Maternal health in India: How digital innovation can support tailored nutrition and overall wellbeing
This presents opportunities for the food and nutraceuticals industries to support maternal health through tailored nutritional products and supplements.
From pregnancy to childbirth and post-partum, digital tools are increasingly used to ensure adequate nutrition and access to quality maternal care in India.
Shavari Dixit, chief of marketing and strategy at Nutraworks Consulting Group, explains how overall wellbeing can be supported by five digital tools – telemedicine, wearables, ML & AI, e-health records, and mobile health.
Dixit was speaking at the Growth Asia Summit held in Singapore from 16–18 July 2024, where industry experts focused on the biggest growth categories across the food, beverage, and nutrition sectors across the region.
Specifically, the maternal health market is significantly large in the Asia Pacific region due to its sizeable population and high birth rates.
According to 2023 statistics by 360 Research Reports, North America took the largest share of the maternal health market at slightly over 30%, and Asia Pacific was a close second at around 30%. Europe, Middle East & South Africa, and South America ranked behind.
This means ample opportunities for businesses to support maternal health from pregnancy to post-partum.
“Maternal health refers to the health of women during pregnancy, at childbirth and the postpartum period, which includes adequate nutrition and access to quality prenatal care,” said Dixit.
All five digital tools enable healthcare personnel to access comprehensive patient data via a portal. This will help them better advise and diagnose the patient, and even identify high-risk pregnancies remotely.
This facilitates timely interventions via tailored prescription of medicine and supplements, as well as customised recommendations for diet.
Telemedicine – connecting remotely to healthcare
For example, India has adopted the telemedicine model especially for those living in medically underserved areas. This allows remote consultation and prescription of specialised maternal nutrition products – such as iron supplements – that even women in remote locations can receive.
The National Telemedicine Service, eSanjeevani, was set up by the Medical Communication Network in Delhi in 2019.
Patients can consult with healthcare providers via video calls, phone consultations, and online messaging. The costs could be covered by Medicaid, a state-federal health care programme for individuals and families with low income and limited resources.
Furthermore, patients can save time and money by not having to travel, since medicines can be delivered to their homes.
The reception has been good, with subscription growing from 3,200 members when it first started to more than 240 million in May 2024.
The Philips Mobile Obstetrics Monitoring, which includes a portable handheld ultrasound imaging device, is another telemedicine tool.
Midwives in remote locations can share information about expectant mothers to medical professionals in the country’s larger medical facilities.
Data like blood pressure and temperature, and ultrasound images, can be synced to a portal. Healthcare personnel can access this information via a MOM web portal.
To enhance medical care, wearables have also been increasingly used to in tandem with telemedicine.
Wearables – tracking health on the go
Wearable technologies, including smartwatches and specialised health monitors, are increasingly used to track nutritional intake and physical health during pregnancy.
These devices can provide real-time data on a mother’s nutritional status, alerting healthcare providers to any deficiencies.
Mothers can update vitals like glucose levels and frequency of contractions. A periodic overview would then be generated for the healthcare provider.
Wearables can also pre-empt medical emergencies. In a study, researchers at Stanford Medicine found that data on sleep activity collected by wearables could predict which patients were at risk of giving birth prematurely – pregnant women with reduced sleep and activity levels have a higher risk of premature birth.
Researchers had leveraged algorithms and data analysis techniques to gain insights from these datasets – key features of machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI).
ML & AI – reliable health predictors
The Stanford findings were based on ML insights – an algorithm analysed data collected via wearable devices from over 1,000 participants, identifying deviations in sleep and activity patterns as predictors of preterm delivery.
This helps mitigate the risk of premature births by incorporating dietary recommendations and personalised nutrition plans.
Another AI example is mMitra, a free mobile voice call service that sends targeted preventive care information directly to the mobile phones of enrolled women.
It was set up in Mumbai in 2016 and has reached more than 52 million mothers so far.
mMitra has a long-term collaboration with Google Research India on AI, enabling targeted intervention for women who do not consistently pick up calls. The AI model makes follow-up calls to ensure critical information, such as scheduled antenatal visits to the clinics, are received by the women.
“mMitra is like a friend calling to remind you about important dates, and to explain important information like nutritional requirements during pregnancy. Over the past year, there was a 17% increase in infants with tripled birth weights, and a 36% increase in women knowing the importance of taking iron supplements,” said Dixit.
All of these are facilitated by the two following technologies that facilitate seamless data sharing.
e-health records and mobile health services
e-health records store comprehensive information digitally that can be assessed remotely, including detailed nutritional profiles. This allows healthcare providers and nutritionists to collaborate on personalised nutrition plans for expectant mothers.
Mobile health technology complements this by providing a range of services from health tracking to giving out educational content and reminders.
For example, wearables transmit a patient’s health information to the Cloud, which assesses the data to identify any abnormalities.
The algorithm then generates recommendations that will be sent to healthcare providers and patients.
These innovations have enabled caregivers in different locations to work together, leading to better overall maternal healthcare.
Digital transformation in India therefore has the potential to revolutionise maternal healthcare, concluded Dixit.
