Aiming to enhance access and make services cost-effective, the Health Ministry on Friday kicked off four “game changer” mobile health services, including usage of mobile technologies for deterring people to not consume killer tobacco and tracking TB patients.
launched as part of Government’s Digital India programme, the mobile services — ‘Kilkari, Mobile Academy, mCessation and TB Missed Call initiative — are aimed at preventing and managing non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which are responsible for nearly 60 per cent of overall mortality in India.
Asserting that these four mobile health services will be a “game changer” in health communication, Union Health Minister JP Nadda, after launching the services, said they will enhance access, make services cost-effective and the systems more robust. “We are on our way to realise the vision of our
Prime Minister by going digital,” he added.
According to the Ministry, Mobile tobacco cessation (mCessation) programme based on the joint WHOITU initiative — Be Healthy Be Mobile (BHBM) built from best practices in several countries such as the US, Norway, Turkey, the UK — is aimed at reaching out to those willing to quit tobacco use and support them towards successful quitting through text messages sent via mobile phones.
While Kilkari will send audio messages about pregnancy, child birth and child care directly to families’ mobile phones from the second trimester of pregnancy until the child is one year old, the mobile academy is a free audio training course designed to expand and refresh the knowledge base of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) and improve their communication skills.