AP to pilot AI-based newborn health monitoring system

Metro India News | AMARAVATI

In a significant step towards leveraging artificial intelligence in public healthcare, Andhra Pradesh Health Minister Satya Kumar Yadav announced that the state government will introduce AI-powered technology to monitor the health and growth parameters of newborn babies.

The initiative will integrate the “Shishu Maapan” application, developed by the Wadhwani AI Foundation, with the existing ASHA workers’ mobile application. The technology will enable health workers to automatically capture a newborn’s weight, height, head circumference, chest circumference and mid-upper arm measurements through a simple mobile phone video, without physically touching the child.

As part of a pilot project, around 1,000 newborns from the Mangalagiri constituency will be included in the program. Data will be collected from the catchment areas of urban health centres in Indiranagar, Kopparao Colony, Kaza and Yerrabalem, along with the Pedavadlapudi Primary Health Centre. The collected videos and health measurements will be used to train the AI system and create a localised database suited to regional physical characteristics of infants.

The Health Department has already begun training ASHA workers and Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs) in the pilot areas. Based on the project’s outcomes, the AI-driven newborn monitoring system will be expanded across Andhra Pradesh.

Under existing Home-Based Newborn Care guidelines, ASHA workers are required to visit newborns six times within the first 42 days after birth and manually record various health indicators using weighing machines, infantometers and measuring tapes. Officials say the AI-based system will significantly reduce workload, improve efficiency and minimize discomfort for infants during examinations.

The Shishu Maapan application can assess growth parameters within seconds using a smartphone camera and automatically upload the information into the health monitoring system. If developmental abnormalities or growth concerns are detected, alerts will be sent to medical officers for timely intervention.

Health and Family Welfare Commissioner G. Veerapandian said the technology has demonstrated high levels of accuracy and will help strengthen newborn healthcare services by enabling early detection of developmental issues and improving access to timely medical care.

Officials expect the AI integration process and data training phase to take approximately three months before wider implementation begins across the state.