MIRA Channel

The channel for individual women is an “app” that  includes tools and information in a form that is icon-rich and interactive, for example, a week-by-week pregnancy tracker, an immunisation-tracker, a menstrual-cycle calculator, a family planning tracker, and an infection-prevention toolkit. "MIRA uses iconic messaging, supported with micro-audio messages in local languages, for the purpose of ease of understanding of semi-literate women."

This individual app is being disseminated through MIRA workers, described below, and through the networks of telecom recharge centres (kiosks), community radio stations, and the network of self-help groups (SHGs), as well as through Nokia App stores, schools, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and workshops.

The “MIRA Worker Toolkit” channel has content, communication, and service provisioning for "a chain of health workers called MIRA workers who go from house-to-house to do household registrations and identify pregnant women and under 5 year children for RI (routine immunization) using mobile phones. After registering the pregnant women, MIRA visits the women regularly on a weekly basis and advises them through mobile phone based iconic graphic and audio which pertain to the current pregnancy week of the women. The data of pregnant women and children for immunization collected by MIRA workers is sent over the mobile to central server and is shared with local PHCs [public health clinics]."

MIRA also trains "communities on immunization and counsels adolescent girls on issues related to menstrual hygiene, emergency contraception, education, marriage, reproductive & sexual health, women rights etc. The majority of the content provided for adolescent girls is provided through games and story-telling."

MIRA workers are often chosen from among young girls with an interest in health work who then work in their own communities. They are trained and connected with accredited social health activists (ASHAs) in their communities. Each is then provided with a standard Java phone that has the MIRA toolkit uploaded. Each "carries a MIRA register with a village map, badge, dress and necessary stationary."

A third channel, ‘MIRA-PHC Connect’, is designed for communication and service delivery "in sync with public health network of Haryana State Rural Health Mission." It is customised for ASHAs and ANMs (Auxiliary Nurse and Midwives). It provides “info-graphics on growing baby in the week, dietary, medical related, dos and donts. On every weekly visit, ASHA also asks women a set of 5 symptomatic questions which are related to high risk pregnancies (HRPs) like anemia, pre-eclampsia etc. The question is answered in ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ in green and or red dots respectively. The second application is for the ANMs to interact with data service delivery. All the women data sent over the server are viewed by the ANM. An ANM can view pregnancy records of all women of the ASHAs. ANM triggers action request to ASHAs for ANC check-ups of women. All the records of the checkup are uploaded on state health servers and shared with ASHA. The system produces instantaneous ‘Live-Data’ for the state to take timely decisions and action."

Women, Reproductive Health, Youth, Children, Immunisation and Vaccination

ZMQ, developer and implementer of the MIRA technology, uses what they call a "'[f]ully-technology linked community model’ (also a ‘Bottom-up Technology Model’)" in order to empower "communities and give them more control of information and services.... With increasing mobile networks globally and low-cost handsets, millions of people that never had regular access to computers or fixed-line telephones now use mobile devices as daily tools for communication. This explosion of mobile phone usage has the potential to service delivery on a massive scale. It has also been evidenced that technology can bring in transformative changes by substantially improving accessibility, affordability and effectiveness of any health program. ZMQ’s theory of change is to provide 'information & services' to isolated, marginalized and rural communities in a timely and accessible way...."

Impact reported by ZMQ: "MIRA was launched on the ground on 8th March 2012. In two years time, the project has reached to 266,000 women and girls. In the project intervention area, there has been an increase in ANC visits by 55% (from 23% to 82% - overall Haryana is 42.2%), Institutional deliveries by 49% (from 32% to 81%, overall Haryana is 49%) and immunization rates by 41% (from 51% to 92%, overall Haryana is 78%)."

The Mira Channel was recoginsed with a 2015 Business Action on Health Awards,  jointly instituted by GBCHealth and Global Health Council.