Projects
Zero-dose children
Globally, in 2021, an estimated 18 million infants failed to receive even a single dose of basic, routine vaccines. Reaching these “zero-dose” infants is a global strategic priority. India currently has the second largest number of zero-dose children of any country. Path breaking research shows that zero-dose children in India suffer from multiple, overlapping deprivations that place them at risk of disadvantage over the life course.
Interventions that address immunisation gaps and the complex causes of disadvantage faced by zero-dose children could disrupt the cycle of intergenerational inequities.
Gram Vaani is testing a novel programmatic intervention to reach zero-dose children, households and communities and bring them sustainably into the routine immunisation system, as well as to link them to other basic services, contributing to Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and sustainable development.
The intervention approach combines identification of high-risk missed communities (clusters of zero-dose children) through innovative approaches to data analysis, triangulating administrative data and drawing on subjective insights, and community mapping, with face-to-face interventions taking a unique approach based on fulfilment of citizen rights and entitlements. Community members will be offered digital communications technologies, an Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) and a WhatsApp bot for two-way communication. The digital communication will provide an opportunity to get information and educational entertainment (edutainment) on vaccination and other services via any (simple or smart) mobile phone.
MORE INFO
ARCHIVED
Tika Vaani
“Tika Vaani” means “vaccine voice” in Hindi. Developed as a partnership between Raah Health & Social Development Foundation and Gram Vaani, Tika Vaani is an integrated suite of projects taking a multi-faceted approach to catalyse improvements in immunisation and primary health care at the last mile.
The greater part of our work focusses on understanding deficits in immunization and developing and evaluating effective strategies to address them. As a majority of the immunization gap in India is due to factors related to lack of awareness, trust, fear of adverse events and low demand for immunisation, our work places considerable emphasis on social and behaviour change communication, community engagement, and empowerment, as well as on improving service efficiency and reach through stronger data systems.
Optical scanning of the Mother and Child Protection Card
Tika Vaani is an innovative model to strengthen India’s routine immunisation system. The cornerstone is a new technology enabling frontline health workers equipped with smartphones pre-loaded with our mobile application to collect immunization data in real time at point-of-service.
- Health workers take a photo of the immunization record on the mother and child protection (MCP) card whenever they administer a dose, and AI-enabled image-processing techniques read the card for its instant digitization. This is easy and quick for health workers at existing skill levels.
- The application includes additional supportive functionalities for health workers and is linked to an interactive voice-response system for direct communication with beneficiaries via mobile phone.
- Advanced analytics enable assessment of data quality, last-mile immunization session planning, and tailored interventions to improve performance.
Tika Vaani generates real-time data for agile, tailored public health interventions through a hybrid paper-to-digital solution based on image capture of the vaccination card by health workers at point of service. The app and features are low cost and designed to integrate with existing health system practices and infrastructure.
Based on the field evaluation concluded in 2021, this paper to digital approach proved easy-to-use, robust and achieved wide uptake at the field level. Its best features are being considered for integration into Government of India applications.
WATCH HOW IT WORKS BELOW
HOW IT WORKS
Social and behaviour change communication for immunization and child health
Analysis of Indian immunisation programme data indicates that achieving and sustaining vaccine coverage targets requires new strategies to address lack of awareness and low demand for services. However, in resource-poor settings, exclusively face-to-face knowledge translation and education strategies may be challenging to standardise and deliver at scale. Thus, the widespread availability of mobile phones in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) has stimulated interest in the potential of mobile health (mHealth) interventions to increase scalability at low cost, and thus to improve vaccination coverage. Questions remain about whether mHealth interventions can be effective for highly disadvantaged populations facing barriers due to poverty, low literacy, and restrictive gender norms. We conducted a pilot RCT to assess key implementation outcomes for the Tika Vaani (vaccine voice in Hindi) model, an approach to educate and empower beneficiaries to improve immunisation and child health in rural Uttar Pradesh (UP), India.
LEARN MOREARTICLE
