Our innovations in Maternal Neonatal and Child Health span the lifecycle of the mother and child, starting from the well-being of the woman prior to conception, before and after the birth of the baby, both in the hospital and within the community. A special feature of MNCH innovations is how they encompass the ecosystem around the mother and child, including nurses, frontline workers, the family – including the father and grandparents – as well as local governance bodies, to address both physical and social determinants of their health.
The on-site nurse mentoring model – (2009-2015)
The on-site nurse mentoring model – (2009-2015)
As part of our efforts to improve MNCH outcomes among the rural poor, we developed a nurse mentor programme to improve the quality of facility-based care in primary health centres (PHCs). These nurse mentors would work with PHC staff to improve the quality of delivery and care post birth. They would also strengthen facility-level systems including referral systems, drugs and supplies, and infection prevention systems. This resulted in an increasing in motivation among health facility staff and better MNCH care.
The Kangaroo Mother Care model for improving birth outcomes among low-birth weight babies (2016-2018)
The Kangaroo Mother Care model for improving birth outcomes among low-birth weight babies (2016-2018)
Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) is a no-cost, low-resource technique for low birth weight babies, in which a mother must simply keep her baby warm in skin-to-skin contact on her chest. We developed a model in Koppal to initiate KMC soon after birth for low birth weight babies at health facilities. Importantly, the model created a linkage between facilities and community health workers, ensuring the KMC was carried on at home by mothers, and even family members, after discharge. The KMC model was adapted the Government of Karnataka in 2018 for scale-up across the state, and our experiences in implementing KMC won us a grant to implement the intervention in hospitals in Mumbai and Kolkata.
The three- sisters model (2011-2012)
The three- sisters model (2011-2012)
ASHAs, Anganwadi Workers and ANMs are frontline workers responsible for community health. Although their responsibilities vary, there is considerable overlap. They serve a common population, and there is immense potential for them to work with each other in a way that reduces their workload, benefits their community and addresses common challenges such as gender discrimination. We pioneered the ‘three sisters’ model, which was designed to bring ASHAs, Anganwadi Workers and ANMs together to a common platform called Arogya Mantapa, understand each other’s perspectives and roles better and work together to achieve their goals and targets. The three-sisters models later found its way to the Government of India’s guidelines as the ‘AAA’ concept.
ASHA Diary (2012)
ASHA Diary (2012)
Our work with frontline workers led us to understand that ASHA’s were encumbered with numerous registers, requiring them to enter the same data over and over, and making it challenging for them to carry these registers around during their village visits. We developed a single register, the ASHA Diary, to help them track every beneficiary right from pregnancy to the completion of child immunization in a single format, claim their incentives systematically, and plan their visits, with additional job aids to help them with their community engagement activities.
The Government of Karnataka took up the ASHA Diary in 2015-2016, providing it to frontline workers across the state.
Capacitating Village Health Sanitation and Nutrition Committees (2009-2011)
Capacitating Village Health Sanitation and Nutrition Committees (2009-2011)
KHPT developed reformation and capacity building guidelines for Village Health Nutrition and Sanitation Committees (VHSNCs) that were adopted by the National Health Mission, Government of Karnataka, based on our experience of training 13000 VHSNCs in the districts of Bagalkot and Koppal.
A visual Supportive Community Monitoring Tool was developed to promote supportive and participatory review of all health initiatives by the VHSNC, in collaboration with the frontline workers and the community.
Funded by Government of Karnataka
Empowering Self-Help Groups to manage Fortified Blended Food units (2018-2019)
Empowering Self-Help Groups to manage Fortified Blended Food units (2018-2019)
KHPT was selected by the Karnataka Comprehensive Nutrition Mission to establish fortified blended food plants in the districts of Devadurga and Chincholi in Karnataka, which had some of the poorest health and development indicators in the state. We used the opportunity to capacitate two local Self-Help Groups (SHGs) to manage the two plants, right from manufacturing, inventory management and accounting to driving trucks for distribution! The SHGs continue to manufacture and distribute their own brand of fortified blended food called Shakti Vita, and have become models for the Government of Karnataka and learning centres for Mahila Supplementary Nutrition Production & Training Centres in the state.
Large Scale food fortification model (2017 onwards)
Large Scale food fortification model (2017 onwards)
We have been providing technical support to 18 state governments to support the fortification of edible oil, milk and wheat flour with micronutrients according to the standards set by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), to reduce micronutrient deficiencies among the population.
Our efforts have ensured the fortification of small and big brands supplying to the Public Distribution System (PDS) and the open market. With our support, Himachal Pradesh became the first state to supply 100% fortified wheat flour through the PDS. Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have officially recognized us as technical support partners for food fortification in the states.