Company: Noora Health

Client: In-house Project

Country: USA/India

Over the last decade, Noora Health's Care Companion Program (CCP) has effectively leveraged service design to improve public health outcomes. In 2023, the state government of Andhra Pradesh (AP), India, collaborated with Noora Health to adapt the CCP for 259 healthcare facilities, including 177 community-based Health and Wellness Centers (HWCs). The goal was to enhance patient recovery and well-being by training family caregivers on important health behaviors via Community Health Officers (CHOs).

Ayushman Bharat, a flagship healthcare initiative in India, aims to provide health insurance coverage and quality healthcare services to the marginalized, leveraging over 131,500 HWCs nationwide for comprehensive care. HWCs offer services from preventive to curative measures despite challenges like infrastructure deficits and inadequate training. Serving diverse populations across rural and urban areas, our needs assessment revealed high illiteracy rates, reliance on elder guidance, and traditional healthcare beliefs among the community.

Noora Health trains CHOs based in these HWCs to bolster caregiver capacity, benefiting patients seeking antenatal, postnatal, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular, and general medical care. This collaboration aimed to institutionalize health awareness, promote health-seeking behaviors, and integrate community health promotion within existing public health structures for sustainable impact and effectiveness across the primary healthcare system.

The design process involved co-creation sessions with Medical Officers (MOs) and CHOs, along with design research and concept testing activities before finalizing tools. Our design research was led by multidisciplinary teams that observed healthcare workers to grasp community dynamics, systems and potential implementation barriers. This in-depth design research helped us detail out touchpoints for CCP sessions, aiding in designing tailored interventions. Four modules were created in the form of handheld flip charts, for CHOs to deliver CCP. Health education was made accessible to people beyond the session through our mobile service that sends messages to promote health awareness and healthy lifestyle.

A virtual walkthrough was set up for stakeholders to experience the service and interact with the service touchpoints and tools. Finally, through the pre-launch testing we were able to validate the service model, refine tools' usability and address challenges through focused training.

The program was then piloted through existing campaigns like Jagananna Arogya Suraksha (JAS), training CHOs and implementing CCP in the community for widespread impact. In summary, our integration of efforts targeting non-communicable diseases (NCDs) into AP's JAS campaign resulted in over 10,000 CHOs conducting 21,400+ health sessions, reaching 1.6 million people, and validating the CCP's effectiveness. This success laid the groundwork for expanding Noora Health’s community model, supported by strategic advocacy, efficient mobilization, and meticulous supervision.

Overall, the program's structured approach ensures alignment with community needs, effective training, and continuous improvement through feedback and adaptation