World Health Day 2020: App mSakhi in "Support of Midwives and Nurses"

The World Health Day is celebrated every year on April 7 to spread the awareness around maintaining good health and a balanced lifestyle. The WHO released the theme for World Health Day 2020, earlier this year. The theme is "Support Midwives and Nurses". The current scenario is that of COVID-19. During this lockdown, it has become more important to support such health workers.

IntraHealth International (IHI) had released an app- mSakhi in 2011. Sakhi means friend. It is an android application developed for frontline health professionals. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was the major contributor to the development of the app. Other supporters include Wireless Reach program of Qualcomm and the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation.

In India, we have ASHAs, which stands for accredited social health activists (ASHAs). With mSakhi, they can use their smartphones to update skills and stay in touch with supervisors. They can also track and report crucial data about health issues in their communities. They can further use the app to teach new parents how to protect their babies from infection or dehydration. The app can also teach how to breastfeed and how to identify symptoms of serious illness. If a mother or baby needs medical attention, an ASHA can use mSakhi to quickly refer them to a doctor who can help.

mSakhi is capable of interacting with other commonly used health platforms and can be integrated with existing government information and communication technology systems. These include the Mother-Child Tracking System and the Health Management Information System.

In the wake of this year's theme, mSakhi is a great app helping midwives and nurses. IHI initially developed the app to assist ASHA during critical pregnancy and postnatal services. It also provided complete information on maternal and child health issues. Today, the app covers information regarding reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health, including communicable and noncommunicable diseases.

IntraHealth is seeking partners in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to help expand mSakhi even further geographically and into new subject areas such as noncommunicable diseases, HIV/AIDS, and youth programs.