In the past few years a team of researchers, two Indian companies (DHP and IcarusNova) and healthcare professionals from the Baptist Hospital in Bangalore, India, has worked on the development and implementation of a mobile toolkit that can be used by lay women in urban slums and rural villages to screen for non-communicable disease.
The toolkit is connected to a decision support app that guides the health navigators - that is the term chosen for these women, who received a basic training to take up this role - through the process. The data collected are automatically uploaded onto a digital data platform. Early this year a new project started in which a new group of women were trained to upscale the project.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Initially the project was stopped, but after some discussions with the health navigators and others involved, they decided to continue their work.
This short film shows how these women, with the support of the professionals from the hospital, found a way to provide basic healthcare services in their communities, while all government facilities were closed.
For more information about this project, please contact Luc de Witte.