Jyotsna S Patel from the Union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu has been a rural health Asha worker for 13 years. In a profession involving long hours of door-to-door primary health intervention in far-flung areas, with payment only in incentives, anything that reduces the work burden is welcome. 

Like the ‘Shishu Maapan’ tool on her mobile phone. “I can now record a child’s weight and other parameters at his or her home every week after birth by simply taking a video of the child,” says Patel.

Shishu Maapan is an artificial intelligence (AI) tool, developed by the nonprofit Wadhwani Institute for Artificial Intelligence, to facilitate anthropometry during the first 42 days of a child’s life. Research on the tool started in 2019 under the National Health Mission and, after the pilot, it was deployed in Patel’s Union territory some months ago.

Growth monitor

Patel and more than 480 of her colleagues in the region, who have completed around 9,800 home visits, no longer have to lug around a heavy salter scale to weigh newborns week after week. With a trained swish of the hand, an Asha worker can now take a video of the child and relay measurements of height, weight, chest circumference, head circumference and mid-upper arm circumference to a health facility and doctor. It will determine whether the child is well or in need of medical intervention.

This information is critical at the neonatal stage, as the Unicef estimates that 50 per cent of babies with low weight are never identified, leading to serious developmental disorders and disability. Early intervention helps improve the child’s health and quality of life. The tool makes growth monitoring easier. 

Image-based analysis

Dr Sneha Nikam, a senior programme manager leading the maternal and child health programme at Wadhwani AI, explains the tool’s role in curbing infant mortality. After a child is born and until he/she is immunised at six weeks at a health centre, the child’s weight and other growth parameters need regular monitoring. With a salter scale, the Asha worker can only proximate the child’s weight. Often, she may be unable to visit or carry the heavy scale with her. 

The Shishu Maapan tool on her smartphone is easier to access, more accurate and offers an image-based analysis. It provides doctors the readings they need to monitor the child’s growth remotely.

However, developing the tool was no child’s play. It took years for a large team of experts, across disciplines, to develop an accurate solution. “Even now we have to customise it for use in each State, according to its geographical location,” says Nikam. The team is pilot testing the tool in three States, and hopes to roll it out this year to Asha workers there.