Health

 SAHELI believes that only a healthy community can contribute to a healthy environment. Modern medical treatment is often not easily available to underprivileged communities and SAHELI is working to fill in this gap.At present, SAHELI works operates a total of three districts & covers around 50 plus villages/town (every village/town is visited once a week. SAHELI has also been instrumental in creating awareness concerning health and hygiene for men, women and children.

SAHELI is thankful to the support extended by ARMAN organisation for their support towards the M-Mitra health service Programme.

 m-Mitra

m-Mitra is a free mobile voice call service that sends timed and targeted preventive care information weekly/bi-weekly directly to the phones of the enrolled women through pregnancy and infancy in their chosen language and timeslot.

Rationale

Lack of access to preventive care information is a significant problem underlying the woeful maternal morbidity and mortality numbers. The high mobile penetration in India positions voice calls as an excellent mechanism for reaching women and families with this critical life-saving healthcare information in a timed and targeted manner using the principles of behaviour change communication.

Programme Design

Free automated voice calls on critical information on maternal and infancy care, starting from pregnancy till the child is a year-old. Women are enrolled in the m-Mitra program through two verticals:

• Hospital Vertical – Health workers are posted in the antenatal / postnatal clinics of municipal/government/private hospitals and register women during their first check-up visit.

• Community Vertical – Enrolment of beneficiaries is done from slum communities.

Sakhis (community health workers) have been trained who enrol women directly in the early stages of pregnancy for a small incentive.