Prof. S P Singh Baghel and Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar, Union Ministers of State for Health and Family Welfare virtually launched the Kilkari programme, a Mobile Health (m-health) initiative for beneficiaries in local content in Gujarat and Maharashtra. 

Mobile Academy, a free audio training course designed to expand and refresh the knowledge of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) and improve their communication skills via their mobile phones was also launched. 

The ‘Kilkari’ programme aims to offer weekly services, timely accessible, accurate and pertinent 72 audio messages through Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) about reproductive maternal, neonatal and child healthcare to the targeted beneficiaries.

It is centrally hosted by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) for all the States/UTs and no further investment in the technology, telephony infrastructure or operational costs is required to be borne by States/UTs. This service is free of cost for States/UTs and beneficiaries. The programme is integrated with centralised Reproductive Child Health (RCH) portal of MoHFW and is the single source of information for this mHealth service.

Currently Kilkari is under implementation in 18 States / UTs namely Andhra Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Chandigarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Uttarakhand  & Mobile Academy is operational in 17 States/UTs except Chandigarh with six languages viz. Hindi, Bhojpuri, Oriya, Assamese, Bengali & Telugu version.