The USAID Projects in India

Vriddhi supports the scale-up of high-impact Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health (RMNCH+A) interventions with the goal of preventing child and maternal deaths. It partners with governments of six states and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India to catalyze change, innovate solutions, build collaborative partnerships, and contribute to policy to expand the reach of RMNCH+A solutions.

Increase uptake of Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health (RMNCH+A) services in project states.

Vriddhi is a USAID flagship program that supports scale-up of high-impact RMNCH+A interventions. It partners with governments of fifteen states and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India, to catalyze change, innovate solutions, build collaborative partnerships, and contribute to policy to expand the reach of RMNCH+A solutions.

The project has designed and tested solutions that are being scaled up across the country. It facilitated concurrent evaluation of programs through the National RMNCH+A Supportive Supervision system implemented across the 184 High Priority Districts (HPDs) of the country, to reach an annual cohort of close to 8 million pregnant women and newborns. Learnings from Vriddhi’s “Care around Birth” approach have been implemented across 141 facilities and included in the National Labor Room and Maternity Operation Theatre Initiative, LaQshya, which is being implemented in over 2000 facilities across the country.

In the extension phase, the project is providing technical support to the MoHFW in 15 states. Overall the project interventions across the states will impact a population of 328 million (m), with a focus on 8m pregnant women, 7m newborns, and 28m children. In addition to continued technical assistance across the RMNCH spectrum at national and state levels, the project is supporting the following major national initiatives in select geographies:

• LaQshya
• Aspirational Districts Strengthening
• Strengthening Facility Based Newborn Care (FBNC)
• Family Planning Logistics Management Information System (FP-LMIS)
• Strengthening Public Finance System

The project was able to achieve its targets of all work plan related activities by taking strategic steps. The project did not undertake any change of approved work plans and targets.

• Carried forward all project activities during the pandemic by shifting to digital and technology platforms for mentoring, hand holding, monitoring and evaluation, and achieving all set targets for work plan activities
• Layered Covid-19 related support in all existing work plan activities
• The project set to develop innovative e-learning products and resources to support capacity building in the best way possible through this time and beyond. In partnership with e-learning platforms, is developing e-NSSK, e-IMNCI, e-NBSU, and e-HBYC.
• Responsive to the needs of the state as they constantly evolved with the pandemic
• While in initial months of pandemic supported in the orientation of guidelines as they were developed and reached FLWs and beneficiaries with messages on Covid-19 appropriate behavior and developed Covid-19 module in SDApp; later supported for facility preparedness especially Infection Prevention practices, and in recent months strategically shared analyzed data on essential RMNCH services and brought back focus on maintaining essential RMNCH services 

• Number of institutional deliveries in USG- assisted programs
• Number of LaQshya units (LRs and MOTs) in project states achieve state certification
• Number of ADs with District Health Action Plans
• Number of health service providers that successfully complete an in-service training program within the reporting period with USG support

• Laerdal Global Health: Non-financial MoU to pilot implement their Hand-held Doppler device to generate evidence for improving FHR monitoring in 1 Medical College, 3 District Hospitals, and 3 CHC FRUs across 3 states; developed e- modules for HBYC training
• Maternity Foundation: Non-financial MoU for fast-tracking the use of their safe Delivery App in project states and providing technical support in developing new modules on Care of sick and small newborn
• Masimo Inc.: Piloting implementation of their novel RAD-G device across 19 Health and Wellness Centers (HWCs) to generate evidence of using a Multi-Modal Device (MMD) for improved pneumonia diagnosis and management in 7 project states
• FOGSI: Partnership being finalized for provision of Innovative telementoring approach in improving Antenatal care services in Private Maternity Hospitals of India
• Dimagi & TdH: Undertaking development of an e-tool for IMNCI training, implementation, monitoring & supportive supervision. This tool will be piloted in 3 blocks of the district Ranchi, Jharkhand
• Astaar: A Nilekani Philanthropies Initiative, to use their digital platform for capacity building of healthcare workers on e-module for NSSK; The e-NSSK module is slated for launch in the state of Jharkhand, during the Newborn week in November 2020

• High-Risk Pregnancy App: The digital application Systems E-approach for Woman at risk (SEWA) was developed in consultation with the government of Himachal Pradesh with human centric design as the guiding principle To enable ANMs for direct interaction with pregnant women and ASHAs through SMSs. Problems identified in the care of high-risk pregnancy were addressed by including features on identification of high-risk pregnancy and risk categorization
• MOYO: A Fetal heart rate monitor, introduced under the Laqshya programme, to know early fetal distress and arrange for prompt actions to reduce neonatal deaths
• RAD-G: Introduction of multimodal pulse oximeters that measures oxygen saturation in blood and respiratory rate to reduce childhood pneumonia

Vriddhi provides technical support for the national and state governments; they strengthened infection prevention control and practices at facility levels, developed audiovisual modules to train frontline workers (ASHAs and ANMs) and for Family Participatory Care (FPC) and provision of home deliveries for SEWA, along with strengthening older programs with online training. Along with this, they have developed digital modules for other existing platforms: real-time data collection, e-IMNCI, and e-NSSK training module.