The active deployment of the Khushi Baby system across 300+ villages in Udaipur

About the project

Last updated in September 2023

The KB system integrates mobile health, wearable Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, and cloud computing to produce a complete platform to bridge the world’s maternal and child health gap. Our system addresses barriers in: infant immunization data collection, immunization administration at point of care, district response to poor immunization outcomes [&] community health awareness.
The system consists of: 1) An NFC based pendant for patients that stores their health records 2) A mobile app for health workers, enabling them to read and update records with a simple tap, even without connectivity 3) A cloud-based dashboard for health administrators, allowing them to manage stock [&] logistics with the support of real-time, granular patient data.
Our second randomized control trial is now underway to actively deploy the system across 300+ villages. We intend for the KB system’s comprehensive approach to improve health outcomes as well as the health delivery process.

Each year, 500,000 children in India, under the age of five, die from vaccine preventable diseases. Currently, mothers may lose their immunization card and many do not understand or are unaware of the importance of vaccinating their children. With the customary handwritten record system, front line health workers only combine and analyze data at the end of the month (or rely on a data entry worker to do so). As a result, steps cannot be taken to address camp cancellations, low immunization rates and insufficient supplies when needed most. No one, especially mothers and their babies, should be denied informed care based on an incomplete understanding of their key medical history. A pressing need exists to identify and reach these remaining pockets of underimmunized children. We firmly believe that process innovations that empathize with last mile communities can bring already-existing care to those who need it most. Khushi Baby is an ecosystem attempting to address the challenges of effective vaccination delivery and maternal child health at the last mile, where the patient population is mostly illiterate and below poverty line.

Our approach substantially builds new strength in the mHealth paradigm. Our system’s unique value add to the available solutions is three-pronged: First, we decentralize the data and increase accountability by storing it in a wearable, with the mother. This way if the mother moves from village to village or if the health worker has a new tablet, by simply scanning the mother’s necklace with our app, the health record is still accessible and updatable from the point of care in the field. No connectivity or local backup is required. Second, the necklace acts as a social symbol. Traditionally the black thread used in our necklace is used to protect the newborn from “nazar” or evil eye. Our widely accepted and tested necklace has shown potential to be norm defining for timely adherence to the MCH care schedule, and particularly for child immunizations. Third, we connect back to the community via ‘dialect-specific voice calls’ in the local ASHA’s voice to improve care seeking behavior during antenatal care.

As of 2023, Khushibaby has scaled-up massively. It has not only integrated a climate health approach but also a GIS-based dashboard and big-data technics such as AI to improve prediction of malnourished children and prenatal care dropout amongst others in about 7 million geo-location points in over 35 thousand villages of Rajasthan only, the largest Indian state. The tool is also being used to understand intersectional associations between, for example, climate data, health facilities and village level poverty indexes. Discussions with the national government are also going on for integrating the platform into the national Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and to make the platform a global digital public health good.