© GIZ/Connor Wall

A new set of apps will bring nutrition counselling and growth monitoring to every corner of the country

Cambodia is launching a new set of three digital apps to improve nutrition counselling and child growth monitoring. With their first time digitizing the Ministry of Health aims to reach even the most remote families with expert care and support.

Cambodia is taking a big step towards improving food and nutrition security with the development of a new digital Nutrition Counselling and Growth Monitoring App set under the leadership of the Ministry of Health (MoH). This initiative aligns with Cambodia’s commitment to the global Nutrition for Growth (N4G) summit. It aims to ensure that every pregnant and lactating woman can access high-quality, expert-informed nutrition advice, no matter where she lives.

The three interlinked apps are both an instrument to improve nutrition counselling quality and a platform to strengthen growth monitoring, giving healthcare providers and families better tools to track child growth development and hence early detection and intervention when issues arise.

Meeting Today’s Challenges with Tomorrow’s Tools

Cambodia continues to face the double burden of malnutrition: high rates of child stunting alongside a growing trend of overweight and obesity. Added to that are the challenges of uneven service quality, overstretched healthcare providers, and a lack of materials for expectant and new mothers in Khmer. The new digital approach addresses those barriers directly, aiming at improved quality and consistency of nutrition counselling and growth monitoring, enhanced data availability for more effective planning and monitoring by the MoH. Hence, the apps create a unified space for collaboration and follow-up among health actors, capacity-building and empowerment of providers at all levels.

One Platform, Three Integrated Apps, A Unified Goal

To meet the needs of both health professionals and the public, Cambodia’s digital solution consists of three interconnected applications offering educational content, standardized health messages, audio guidelines, data entry points and storage, and personalized counselling for mothers in the first 1000 days of their child’s life, from pregnancy to age two:

1. Health Center App – For use by nurses, midwives and healthcare workers delivering counselling and monitoring at local health centres.
2. Village Health Support Group (VHSG) Members App – Supporting local health volunteers during home visits for continued care and follow-up.
3. Family App – Offering direct access for the general public to tailored information for pregnant and lactating women.

The apps work together to create a seamless flow of information between homes, health centres, and national monitoring. A key feature is a large collection of audio messages in Khmer, ensuring that people who have reading and/or writing difficulties are not left behind.

“The app makes it easier for us [health workers] to give nutrition advice, by storing customer information, showing technical visuals, and tracking child growth, even when we are offline. It also reminds patients about their upcoming meetings and allows users to track the VHSGs under the health centres. To us, it is highly useful.“

Hom Sreyma

Technology as a Force for Health Equity

Digital tools are transforming health systems globally. Cambodia embraces that shift, showing how these instruments can dramatically improve access to essential services for rural and remote communities. “Try your best to master these apps” encourages Her Excellency Dr. Prak Sophonneary, Secretary of State, MoH the Cambodian the health sector representatives during the launching event.

The apps provide timely, expert-informed information that supports mothers and caregivers in real-time. For health workers, it offers simple, user-friendly interfaces in the Khmer language, helping them deliver consistent, high-quality services and easily track each child’s growth identifying any nutrition-related development impacts early.

On a broader scale, the central dashboard generates real-time data that enables national and local planners to make better, faster decisions in nutrition and child health programming.

Preparing for the National Roll-Out in 2025

Following its successful pilot, the apps were launched nationwide in May 2025. The Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the GIZ Multisectoral Food and Nutrition Security (MUSEFO) project and other development partners, leads comprehensive training program sessions to ensure health workers, volunteers, and public users are equipped to use the app confidently and effectively. A dedicated IT helpdesk will offer ongoing technical support during and after the rollout, helping ensure smooth operation and long-term sustainability.

This initiative has the potential to reshape how Cambodia delivers nutrition services by standardizing care, empowering communities, and building stronger links between people and providers.

“The Nutrition Counselling Apps are more than just a digital tool, they are milestone in Cambodia, where no child is left behind. […] They are not just a tech success, but a signal that Cambodia is ready to scale what works.“

Mr. Jost Kadel, Chargé d’Affaires and Head of Development Cooperation, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany

Farid Selmi, Project Manager MUSEFO
May 2025