Khushi Baby (KB): A Wearable Community Engagement Platform for Maternal and Child Health

Khushi Baby (KB) is a wearable mHealth platform tracking maternal & child health to the last mile. Our mission is to reduce infant and maternal mortality due to vaccine-preventable diseases in India. Our system is comprised of a culturally tailored NFC necklace, which digitally stores immunization & health records for pregnant mothers and children; the necklace interfaces with a mobile app to update records with a simple tap. The data is synced to a dashboard for health officials to manage care delivery resources. The necklace serves as a social symbol of health that can be used to recruit more mothers to immunization camps and antenatal check-ups. Our dashboard sends dialect-specific voice reminders to the family’s cell phone in the local ASHA nurse’s voice to encourage MCH awareness. We conducted initial fieldwork in 91 villages in Udaipur, Rajasthan, supported by our NGO partner Seva Mandir; with the help of 3ie/BMGF, we are now validating our system within the Udaipur government in 300+ villages. With Grand Challenges Canada, we will be able to fully execute this expansion. We aim to scale incrementally from Udaipur, to Rajasthan, and throughout India. We will sell our integrated hardware/software solution as a service primarily to governments, serving Bottom of Pyramid populations. As our app models NHM standards for MCH care & works without connectivity, it should be translatable for any ASHA & can slot into tablets already in the government’s plans for procurement.