Jyotsna Suresh Patel, an Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) in Daman, no longer uses heavy weighing scales to measure newborn babies. Thanks to Shishu Maapan, an AI-powered tool developed by Wadhwani AI, Patel now uses a smartphone to take a 15-second video and instantly receive key measurements like weight, length, and head circumference.
Since 2011, the Home-Based Newborn Care (HBNC) program has tasked ASHAs with monitoring newborns on specific days. However, traditional weighing scales were cumbersome and inaccurate. Shishu Maapan provides a simpler, more accurate solution, using AI to generate precise measurements.
Wadhwani AI worked with health authorities in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu to deploy Shishu Maapan. The tool has shown an average weight error of just 111 grams, and around 450 ASHAs are currently using it.
ASHAs use the Shishu Maapan app to capture a video of a newborn on a flat surface. The AI extracts the baby’s measurements, which are displayed on the app. If there’s no internet connection, data is stored and synced when connectivity is restored. The video is deleted immediately after processing, ensuring privacy.
Scaling Shishu Maapan nationwide faces hurdles like the need for local data fine-tuning and the lack of calibrated tools in many state health departments. Additionally, not all ASHAs have smartphones, and there is some reluctance to adopt AI-powered tools.
Wadhwani AI plans to expand Shishu Maapan to more states and hopes to present it to the Ministry of Family Health and Welfare for nationwide use. The tool is intended to complement existing newborn care methods and could eventually be used by parents to monitor their child’s health at home.
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