MyChild Card ready for proof of concept in Afghanistan

After numerous design workshops and iterations with health workers and other key actors, Shifo Foundation and the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA) can now announce the proof-of-concept of MyChild Card in Afghanistan, as part of the organisations' collaborative work towards strengthening child health service delivery in Afghanistan, which is supported by IKEA Foundation.

In line with this aim, Shifo developed MyChild Card - a tool that strengthens health service delivery by focusing on bringing values to three interconnected stakeholders: families, who are the closest ones to children; health workers, who provide care; and local and global decision-makers, who close the gaps in health service delivery to make it accessible and of high quality.

According to Shifo Director Rustam Nabiev, “For us, one of the key requirements was that the solution should not depend on electricity, connectivity and security at a health centre level. It should also enable effective work processes for frontline health workers. With Shifo's experience of working in Uganda, and the challenges of implementing electronic medical records systems there, more had been learnt about the risks of implementing ICT tools in Afghanistan, such as the lack of electricity, connectivity, and security for health workers to take ICT tools to outreach sites". 

Since September 2015 Shifo and SCA teams have worked together with frontline health workers, provincial and national stakeholders to adjust the MyChild Card to the national requirements of Afghanistan.

Speaking at a workshop held in Kabul in May 2016, Humayon Safi, Health Programme Manager at SCA's Kabul Management Office (KMO) and Rustam Nabiev informed participants that MyChild Card is being localised to the local and national requirements and needs, Dari and Pashto languages and work processes in Afghanistan and is getting ready for proof-of-concept in Mehterlam District.

A key aspect of the workshop was to agree on the transition period and final adjustments to be done in the interface of MyChild Card together with health workers, key actors from provincial government, and representatives from the Ministry of Health and SCA team members. The Ministry of Health reiterated its endorsement and support about the transition period, which entails replacing current tools with MyChild Card. 

A full package of MyChild system including automatic generation of HMIS reports, SMS notifications to remind parents about the next due date, and follow up list for Community Health Workers was tested and feedback for improvement gathered. This iteration provided valuable insights on what to focus and strengthen before the proof of concept in Laghman Province, which is planned to be conducted during Quarter 3 2016.

"Implementing MyChild Card in Laghman Province means that we can look forward to introducing a solution that is beneficial on so many levels. It will place us in a much stronger position where we know - more accurately than we do today - the quality of the health care delivery in the area, and the extent to which it is successfully reaching children. It will allow us to make great impact in strengthening the delivery of child health services and bring evidence for national roll out of MyChild Card in Afghanistan", said Humayon Safi.