Varsha Venugopal

Having said that, something I remember from your podcast with Max Roser, just the importance of getting good quality data.

I think

I'd like to think we are doing some additional service with just getting better data from these primary health centers in Bihar.

And we know the state immunization officer is pleased by the fact that there is a higher quality data now available, which wasn't available before.

So there is a difference in the quality of this reproductive and child health data in both these states.

And I guess there is an additional benefit we are providing by just allowing for better data collection for the government as well.

So to put this in context for India, we have about 26 million children born every year and we have 16 million children that are completing the vaccination schedule.

So we're talking about the remaining 10 million.

Now of these 10 million, we have 2 million who do not touch the hospital system at all, the ones that are called the zero dose kids.

We have 1 million that get the first dose that's

you know, BCG and tuberculosis, a hip B and OPV that's polio, but then disappear.

So just the birth dose.

And then we have these 7 million kids who are getting the birth dose and at least one other vaccination and are dropping off.

And that's our primary end user we have in mind, though we do think we can probably make some dent with the other 3 million kids as well.

So one of the big reasons we think, and there has been some research, that they drop off is to do with time inconsistency argument.

I think it's something referred to by Banerjee and Duflo in their book, Poor Economics as well.

This whole idea that I value my present very differently from the way I value my future, right?

So even when I'm making decisions on...

exercising or gym it's all something I'd rather postpone for all these other myriad intrusions on my time in the present and I think some of that is what's at play for for these parents as well so caregivers may miss their appointments for various reasons they could just be forgetting about them they may not have the right information to accurately understand the benefits we do know sometimes they don't know how many appointments they need to come for

Or they just don't want to take a day off work.