In the mid-1980s, when social workers in Port Sudan wanted to spread awareness about immunization among the poor living in shanties, they took to street theatre, added a dash of music and comedy and performed at street corners and public places.
They succeeded in getting their message through-as immunization coverage rose from 4 per cent to 50 per cent within a year.
Around the same time in Nepal, two of the country's top comedians took to foot marches and used comic routines to spread the word on ill effects of diarrhoea dehydration and gave performances on oral rehydration therapy.
In India too, since ages street plays or nukkad nataks have been a powerful medium for driving home socially relevant messages like women's rights and child health among other issues. These plays, which juxtapose loud drama and comic moments, attract the attention of people. Folk music and puppet shows also are a platform to raise issues of social and political importance.
Mushairas, a congregation of Urdu poets, could also serve to take the message to the masses. This was suggested by several participants at the Second National Urdu Editors' Conference on Routine Immunization organised by UNICEF recently.
Batting for communication through established culture, Prof. Asghar Wajahat, a renowned journalist and writer, said, "Mushairas are very popular in Urdu-speaking areas. They can serve as a platform to both entertain and educate people on several critical issues such as immunization of children."
With their unique ability to influence their audience, poets, artists and entertainers can be roped in for social messaging especially in areas that do not have much access to mass media, he felt.
A big part can be played by religious leaders, who members of the community look up for advice. "We look up to our Ulemas for guidance whenever we are faced with a contentious issue and take their advice seriously. So if the Ulemas or the Imams could also speak to members of the community before prayers on such issues as immunization, that would definitely have an impact," says Prof. Akhtar-Ul-Wasey, Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities.
Eminent Urdu editors, doctors including Unani medicine practitioners and academicians who attended the Urdu editors'meeting also stressed that Urdu media could play a more active role in communicating the need for vaccines for ensuring protection of children against fatal diseases.
The use of local language can reinforce instant message recall and brand recognition of immunization and child survival, as is the case of the RI tagline 'Bhool Na Jana Tika Zaroor Lagwana', they felt.
They emphasised that Urdu newspapers should put out news reports and editorials on these issues at regular intervals.
The roundtable was organized ahead of the World Immunization Week, and the theme for this year's edition is "Are you up to date?" which is a direct appeal to parents and caregivers to inform themselves about immunization and make sure that their families are protected with vaccines.
It highlighted the need to reach out to the unimmunized or partially immunized children, living in hard-to-reach areas and belonging to vulnerable communities. This was emphasized as India still reports deaths of about 1.4 million children (below the age of five years) every year. These deaths are largely from preventable diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhoea and measles.
A highly cost-effective way of preventing these fatal diseases is Routine Immunization, which has the potential to prevent around 400,000 child deaths each year in the country alone.
India's immunization coverage is barely 61 per cent of the target population, despite having one of the largest immunization programs in the world (in terms of number of number of children covered and geographical reach).
So in its effort to enhance immunization coverage, UNICEF in partnership with the NGO, Shikhar is engaging Urdu media in this effort. The conference also dwelt on strategies to increase in-depth coverage and analysis articles by the media on Routine Immunization (RI).
The views expressed in the above article are that of Ms. Mitali Mohanty Ghosh. She may be contacted at mohanty.mitali@gmail.com (ANI)
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