Today, the world is facing a plethora of socio-economic crises that are threatening the survival of humanity and sustainability of the planet. Juxtaposed against this dismal picture, the world is also witnessing increasing technological advancements and digitalization, grounded in artificial intelligence (AI). This trend can either cause further damage to society globally or actually trigger social change in the form of innovative digital solutions for social and economic challenges. Within this context, data is a valuable resource for delivering social good, not just for measuring evidences of impact, but also to shape action in a more targeted and efficient manner as well as make informed decisions.
With this broader goal in mind, Welthungerhilfe, one of the largest non-profit, private aid organisations based in Bonn, Germany, along with employees of Microsoft Germany have developed an AI-powered smartphone application called Child Growth Monitor (CGM), which enables instant scanning and detection of malnutrition in children. This app aims to address a major challenge in tackling malnutrition i.e. inability to accurately identify malnutrition either through the human eye or conventional means.
There is a large workforce of field workers who conduct physical checks amongst children. However, most workers lack the required skills and equipment to manage data. Manual weight measurement scales often lack standardization, which leads to flawed and unreliable data around nutrition indicators. Measurements are manually written on paper, saved in log books and then transferred onto Excel sheets. This lengthy and time-consuming process is prone to human errors and result in absence of timely insights.
The app uses an infrared sensor to capture the exact 3D measurements down to the millimeter, of the child’s height, body volume, weight ratio, head/upper arm circumference etc. The process takes only a minute and thanks to Microsoft, the data is instantly available to us on cloud from anywhere,” says Markus Matiaschek, Head of Product Development, CGM. Nutritionists and IT specialists evaluate the scans to pinpoint the child’s dietary health. The experts then pump the data back into the app, in order to train the algorithm to become smarter with each measurement. Data privacy and security is maintained by Microsoft.
According to Jochen Moninger, innovation director at Welthungerhilfe, “the idea to develop the CGM app was born in India. We’d been pondering on how to address the challenge of inaccurate measurement and bring about a behavioural change in people in terms of nutrition consumption. That is when the idea of an AI-powered app struck us.” Thus, India is the first country where the CGM is being piloted by Welthungerhilfe and its partners Action Against Hunger, MGSA and Darshna Mahila Kalyan Samiti.
This project is being piloted in Anganwadi centres of three states i.e. Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra with 150 field workers across 12 teams. According to Dr. Shivangi Kaushik, Program Manager at Action Against Hunger, “having Child Growth Monitor on board will hugely impact the early identification of children suffering from malnutrition, thereby reducing the treatment time.It is crucial to provide early treatment and reduce mortality due to wasting.” The field workers from Action Against Hunger have scanned more than 7000 children so far and are aiming to complete 10,000 scans by March 2019.
Welthungerhilfe aims to contribute towards the efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal of zero world hunger by 2030, by transforming the manner in which government bodies, non-profit entities and social impact agencies discover cases of malnutrition amongst children at a global level. The development of CGM is a part of Microsoft’s AI for Good initiative, which aims to extend its technological expertise in AI and data science with selected humanitarian organisations through investments, financial grants and partnerships.
Together, they have envisioned the emergence of CGM by 2021, as a recognised global solution to be used by humanitarian organisations, thereby enabling the redirection of funds that are currently being utilised for manual measurements. In India, this could free up hundreds of millions of dollars for reinvestment.
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This is yet another example of collaboration between civil society and the private sector to contribute to the government’s efforts of resolving the problem of malnutrition and hunger in the country.
Representative image and CGM information sourced from Microsoft.
India Outbound
February 26, 2019
source https://indiaoutbound.org/digital-solutions-to-end-hunger-in-india/
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