According to a new study, a smartphone app is said to increase contraceptive use in India. Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs research suggests that an app named Gyaan Jyoti that contained motivational videos helped married rural women in India for making contraceptive choices, which further led to a huge increase in the number of women who used modern methods of family planning, in just a few months.
Researchers stated that women who watched videos had 4.5 times more likelihood of using modern methods of contraception as compared to those who didn’t.
Gyaan Jyoti app was developed for use by community health workers (ASHAs) who visit rural homes. It had educational and entertaining films as well as testimonials from happy couples who use contraception, information dispelling misconceptions and myths and Q&A videos with physicians.
In one single district smartphones with Gyan Jyoti app was given to fourteen ASHAs and in other district low-tech SD cards were given to 14 ASHAs. Those having smartphone app could customize family planning counseling, and videos could be shown for answering all the questions. On the other hand, those having SD card could only show videos but couldn’t benefit from the interaction.
After few months, it was found that around 22% women who were counseled with this app used modern contraception like injectable contraception, oral contraceptive pills, and IUDs while only 13% women used modern contraception without the app.
