Nighedaasht, a mobile health application, designed and developed by AKDN dHRC in collaboration with the Aga Khan Health Services, Pakistan (AKHS, P) was awarded 1st prize in the Maternal and Neonatal Health category at the Commonwealth Digital Health Awards (CDHA) 2018.

Nighedaasht ensures pregnant women and new mothers are able to receive the care they need during pregnancy, delivery and after birth, aiming to curb maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity rates. The application is used by community midwives (CMWs) and physicians. It aims to improve the quality, coverage and access to MNCH services by digitizing the processes of antenatal care, the delivery and postnatal care; strengthening the communication between CMWs and gynaecologists; and building capacity of CMWs through educational videos.

From January 2018 to January 2019, Nighedaasht has helped serve 1008 mothers; supported CMWs with 425 deliveries, 926 initial and 498 follow-up antenatal visits; and tracked 120 referrals. It also helped provide expert advice to 37 patients. Currently, the app is being used by 31 CMWs and eight physicians in eight health facilities of Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral in Pakistan.

AKDN dHRC in collaboration with the Aga Khan University’s (AKU) Department of Community Health Sciences has successfully attracted transition-to-scale funding of CAD 1 million from Grand Challenges Canada (GCC) and the Aga Khan Foundation Canada (AKFC) for the Teeko+ Project. The Project is based on the scale-up of Teeko, an award-winning app, which was designed and developed by the AKDN dHRC for a pilot research project between 2015-2016.

Teeko+ is an innovative project, which aims to empower frontline health workers with mobile health technologies in efforts to increase coverage of and access to routine immunization, maternal and neonatal child care and child growth services.

In November 2018, the Project was successfully launched with its first stakeholder meeting. The meeting, held in Islamabad, Pakistan, brought together senior government officials from Afghanistan and Pakistan with stakeholders from Aga Khan Foundation, Afghanistan; AKFC; Aga Khan Foundation, Pakistan; Aga Khan Health Services, Afghanistan; Aga Khan Health Services, Pakistan; and AKU.

In December 2018, the AKDN dHRC team enjoyed a retreat and a team-building workshop.

Besides the overview of the year’s success, learnings, business updates and goal setting for 2019, the team indulged in interactive activities and productive discussions on digital health innovations. Another important objective of the retreat was to acknowledge talented staff, who work diligently behind the scenes to help improve quality of life of the underprivileged.

The Retreat helped team members explore creative and innovative plans for the upcoming projects and understand each other’s role and significance.

The workshop was held at the Arena Complex in Karachi.

Annually, 18.7 million children under one fail to receive basic vaccinations worldwide. Improved routine immunisation coverage is of paramount importance for polio eradication and the reduction of vaccine-preventable deaths. In Pakistan, routine immunisation coverage stands at a meager 59%¹, well below the World Health Organization’s recommended coverage of 90%². This has led to continued polio transmission, large measles outbreaks and a multitude of deaths as a result of vaccine-preventable diseases across the country.

With Pakistan’s drastic rise in mobile phone access and acceptability along with the high mobile penetration rate of 73%³, SMS-based interventions offer great promise in improving immunisation coverage.

The Aga Khan University (AKU) in collaboration with AKDN dHRC has undertaken a research study, Paigham-e-Sehat, to assess the effectiveness of different types of text messages and automated calls in improving uptake of routine immunisations. To support the study, AKDN dHRC developed and implemented the Paigham-e-Sehat web-based application. The application allows researchers and project administrators to send behavioural communication change (BCC) messages regarding routine immunisations via IVR and SMS to communities. Implementation of the platform took place in a peri-urban Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) site in Karachi and Matiari during 2018. Thereafter, research activities were carried out and the study is currently underway.

Non-communicable diseases and stroke have become a major concern in Pakistan, as the country undergoes a demographic transition. Studies show evidence of a high burden of stroke in the population, with about one in every four adults falling victim to hypertension and/or diabetes, heart disease or a stroke equivalent. Furthermore, medical complications are common after acute stroke, contributing to adverse health outcomes. Mortality rates of 12% are reported in the first year post-discharge.

In a country lacking post-stroke rehabilitation facilities, AKDN dHRC and the Aga Khan University (AKU) Stroke Program collaborated to develop Rahbar, an electronic prescription app with educational videos for stroke patients and their caregivers.

The Rahbar app consists of forty-two educational videos for stroke survivors and their caregivers. The app aims to enable caregivers to provide improved care to stroke patients at home in areas where there is a dearth of doctors and nurses and to prepare them for emergencies. The educational videos contain information that cover topics like what a stroke is; rehabilitation skills; safe swallowing and language; understanding the purpose of medications and how they function; and prevention of further stroke through adoption of lifestyle changes.

The application offers user-friendly design with robust functionality that equips stroke patients and their caregivers with a powerful tool to address day-to-day complications. The application was developed as a result of a successful pilot study, Movies4Stroke, which was carried out through evidence-based research and clinical testing at AKU. Rahbar is the first mobile solution prescribed to patients at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi. It is currently included as part of the Mind and Brain service line and aims to reduce the number of re-admissions and avoidable deaths due to aspiration pneumonia.

Research reveals that for every hour physicians provide direct clinical face time to patients, approximately two additional hours are consumed by documentation and desk work during the clinic day. Keeping a track of all activities has always been troublesome.

In collaboration with the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health at the Aga Khan University (AKU) Hospital, Karachi (AKUH, K), AKDN dHRC developed and implemented Clinical Rounds, a mobile application integrated with a web portal to help facilitate health care providers in recording their presence for various events, engagements and activities.

The app is a cross-platform mobile application, which helps health care workers log their time and attendance for MNM, PCM, Grand Rounds, in-patient rounds, and consultation clinics. The app helps record participation and is a hassle-free way to ensure timely entries. It also linked with a mobile application, One45, which helps complete evaluations without having to browse for them.