Aparna Hegde: The life-saving tech helping mothers make healthy decisions

The life-saving tech helping mothers make healthy decisions

Overcrowded clinics, extensive wait times and overworked doctors are taking a devastating toll on mothers and children in India. In this eye-opening talk, urogynecologist and TED Fellow Aparna Hegde exposes the systemic gaps that lead to preventable deaths every minute -- and introduces scalable, affordable and empowering tech solutions that improve maternal and child health outcomes, upend patriarchal family dynamics and save lives.


Countless mothers and children in India die every day from preventable causes, often despite having access to clinics. One mother, Anita, lost her life to treatable anemia after being deterred by overcrowded, exhausting hospital visits. Leveraging the near-universal presence of mobile phones, scalable voice-call programs now deliver critical health information to millions directly at home. As women gain knowledge, they challenge harmful norms and demand better care for themselves and their families.