The results of an impact evaluation of BBC Media Action’s award-winning mHealth service, Mobile Kunji, have been shared today at the Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) Summit in Ethiopia, and published online.
“Mobile Kunji has the power to strengthen the most important yet the weakest link in the behaviour change communication – that between a community health worker and the marginalized communities she serves” said Andy Bhanot, Head of Research at BBC Media Action, India.
“Early data on the impact of Mobile Kunji looks very promising”, continued Mr Bhanot. “It shows improvement in the levels of engagement between community health workers and families, which in turn has resulted in greater awareness, more positive attitudes and self-efficacy, and higher adoption of healthy behaviours.”
Mobile Kunji is a free audio-visual job aid designed to improve the quality of engagement between community health workers (CHWs) and families, and the take-up of healthier behaviors by new and expecting mothers.
The results of the Mobile Kunji usage and engagement study, commissioned by BBC Media Action, and carried out by Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB) in Bihar in 2014, indicate that exposure to Mobile Kunji is positively associated with:
• Significant increases in the knowledge, confidence, and credibility of CHWs
• Significant improvements in the quality of CHWs’ interactions with new and expecting mothers
• Significantly greater levels of knowledge of lifesaving preventative health behaviours among new and expecting mothers
• Significantly higher adoption of lifesaving preventative health behaviours by new and expecting mothers
Mobile Kunji was first launched in Bihar, India in 2012, as part of the transformational Ananya programme. Ananya is a collaboration between the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Government of Bihar to reduce maternal and infant mortality rates in the state.
Learn more:
Video: families in Bihar talk about how Mobile Kunji has changed their lives.
Infographic: explore how Mobile Kunji is changing knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy and practice in Bihar.
Video: learn more about the science and craft that went into developing Mobile Kunji.
Download: the full Mobile Kunji Usage and Engagement Study.