PASIGHAT, OCT 2:
The Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, in collaboration with Wadhwani AI, conducted a three-day training on the Newborn Anthropometry AI (NBA) tool and Home-Based Newborn Care (HBNC) integrated with Artificial Intelligence (AI) in East Siang district.
Held from September 29 to October 1 in three batches across Ruksin, Pasighat and Mebo blocks, the training was organised with the support of the District Health Society, East Siang.
The AI-enabled Shishu Mapan application developed by Wadhwani AI is designed to support frontline health workers in monitoring newborns aged 0–42 days. Through a video of around 15 to 20 seconds, the application captures key anthropometric parameters, including weight, length/height, head circumference, chest circumference and mid-upper arm circumference, enabling technology-assisted newborn assessment at the community level.
The integrated platform also digitises HBNC records, allowing Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) to electronically record newborn home visits. It is expected to simplify documentation, improve the availability of newborn-related data and strengthen monitoring of HBNC services by frontline workers and programme managers.
The training covered 108 ASHAs and 15 ASHA Facilitators from Ruksin, Pasighat and Mebo blocks. District and block-level officials, including the District Reproductive and Child Health Officer, District ASHA Nodal Officer, District Community Mobilizer and Block Community Mobilizers, also participated.
As part of adapting the AI application to local requirements, field-based model contextualisation was undertaken in Namsai, Papum Pare, East Siang, West Siang and Changlang districts. The exercise focused on validating the application against the population characteristics and field conditions of Arunachal Pradesh.
Following the contextualisation exercise, the NBA-HBNC integrated AI application is being rolled out in East Siang and West Siang districts. Its usability, accuracy, feasibility and field-level acceptability will be assessed during the rollout, with the findings expected to inform its possible extension to other districts.
The initiative marks an effort to leverage digital technology and AI to strengthen newborn care and equip frontline health workers with technology-enabled tools for community-level monitoring.
