Kilkari AI Chatbot: Conversational Q&A for Mothers
An AI assistant providing instant, trusted answers about pregnancy and infant care
Current pilot: 1,505 mothers in Mumbai's mMitra program
Designed for: Kilkari - India's largest maternal messaging program reaching 3M+ women across 27 states
Recognition
Winner of Grand Challenges India by BIRAC
Featured as ‘The Future of Health - Meet the Innovators Changing Maternal and Child Health’ by TIME.com
Solution
A multilingual, voice-enabled AI chatbot delivered through WhatsApp that provides instant, expert-verified answers to mothers' questions about pregnancy and infant care.
Why it works:
Instant answers to health questions, 24/7
Works in local languages (Marathi, Hindi) via text and voice
Free WhatsApp access - no new apps needed
Expert-verified from Kilkari knowledge base
Human backup for complex cases
Problem
One woman dies in childbirth every 20 minutes in India. Two children under age five die every minute. Many of these deaths are preventable with timely access to accurate health information.
Women in India face critical barriers:
Limited access to trustworthy pregnancy and infant care information
Cultural norms restricting health-seeking behavior
No immediate support for urgent health questions
Widespread myths and misconceptions about maternal health
How It Works
Mothers send questions via WhatsApp (text or voice) → Chatbot provides instant answers from validated Kilkari content → Questions outside scope or low-confidence responses escalate to human health coaches → Continuous improvement through user feedback.
Key Features:
Built on Kilkari content: Uses ARMMAN's expert-verified maternal health knowledge approved by Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and aligned with WHO guidelines
Stage-specific guidance: Tailored responses based on pregnancy trimester or infant age
Culturally sensitive: Addresses local health practices, myths, and misconceptions common in Indian communities
Voice-enabled: Accessible to mothers with varying literacy levels through speech-to-text
Safe & reliable: Human escalation for uncertain responses; continuous expert review
About the Pilot
We're testing the chatbot with mMitra subscribers in Mumbai before scaling to Kilkari. mMitra is ARMMAN's WhatsApp-based program for pregnant women in urban communities, serving as a controlled testbed for innovations. Kilkari is the world's largest mobile-based maternal messaging program, implemented by ARMMAN with the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, delivering preventive care via IVR and WhatsApp to 3M+ women across 27 states in 12 languages.
Path to Scale
Phase 1 (Current): Pilot with 1,505 mMitra users in Mumbai - validate technology and user experience.
Phase 2 (Next): Expand to full mMitra program (~10,000 WhatsApp users)
Phase 3 (Goal): Deploy to Kilkari WhatsApp users as part of Kilkari 2.0, reaching millions of mothers
Results & Impact
Quality & Accuracy
99% empathetic responses across all queries
98% medically accurate responses verified by experts
91% correct grammar and tone appropriateness
91% empathetic answer tone rated by evaluators
Pilot Deployment & Engagement
1,505 mothers onboarded to the chatbot
168 mothers activated (11% activation rate)
60% repeat users - strong evidence of value
20,000+ queries generated
22% audio format queries (voice accessibility working)
Key insight
40% of messages fell outside current knowledge scope - showing mothers' needs extend beyond existing content, informing future expansion of the Kilkari knowledge base
Learning from Users
Top query categories mothers are asking:
Pregnancy symptoms and concerns
Delivery preparation and what to expect
Infant care and feeding questions
Understanding high-risk conditions
Team
Armman: Amrita Mahale, Nithesh S, Vaishali Suyal, Dr. Aparna Hegde
Artpark: Jigar Doshi, Sid P, Sanskriti Midha, Saumitra Sharma, Nihar Desai, Raghu Dharmaraju