Supporting rural healthcare in India with technology
Description
Overview
We are joined in this episode by Ruchit Nagar, the CEO and Co-Founder of Khushi Baby. For his efforts to deliver scalable public health impact, Ruchit has been recognized as a Forbes 30 under 30 leader in Health Care, a World Innovation Summit in Health Young Innovator, and a Distinguished Young Alumnus by by the Yale School of Public Health
This episode covers into the role of India's Community health workers, or Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs). We hear from Ruchit's experience implementing with Khushi baby the challenges of integrating technology to support health workers.
Ruchit also gives us a lowdown on India's digital public health approach and shares his key learnings and insights for people looking to implement tech in rural areas.
We get into the challenges in policy, the data infrastructure layer and the importance of funding for sustainable health initiatives. Ruchit also emphasizes the need for better support and resources for ASHAs, the impact of technology on healthcare delivery, and the necessity of aligning incentives to improve health outcomes.
Chapters
00:00 Intro
03:53 Khushi baby origins
05:10 Challenges in Community Health Delivery
07:18 The Role of ASHAs in Healthcare
12:28 The Need for Integrated Solutions
14:14 India public health digital ecosystem 101
19:51 When "too much digital" gets in the way of good care
22:28 Pitfalls in funding and investment approaches
23:20 The 3 I's that drive implementation success
31:56 Leveraging Data for Health System Strengthening
35:53 Challenges in Health System Integration
41:35 Measuring Impact and Effectiveness
47:44 Aligning Incentives with Ground Realities
53:56 Navigating Quality, Evaluation and Regulatory Challenges
56:48 Future Directions for Khushi Baby
01:02:02 Ruchit's top takeaway for developers
References
Khushi baby website
Book reference: Poor Economics by Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo
TB free India 2025
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