To bridge the gap of making a change through digital technology and the way forward, Bijal Brahmbhatt, Director, MHT explains, “Access to smart phones and internet by women is necessary for penetrating change through digital literacy. The role of organisations like MHT to support the women in bridging the digital divide is going to be very important. While the journey has begun, there is still along way to go. Only continued and sustained efforts with apps like this will see a wider and deeper impact to improve the quality of life of people. “

To download this app from Google Play: Click hereMHT Jagruti app March 30, 2021adminBlog, Featured NewsNo Comments
MHT Jagruti app
Digital Technologies for Development: Responding to Child and Maternal health needs of urban slum communities during COVID-19 through technology intervention

Team MHT Technology has the power of positive transformation. Empowering societies in multifold through mass media is a boon. To disseminate information and knowledge to masses, to have people participate and enhance their capacities, to monitor and evaluate the participants’ progress; especially in the challenging times of COVID-19 where physical distancing is suggested for prevention and control to avoid/decrease contact, slow down the rate and extent of disease transmission in a community, MHT with support from HCL Foundation launched ‘MHT Jagruti’ a mobile application, in October 2020 as a part of an awareness campaign to reduce morbidity and mortality associated with COVID-19.

The app aims at an increased awareness and preparedness amongst the communities to respond to pandemic situations. It enables self-learning and also tracks user interactions along with uptake of target behaviour change.

The initial target for information and awareness to the urban slum community dwellers from 34 cities where MHT is working. Within three months of the launch, the app was available on Android supported cell phones for everyone to download and access.

As of now, MHT Jagruti app that allows users to create her/his own profile has 2282 active users from 85 districts of 16 Indian states. The collective user time on the app as on Mid-March is 75,300 minutes. The app functional in Hindi and Gujarati languages, has over 100 videos and 100 set of quizzes on topics explained in videos. The videos are focused on these topics: Health, Education, Covid-19 awareness- pregnant and lactating mothers during Covid-19, nutrition, and parenting.

Technology has the power of positive transformation. Empowering societies in multifold through mass media is a boon. To disseminate information and knowledge to masses, to have people participate and enhance their capacities, to monitor and evaluate the participants’ progress; especially in the challenging times of COVID-19 where physical distancing is suggested for prevention and control to avoid/decrease contact, slow down the rate and extent of disease transmission in a community, MHT with support from HCL Foundation launched ‘MHT Jagruti’ a mobile application, in October 2020 as a part of an awareness campaign to reduce morbidity and mortality associated with COVID-19.

The app aims at an increased awareness and preparedness amongst the communities to respond to pandemic situations. It enables self-learning and also tracks user interactions along with uptake of target behaviour change.

The initial target for information and awareness to the urban slum community dwellers from 34 cities where MHT is working. Within three months of the launch, the app was available on Android supported cell phones for everyone to download and access.

As of now, MHT Jagruti app that allows users to create her/his own profile has 2282 active users from 85 districts of 16 Indian states. The collective user time on the app as on Mid-March is 75,300 minutes. The app functional in Hindi and Gujarati languages, has over 100 videos and 100 set of quizzes on topics explained in videos. The videos are focused on these topics: Health, Education, Covid-19 awareness- pregnant and lactating mothers during Covid-19, nutrition, and parenting.Average app time per user, is 32 minutes. Users do not only watch videos but also test their knowledge by opting for quizzes available on various subjects. On an average, 93% users prefer to solve the quizzes. Additionally, more that 50% users have shared this app with their friends or family members which indicates acceptance & effectiveness of MHT Jagruti application. Nidhi Pundhir, Director, HCL Foundation shares, “Technology is one of the core components behind the ‘source code’ of our success which has enabled the Foundation to act swiftly, sow seeds of resilience, empower communities to thrive and remain connected even during the pandemic and above all, it has helped us spread smiles and transform lives.” Talking about the MHT Jagruti app, she shared, “During the COVID-19 global pandemic, when the complete nation was under lockdown and physical distancing was a critical way to contain the spread of the pandemic, the use technology was imperative in creating awareness on the COVID-19 Do’s and Don’ts. MHT Jagruti App is a great platform to reach to the communities. The content used in the App through animated videos is unique and appealing. It also captures the learnings of the users by innovative quiz & points module which makes the learning mechanism interesting.”

Many videos on this app, prepared under CTARA, Spoken Tutorial project, IIT Bombay use simple words of Hindi and Gujarati languages, 2D animation videos and graphics to impart understanding on Breastfeeding, Complementary feeding, Pregnant & Lactating Mothers Nutrition amidst these testing times. Dr. Rupal Dalal, MD IBCLC , Adjunct Associate Professor CTARA IIT B, Consultant, Health Spoken Tutorial, Director of Health, SMDT shares, “Health Spoken Tutorial is a 10 minute long audio video tutorial, created through screen capture, with a running commentary. A script, approved by a beginner as understandable is used to create the material. It is designed for self learning. The target audience for Spoken Tutorials is a mother in the remote area, who is struggling with skills of breastfeeding her newborn or is looking for recipes for her 7 month old baby as she might not have access to health care workers due to proximity issue. It is also meant for health care workers working in different areas of India who understands local language and are eager to learn new skills in maternal, infant & young child nutrition area. Presently, 57 tutorials are ready & are getting translated into 15 different languages as we speak. It covers the full lifecycle nutrition from pregnancy to newborn to children to adolescents. It will help tackle not only infant and neonatal mortality rate but also improve nutrition indicators in all age group including adults.“To encourage community people to optimise their usage, ‘point system’ has been incorporated. A user scores 100 points on watching a video and answering a quiz question correctly; but also loses 20 points to a wrong answer in the quiz section.Saroj Singh, a Vikasini (local feminine connotation meaning ‘carriers of development’) at MHT has encouraged over 250 women in slums of Surat to download this app. “The community people trusts us because we have been working with them, for them since many years. They know if we ask them to do something, it will be for their betterment. The infotainment format of the user experience in this app grabs their interest.”

Shikhaben Mandal,36, from Ranchi has been a top scorer making 37,82,010 points. She shares, “After work in days’ time, I spend a lot of time with my phone at night, playing quizzes and scoring well made me more and more curious to gain knowledge through videos and check my knowledge through the quiz. As a mother, knowledge on health and nutrition for kids is valuable for me.” From Ahmedabad, Rekhaben Mishra leads scoring 4,38,620 points.

Siraz Hirani, Senior Program Specialist at MHT shares, “At grassroots level, MHT has been very engaging and impactful through interpersonal communication and group meetings. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown that followed, enabled us to think of different ways in which we could reach out to the urban slum communities, specially the women. Hence the idea of this Jagruti app emerged.” Six months after the launch, he shares his experiences and key-challenges. “From our data on urban slum communities’ access to digital technology, we found that only 20-25% of urban poor households have smart phones with access to internet. In continuation to households having a smart phone, the decision maker on who accesses and decides on the usage of this phone, what kind of data is to be consumed and in what time of the day, which apps to retain and which are to be deleted- is largely done by the males. We have witnessed many uninstalls of the app, may be because the males weren’t sensitised on the learnings from the app or because their smartphones had limited storage space.”To bridge the gap of making a change through digital technology and the way forward, Bijal Brahmbhatt, Director, MHT explains, “Access to smart phones and internet by women is necessary for penetrating change through digital literacy. The role of organisations like MHT to support the women in bridging the digital divide is going to be very important. While the journey has begun, there is still along way to go. Only continued and sustained efforts with apps like this will see a wider and deeper impact to improve the quality of life of people. “

To download this app from Google Play: Click here