Leveraging health financing, digital health and self-care approaches to strengthen maternal health journeys in India: perspectives from Assam

• DOI: 10.3389/fgwh.2025.1469328
• Publication Date: 2025-04-09T05:20:04Z
• Authors: Sowmya Ramesh; Charlotte E. Warren; Ben Bellows; Himanshi Dwivedi; Himani Gupta; Ashita Munjral; Swapnil Rawat; David Tresner-Kirsch; Jitender Nagpal
• Keywords: Digital Health

Maternal morbidity and mortality in India continue to be high populations places with limited access quality health services. Major barriers include out of pocket expenditure, lack autonomy information around maternal services weak implementation pro-poor policies. Addressing demand-side enablers is critical improving healthcare uptake adherence along the pregnancy-postnatal continuum. This paper describes three well known operational spaces, financing, digital health, self-care interventions within Indian context including policies, mobile ecosystems networks, opportunities that promote women's knowledge, choice, self-efficacy, autonomy. These are expanded on identify additional improve MH Finally, authors describe a new intervention using chat-based support system has potential reduce women face seeking receiving Assam elsewhere. Future work how implement such combined approach need account for multiple contextual factors, understanding nature success national policies each state, public private systems function interact, social determinants as engaging process newborn outcomes.