Mobile phones hand-hold mothers through pregnancy

Tabassum, a pale fair young woman who resides in the slums of New Seemapuri on Delhi-Ghaziabad border, is all of twenty-four. She is already pregnant with her third baby. The two-room tenement of 240 square feet houses Tabassum, her husband Mohammed Asif, 29, and their two children, 4-year-old Mohammed Ayan and 2-year-old daughter Ayat.

On Mondays and Thursdays, she excitedly awaits the ring on her mobile phone. A community health worker in her locality has enrolled her for a free voice call service 'mMitra,'or Mobile Mitra, that will guide her through her pregnancy — until her baby turns one — providing crucial information on how to tackle childbirth safely.

She is one of the 2.5 lakh women in Delhi NCR, who has been receiving free voice call services over the past year. The service has been facilitated by NGO Armman, along with six government and charitable hospitals including Safdarjung Hospital and Red Cross Society Hospital, and thirteen NGOs.

One cannot help notice a second-hand washing machine standing tall at the corner of a cramped room in Tabassum's home. "My husband gifted me this a month ago," she says.

During the birth of their first two babies, her husband was not attentive towards her health; but his attitude towards her changed after the voice calls started coming in. Asif works as a rickshaw driver.

"At times, my husband receives the call. He carefully listens to all the tips and makes sure I adhere to them. He got me a washing machine to reduce my drudgery so that I would not have to bend down to wash clothes. He also gets me a fruit a day, after listening to the calls," she says.

Dr Aparna Hegde, founder of NGO Armman observes that the attitudinal changes of husbands towards their wives have been substantial after listening to voice calls.

"What is heartening is that the voice calls caused behavioural change in the husbands of pregnant women. In a randomised control trial of mMitra — in the control group which did not receive any voice calls — 80 per cent husbands did not smoke at home or were amongst non-smokers, while in the group that received voice calls, this increased to 90 per cent. This indicates that the sensitivity of family members increases when they are empowered with information," says Dr Hegde.

Reema Kumari, 23, who delivered her baby Harshit three months ago, is edgy. She stays in the resettlement colony of New Seemapuri in a rented house.

She has not received mMitra voice calls for two weeks. Community worker, Jyoti, says they will report a technical glitch.

"I love getting calls from mMitra. They advised me on the right intake of calcium and iron supplements during my pregnancy. After my child was born, they advised me on the right methods of breastfeeding, tips on vaccination among other things. The calls are empowering for a mother like me, who stays away from my in-laws and parents," says Kumari.

Earlier, Kumari used to gulp down iron and calcium tablets together. Consuming iron and calcium together causes problems for a mother's health.

"I was suffering from hot flashes. Then one day, while I was listening to the voice call, I learnt that there has to be a gap of two-three hours between consumption of calcium and iron," she says.

During the entire duration of pregnancy, and until the child turns one, the beneficiary and her family receive a total of 145 voice calls, each lasting between a minute to two, flagging danger signs to watch out for during childbirth, explaining the importance of not clubbing iron and calcium tablets together, tips to tackle diarrhoea in infants, testing for HIV-AIDS, importance of going for check-ups, as well as the need for family planning.

"In cases when the beneficiary has had an abortion or a stillbirth, she may give a missed call to the call centre to discontinue calls, as it is very disturbing to receive calls when you have lost a child," said Dr Hegde.

Beneficiaries are enrolled in hospitals or by NGO workers in the community. Up till March 8, 2017, close to 8.8 lakh women have been enrolled across Delhi, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Bihar and Haryana, of which 2.5 lakh are from Delhi. The programme aims to cover 22 lakh women by the end of 2019.