No room for error in Tajikistan!
An app helps health-providers keep tabs on rural children suffering from malnutrition in the Central Asian country where the World Food Programme (WFP) implements projects to tackle malnutrition among children.
Natasha is a family nurse in her village’s medical centre in Jaloliddini Balkhi district, a remote area located in southern Tajikistan. This medical centre is often bustling with mothers, children, pregnant women, and other village residents who approach Natasha not only for health care, but also with their sorrows and problems. She always meets patients with smile and treats everyone with the same compassion.
Despite being in a remote and hard-to-reach location, Natasha now uses the technology that to keep digital information on children who receive treatment for moderate acute malnutrition.
The digital assistant
“It warns me if I forget or miss a step and gives me clues if I make mistakes in identifying the level of malnutrition.”
Natasha is among the first healthcare providers who had received training on using SCOPE CODA (Conditional On Demand Assistance). The application digitises the management of acute malnutrition, reducing paper work in primary healthcare centers by using personalised smart cards and a mobile application, which are both synced with a digital platform.
“It is very convenient to use SCOPE CODA because you enter the mother or child’s data only once. It also saves my time, as it provides clear data and tracks each person for me,” says Natasha. “What I value the most is that it warns me if I forget or miss a step and gives me clues if I make mistakes in identifying the level of malnutrition.”
The application was piloted in late 2018, after an on-the-job training in 20 primary healthcare centers.
So far, nearly 600 people were screened electronically in 20 health facilities. Out of them, 102 were cured and the majority are still under treatment and some were referred to other services including Severe Acute Malnutrition Programme.
Thanks to USAID funding, the World Food Programme (WFP) is implementing the Prevention and Treatment of Moderate Acute Malnutrition Project in Tajikistan in Jaloliddini Balkhi, Shahritus, Kulob, and Dusti districts in Khatlon Region and Ayni District in Sughd Region. The project was launched in 2017 and runs until 2021 providing supplementary food for children aged 6–59 months to treat moderate acute malnutrition.
