Kilkari programme

About Kilkari programme

• ‘Kilkari’ (meaning ‘a baby’s gurgle’), is a centralized interactive voice response (IVR) based mobile health service.
• Features
  • It delivers free, weekly, time-appropriate 72 audio messages about pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare directly to families’ mobile phones from the second trimester of pregnancy until the child is one year old.
  • Women who are registered in Reproductive Child Health (RCH) portal based on the woman’s LMP (last menstrual period) or the child’s DoB (Date of Birth), receive a weekly call with pre-recorded audio content directly to the mobile phones of pregnant women and mothers with children under the age of one year.
  • Kilkari audio messages are present in the form of the voice of a fictitious doctor character called Dr. Anita.
• It is centrally hosted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) for all the States/UTs and no further investment in the technology, telephony infrastructure or operational costs is required to be borne by States/UTs.
• This service is FREE of cost for States/UTs and beneficiaries.
• The programme is integrated with the centralized Reproductive Child Health (RCH) portal of MoHFW’s and is the single source of information for this mHealth service.
• Currently Kilkari is under implementation in 18 States / UTs of India.

What is Mobile Academy?

• It is a free audio training course designed to expand and refresh the knowledge of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) and improve their communication skills via their mobile phones, which is both cost-effective and efficient.
• It is an anytime, anywhere training course that can train thousands of ASHAs simultaneously via mobile phone.
• It is operational in 17 States/UTs except Chandigarh with six languages viz. Hindi, Bhojpuri, Oriya, Assamese, Bengali & Telugu versions.

Q1) What is Reproductive and Child Health (RCH)?

It is an extended maternal child health of family welfare or safe motherhood or child survival and safe motherhood programme. 

Source: Union Ministers of State for Health and Family Welfare, Prof. S P Singh Baghel and Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar Launch Mobile Health Service 'Kilkari' and Mobile Academy in Maharashtra and Gujarat to Strengthen Public Health Infrastructure