Our Model · The embedded process
Health Action
Centers
Embedded teams and processes inside government health departments, making informed decisions with the community.
A lean unit inside the health department.
A Health Action Center is a lean, multidisciplinary unit co-established by the Khushi Baby team, the government health department, and local partners. It identifies the primary health priorities in its geography, conducts a structured gap analysis across the Data‑Insights‑Action cycle, and then co-designs, implements, and iteratively refines targeted interventions.
The HAC is the action layer of our operating model. CHIP surfaces the gaps; the HAC turns each one into an assigned, time-bound action and stays with the case until it resolves.
How a Health Action Center
comes together
1 · Setup
The committee forms
The Khushi Baby team, the health department, and a local partner form the Health Action Committee.
2 · Focus
The priority is chosen
The committee selects the primary health priority to address in the community.
3 · Analyse
The gaps are mapped
A data-informed analysis maps what is missing, overlapping, or low quality in current health delivery.
4 · Implement
The DIA cycle goes to work
Collection systems are established, triage lists and hotspot maps are applied to the gaps, and trainings, screening camps, call center modules, and public health mandates follow.
5 · Review
The loop iterates
Periodic review feeds findings back into the gap analysis and refines the response.
6 · Scale
The playbook is written
The process is documented for replication across other communities and health issues
THE DIA LOOP IN ACTION
Nandurbar Health Action Center
Nandurbar sits in northwestern Maharashtra: dense forests, hilly terrain, and deeply rooted tribal communities, with a 69% Scheduled Tribe population. Maternal mortality runs four times the state average.
​
In October 2025 we set up a six-person embedded team at the district administrative headquarters: a program manager, a data analyst, and four nurses as call center operators. The team turns routine health data into real-time action so that no high-risk mother or child falls through the cracks.
Gather missing data, establish denominators
The CHIP digital health census covers 87.7% of the district’s 1.8 million residents, with every household GPS-tagged. It integrates 47+ datasets: WhatsApp group intelligence from community health workers, SNCU discharge lists, health workers’ own high-risk nominations, and ad hoc surveys.
Surface where the gaps are, in real time
An integrated dashboard with 40+ layers identifies which PHCs reported zero high-risk pregnancies against 1,591 estimated cases. Prioritized triage lists tell each worker exactly who to visit. Multi-dimensional vulnerability maps go directly to the District Collector.
Translate insights into coordinated action
Call center operators follow up with the highest-risk mothers and children, 500 calls each week. Field teams coordinate home visits, emergency transport, and focused investigations. Weekly government reviews convert gaps into assigned, time-bound actions.
The Nandurbar Community Health Summit: district leadership, partners, and frontline workers at one table.
Since launch, October 2025
What the Nandurbar HAC has done so far
10,000+
follow-up calls placed
6,000
beneficiaries reached
500
calls placed every week
95%+
of families consent to follow‑up
70%
follow-up rate for high‑risk mothers
₹1.4 Cr
district co‑financing committed
Recognition
The approach has been recognized as a best practice for scale: reviewed in the field at India’s 17th Common Review Mission (2025), and awarded Gold at the National e-Governance Awards (2026) for the Nandurbar tribal health ecosystem we operate as technical partner.
Closing the loop, March 2026.
Home-based newborn care · Akkalkuwa, Dhadgaon, and Taloda blocks
HAC associates identified three high-risk newborns who had not received their mandated home-based newborn care visits. Targeted follow-ups and coordination with frontline workers brought all three into compliance.
​
Two low-birth-weight children showed significant weight gain. In one case, the child’s weight was recorded for the first time since birth.
The first HAC
The same loop runs in Udaipur
Our first Health Action Center supports Rajasthan’s maternal and child health programs from Udaipur, where the field team has completed over 10,000 home visits and more than 1,000 care escalations.
​
Across both centers, 1,300+ escalated cases have been closed and documented one by one, across maternal health, child health, and TB. Each closure is a referral completed, a treatment finished, or a vaccine given, with the record to show it.
Scaling the action layer
Sangam: more reach, same team
The HAC model works because people stay with each case. It is also human-intensive. Sangam is a forthcoming AI-augmented module within the CHIP dashboard that helps a small team reach further: automated triage that surfaces the highest-risk beneficiaries for the next call, structured counseling support for operators, and longitudinal tracking of conversation quality.
The goal is to extend the reach and depth of community follow-up without proportionally growing the team, and to learn systematically which counseling approaches work. A human stays on every escalation.
​
The playbook itself is written to travel. Health Action Centers are designed for replication across India’s Aspirational Districts, where the need is greatest.
