Anwari Begum, in her early twenties, lives in a tiny room in a Mumbai slum. She and her husband have five children, the youngest of whom is just six weeks old. Life is tough, but thanks to a special friend whom Anwari can call on for advice, motherhood at least has become easier.
Her confidante is not an actual person but a friendly voice that she can access on the mMitra app on her mobile phone. Mitra, or ‘friend’, provides pregnant women with pertinent advice on pre- and postnatal healthcare, and Anwari smiles shyly as she relates how she has benefited from it. ‘Both my husband and I listen to the messages. I can’t read that well but by regularly listening to the clips I have learnt a lot,’ she says.
