Integrated use of Digital Connectivity and Data to improve Women & Child Health
Integrated use of Digital Connectivity and Data to improve Women & Child Health
Year: October 2019
Collaborators: Karma Healthcare, Grand Challenges Canada
Team: Sarang Deo, Ashish Sachdeva, Samriddhi Gupte
Background
Improving maternal and child health and their survival is central to achieving national health goals under National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), 2005. Since the launch of NRHM in 2005, there has been substantial improvement in healthcare infrastructure as well as the availability of resources for Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) services. However, to bring a greater change through the RCH program it is imperative we understand that reproductive, maternal, or child health are closely linked to the health status of the population at different stages of life and one issue cannot be addressed in isolation. It is important to note that the health of an adolescent girl impacts pregnancy which subsequently impacts the health of new-born and, thereby, under 5 children. While India is striving to meet many of its nutritional and health goals, the numbers take a new form when seen in the urban-rural light. A huge disparity exists between urban and rural areas in terms of health infrastructure. In India, 75% of the healthcare infrastructure is concentrated in urban areas where only 27% of the total Indian population is living. The remaining 73% of the country’s population lacks access to proper primary healthcare facilities.
In such cases, information and communication technologies (ICTs) have great potential to address some of these challenges faced especially in rural set-up to provide cost-effective, high-quality health care services. Hence, telemedicine can be leveraged to improve healthcare access by connecting patients in far-flung regions to doctors in urban centres and simultaneously reducing costs incurred by patients in transportation and travel. Telemedicine uses ICTs to overcome geographical barriers and increases access to healthcare services.
About the Study
The study makes an impact evaluation of telemedicine innovation by Karma Healthcare (KH). Karma Healthcare is an impact-driven start-up, working towards its mission to provide equitable access to quality primary healthcare in the state of Rajasthan and Haryana. It primarily focuses on under 5 children, adolescent and maternal health.
Methodology
A case-control study design was implemented for the study, conducted in the states of Rajasthan and Haryana. It involved the selection of: (1) intervention villages with a e-clinic provider; (2) the study participants in the control arm were selected (after matching with the intervention arm, residence, disease condition i.e. type/stages of anaemia, degree of malnourishment) from the same districts where the e-doctor clinic model is operated, but those who did not utilize the e-doctor clinic services or outreach activities such as screening and awareness. This helped us to measure the additional effect of clinical services provided by KH over their outreach services.
Outcome
The preliminary results show that there is a positive impact of Karma Healthcare e-clinic interventions on the health outcomes of the study population. Positive impact is also noted on the knowledge and awareness among people availing karma e-clinic facilities as compared to those who have not availed these services.