HealthPhone

2015

The Mother and Child Health and Education Trust, through its HealthPhone initiative, commits to improving maternal and child health by supporting the availability and free access to essential health and nutrition information for direct use by adolescent girls and women and their families in India over the next three years and subsequently in 15 low-income countries. The HealthPhone initiative works on the premise that when we educate a mother, we educate a village. By providing a mother with direct access to knowledge we indirectly educate, motivate, empower and inspire the whole community around better health and nutrition practices; healthcare information they need to protect their own health and the health of those for whom they are responsible.

IAP HealthPhone, launched in June 2015, is an initiative of HealthPhone conducted under the aegis of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP), in partnership with the Government of India and UNICEF. It is a public-private partnership, supported by Vodafone and others. It is the world’s largest video and mobile education program for mothers. By 2018, with a total investment of about USD $20 million from our partners, the programme aims to educate 23 million adolescent girls and women directly and through frontline health worker networks; 60 million children in India will benefit in the next decade.

Commitment Progress

Programme Expansion: In 2016, the distribution of videos was further expanded to include file downloads from the project website for PCs, tablets, smartphones and basic phones. Campaign videos, in 18 languages, were also made available on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. ‘Breastfeeding & Nutrition Daily’ is a curated web paper and email newsletter which was launched in April 2016 and includes the latest research, evidence, developments, resources, practical advice, guidelines from medical authorities on diagnosis, treatments, symptoms, causes and risk factors, tests, training and feedback from the field and much more for mothers and health professionals. It has been gaining a steady stream on new subscribers.

Mobile Apps: Three free nutrition mobile apps in 18 languages were launched in March 2017. These apps provide practical guidance for good nutrition and health. They are gaining momentum and further promotion and distribution efforts are currently under way. For example ‘Poshan | Nutrition’ apps address issues of status of women, the care of pregnant women and children under two, breastfeeding and the importance of a balanced diet, health and simple changes in nutritional care practices that can notably enhance nutrition levels. ‘Food & Nutrition’ apps address adequate complementary feeding; anemia: blood and iron deficiency; importance of a balanced diet; correct norms of infant & young child feeding among other topics. Lastly, ‘Nutrition Handbook for the Family’  apps address personal and household hygiene.

POSHAN cards launched to support the Government of India’s mission to combat malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies amongst mothers and children.