HMRI’s pioneering Telehealth Service Project in Araku, Andhra Pradesh was awarded the “eWorld Jury Choice Award 2011”

Health Management and Research Institute (HMRI) was awarded the eWorld Forum Jury Choice Award 2011 for “Maternal Care in Tribal Areas of Andhra Pradesh using remote medicine technologies” on August 2nd in Delhi. This award has been won by “Asara”, a Telehealth service launched in partnership with MacArthur Foundation. Asara serves pregnant women in select villages of the tribal belt in Araku Valley, Vishakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh.

The eWorld 2011 Awards have been instituted with the primary aim of felicitating and acknowledging unique and innovative initiatives in the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for Development and to spread awareness about the role of ICT in addressing social concerns in the domain of governance and health.

Asara Telehealth service leverages local human resources, state-of-the art information and communication technologies, and specialist physicians in urban areas to provide maternal healthcare to and increase the health seeking behavior of tribal pregnant women in Araku. The project works in 140 tribal habitations and covers a population of around 35,000.