mMitra / Kilkari (ARMMAN, maternal and child mobile messaging)

Description

Free voice message service synchronized with the stage of pregnancy/child-rearing for low-income women, created by the NGO ARMMAN in Mumbai (mMitra, 2014). A pseudo-randomized trial (BMC Public Health 2020, Murthy et al.) showed improvements in maternal self-care knowledge and practices. The model scaled as Kilkari, implemented with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare: the world's largest mobile maternal messaging program, expanding to all states and territories of India by 2026, and integrated into the national JANANI platform (launched by the Government of India in May 2026). It uses AI (restless multi-armed bandits, the SAHELI project with Google Research and Harvard) to prioritize retention calls.

Linked evidence