While it features real solutions, final content will undergo review by a technical working group and incorporate feedback from a validation workshop planned for December 2020. Please see these as examples only, and not a definitive list.
Solution /Innovation:

Digital solutions for monitoring community health and nutrition status

Link Envelope
Verified

Organization:

International Livestock Research Institute

For more information:

Technical contact:
natesmall_1-1.jpgnatesmall 1 1 300x300
Dr. Nathaniel Jensen
Senior Scientist - Economist, Sustainable Livestock Systems
International Livestock Research Institute
n.jensen@cgiar.org
Additional contacts:
Rupsha-B-1.jpgRupsha B 1 300x300
Dr. Rupsha R Banerjee
Scientist- Institutions and Innovation, Sustainable Livestock Systems
International Livestock Research Institute
b.rupsha@cgiar.org
More info, related website links:

https://www.drylandinnovations.com/
Related PDF documents:
2020_10_21-Jensen.pdf
Categories:
Frameworks and tools, Healthy diets & Nutrition, One Health, and Sustainable production
Has been implemented in:
af
ch

Challenge

Nutrition and health are some the most used indicators for tracking progress against benchmarks, such as the SDGs, and for assessing the impacts of development interventions. Unfortunately, conventional methods for collecting indicators of nutrition and health status require considerable training is slow, difficult, and expensive to collect accurately. The need for better data is mentioned in the last 4 Global Nutrition Reports. Data related to the use of food aid for example, is especially sparse among those for whom it is especially expensive or challenging to collect.

s

Solution

Develop a mobile based platform by which caregivers can easily collect, submit, and access information on their and their children’s nutritional and health status in near real time and at extremely low cost. This solution has the potential to reduce the cost of each data point very dramatically with implications for the extent and frequency with which nutrition and health can be tracked.
The application provides caregivers with information on themselves and their children’s nutrition status, improving their access to information related to nutrition decisions.
Some of the main features of this application/ platform are i) targets caregivers and the children they care for ii) does not require literacy or numeracy iii) collects MUAC as an indicator of child malnutrition and information on the immediate causes of malnutrition iv) is able to help record symptoms of sickness: cough, fever, diarrhea, vomiting v)  health seeking behavior vi) consumption in terms of dietary diversity and supplements. Besides, these features, the application is able to provide the caregiver with information on performance against the set benchmarks on nutrition and health.
i

Impact

Piloted in 2019, there are 192 caregivers so far working with 22 22 Community Health Volunteers (CHVs) in the pastoral areas of Samburu county and have been collecting data on health and nutrition for almost a year. Especially since the COVID -19 pandemic struck, caregivers have continued to record and submit data even when the CHVs and other field staff have been restricted to move and reach the households. .Remote launch of the caregiver tracking feature was a success and they have really appreciated the feature.
The application is being considered to be used as a decision support tool for a climate change adaptation project funded by the World Bank and to scale it to other ASAL counties beyond Samburu.

Category

Frameworks and tools, Healthy diets & Nutrition, One Health, and Sustainable production

Map