use of paper registers by using digital interventions. It is a right step towards gender equality and Digital India”.

He claimed that 5.8 crore citizens, 4.9 lakh pregnant women and 6.4 lakh infants under the age of 1 year, were enrolled by ANMs in the TeCHO+ app in Gujarat until February 2019.