PROJECT BRIEF
In low-and-middle-income countries there is an urgent need to enhance the access to appropriate healthcare services to improve maternal health. In India the fragmented and complex nature of care services as well as the socio-cultural practices and perceptions challenge pregnancy care infrastructures. To alleviate the burden in healthcare services delivery in remote and rural areas, a number of frontline health Workers (FHW), are becoming the first and often the only access point to basic health care services. However, the work and the issues community health workers face supporting the overall healthcare infrastructure is often invisible, with limited training, standardized protocols, resources and technologies to assist them. We draw from six focus group discussions with 23 frontline health workers and 27 interviews with pregnant women in rural and urban parts of Channapatna taluk, Karnataka state.
We focus on unpacking the influence of socio-cultural, spatial and material aspects on pregnancy care and the everyday challenges that the various stakeholders (Pregnant Women, FHWs, household members, public and private medical facilities) face in utilizing, supporting and sustaining the situated care infrastructure. Our findings across the dynamic, disparate and distributed care elements highlight, the complex ‘infrastructuring work’ performed by the frontline health workers, pregnant woman and their families. The discussions have led to focus on two broad areas. One, the nuances of day to day work and labour of the frontline health workers of navigation across the disparate and distributed services for providing their communities of pregnant women. And two, the influence of the dynamic structures for accessing health facilities, food and diet, and technology use on experience of an individual woman across pregnancy journey. Further, through design implications we aim to explore the potential of digital health technologies and various ICT tools aimed at supporting the infrastructuring work in the community health settings and enhancing and shaping (individual and community-based) socio-cultural practices around pregnancy care in developing countries.
Project funded by the MRC-AHRC Global Public Health: Partnership Awards scheme
Institutional Partners
