IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Fall 2013 - 32

ccess to timely, quality healthcare is one of
the important issues
concerning
communities in rural
India, among many others such
as education, safe drinking water,
transport, approach roads, and
electricity. Information and Communications Technology (ICT)
has made a significant impact on
the functioning of enterprises and
urban communities; however, the
benefits of ICT are yet to reach
rural communities.
Rural communities can benefit
from the use of informatics in pro-

system that is accessible, acceptable, affordable, and appropriate to
all the people in the country. India
has adopted a primary healthcare
strategy with an emphasis on the
integration of curative and preventive medicine at all levels as recommended by the Bhore committee
(also known as the "Health Survey & Development Committee"),
whose report gave comprehensive
recommendations for the remodeling of health services in India [3],
[4]. The establishment of Primary
Health Centers was one of the
recommendations of this committee, and as result all states of India

Rural communities can benefit from
the use of informatics in providing
for their primary healthcare needs.
viding for their primary healthcare
needs. With appropriate user interfaces and tested software usability, a
mobile phone can be a valuable and
robust device in the hands of a village health worker, enabling them to
provide quality healthcare to remote
village communities with the help
of expert advice [1], [2]. This article
describes how an innovative ICT
tool called "mHEALTH- Primary
Health Care" (mHEALTH-PHC)
can be used to meet the primary
healthcare requirements of the
community. The MHEALTH-PHC
tool was developed after studying
the needs and the logistic problems
related to primary healthcare of the
rural tribal population of villages in
India.
Primary healthcare is defined
as healthcare that is inherently preventive, curative, and rehabilitative,
and that also promotes a healthy
lifestyle. The concept of primary
healthcare, therefore, recognizes
that public health is an effective medium for achieving socioeconomic development. Primary
healthcare also implies that it is the
first contact a villager has with the
healthcare system - a healthcare
32

now have an established Primary
Healthcare System.
To improve the availability of
and access to quality healthcare
for rural communities, especially
for the poor, women, and children, the Government of India
launched a program called the
National Rural Health Mission [5].
The main goal of the Mission is to
reduce infant, child, and maternal
mortality through promoting newborn care, immunization, antenatal care, institutional delivery, and
post-natal care. Therefore, top priority is placed on the Reproductive
and Child Health (RCH) program
which is implemented through the
Primary Healthcare Centers and
Sub Primary Health Centers in all
the states of India.

Primary Healthcare Centers
and the Community
for the community, the Primary
Healthcare Center is the focal
point for health-related outreach
activities. The Centers are responsible for the implementation of
national health programs. They
are charged with carrying out a
health survey of the community,

establishing baseline health status, ensuring safe water and environmental sanitation, promoting
health awareness, monitoring disease surveillance, and maintaining
health related data along with epidemic investigations, containment,
and research. The Indian Public
Health Standards help monitor
and improve the functioning of the
Centers [6].
The four pillars of the public
health system implemented through
the Centers are: 1) a female volunteer
who is an accredited social health
activist at village level; 2) a female
health worker called an auxiliary
nurse midwife, 3) a male health
worker called a multi-purpose
worker at the Sub-centers, and 4) a
Medical Officer at the Center. The
interface between a Center and the
local community is entrusted to
the social health activist. The interaction between the local community and these key persons, as well
as the communication and coordination among them, has a great
bearing on the effectiveness of the
system.
A Center typically covers
25-30 villages and has 6-8 Subcenters providing basic health
services to the villagers. The community population catered to by
each Center is around 30 000 in
plain areas and 20 000 in tribal
and hilly areas. Each Sub-center
covers a population of 5000 in
plain areas and 3000 in tribal and
hilly areas. The average distance
between the Center and a Subcenter is about 5-10 kilometers
[7]. We are currently conducting mHEALTH-PHC field trials
at a Center (hereafter referred to
as "Center-K"), in the Thane district of Maharashtra state in India.
There are 78 Centers in the Thane
district of which 27 are nontribal
and 51 tribal [8]. Center-K is a
tribal Center and together with its
8 Sub-centers caters for a tribal
population of 31 144 covering 29
villages and 58 "Padas" with agriculture and related activities being

IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

fALL 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Fall 2013