Health Policy Issues and Health Programmes in ... - Amazon S3

IEC Strategies for Health in Indiadistricts spread across 25 states, concerning the status of water and sanitation in rural India, itwas revealed that many of the hand-pumps and other drinking water facilities provided wereeither not utilized or remained under-utilized because of a lack of IEC.Information is power, and information is also a resource for empowering people. In addition,empowering people to do things is development. In India, the significance of communication inequipping people with new information and skills and mobilizing them for their willingparticipation in various development programmes and activities has been well recognized andemphasized in Five-Year Plans, the blueprint of the country’s development strategies. In theFirst Five-Year Plan, the need for understanding and appreciating various developmentprogrammes and schemes by the people was clearly expressed. In the subsequent plans, theconcern about communication among the people, even in remote villages, was increasinglyvoiced. Consequently, all available methods of communication were developed andstrengthened many times over the years.Based on experience, necessary changes and remedial measures were initiated from time totime. The findings of the 1993 National Family Health Survey (NFHS) were not very encouraging,however. Widespread awareness of the situation was not enough for actual adoption of a smallfamily norm and health practices. At the same time, the 1994 International Conference onPopulation and Development (ICPD) in Cairo echoed the need for a paradigm shift from acontraceptive target approach to population control to a focus on quality of health services inorder to encourage couples to make informed choices with regard to reproductive behaviourand family size.The Government of India accepted the new paradigm shift and, accordingly, launched its newReproductive and Child Health (RCH) programme, which marked a significant shift in governmentpolicy from a past preoccupation of meeting sterilization and contraceptive targets todecentralized participatory planning based on community-need assessment. Not only that, theRCH programme is more broad-based and covers a range of interventions for maternal health,child health, adolescent health, reproductive track infection, and unwanted fertility. Emphasis hasclearly shifted from one of limiting births to one of promoting health. The key mantra has been,“[by] promoting health, births will be limited.” Keeping this in mind, the Government of Indiaformulated a new National Population Policy 2000, a National Health Policy 2001, and a NationalCommunication Strategy for the Reproductive and Child Health Programme 2001.80The paradigm shift for RCH – towards client-centred, demand-driven services – needs strategiccommunication to work as a tool to create demand for quality health and family welfareservices. The communication challenge is one of demand creation and thus would necessitateunderstanding the needs of the target audience and media opportunities, professionalprocedures, and use of marketing approaches. The key tenets of the new communicationstrategy consist of the following.l Interpersonal communication for behaviour change will be the mainstay at the field level,encouraging greater dialogue on RCH issues between individuals within families andcommunities.