They say, “Health is Wealth”, but how many Indians actually know the true meaning of this quote and implement the policy?
India, a developing country has been a land of one of the world’s largest slums – Dharavi. It covers an area of 2.1 square kilometres with a population of around 700,000. With these figures, you can somewhat assume the health meter of the population in India. The most important factor among them is the awareness. People in the rural areas and slums aren’t aware of the consequences of the hygienic conditions. Some wouldn’t even know how a deadly disease like ‘dengue’ is caused.
As of 2019, the Global Hunger Index ranks India as 102 out of the 117 countries. Negligence of health communication by the authorities has been the root cause of where India stands today. The sole purpose that used to come across in the media is to treat the patients but not make them aware of the disease. And the patients are bound to make choices as given by the doctors with no alternatives left. Be it to shell out a lump sum amount for a surgery or pump as many medicines and bottles of glucose for the human to survive. The cause was never known and people wouldn’t take an effort to know so that such a thing doesn’t get repeated the next time.
There has been a drastic change in health awareness when compared to a decade ago. Literates and Doctors have been taking up initiatives to create as much awareness as possible. Doctors have been given special training for Health communication so that appropriate messages are conveyed to the right audience. Two examples of successful health communication that had considerable impact in India is polio and HIV. A host of agencies worked together to develop a strategy that engaged live diverse audience. Right from radio to newspapers, all forms of broadcast and print media created a strategy for people to mandatorily take polio vaccinations. The government in tie-ups with the agencies even created ways for professionals to visit door-to-door of the citizen in urban and rural to ensure timely vaccinations are received. Similarly, for HIV initiatives at hospitals were taken conducting sessions every 6-8 months. Regular checks at hospitals were made to ensure no re-use of infected syringes were made. December 1st, this is known as ‘World AIDS day’ is observed at every hospital on a serious note and made aware by conducting seminars by professionals. The HIV campaign was the most complex disease communication exercise. It used every possible medium, including ‘celebrities’ as the ambassadors. Seeing them in movies, the rural population seems to give them a ear when they do an advertisement on health awareness programs and hence take it on a serious note. The main idea was to connect with the audience to direct messaging. Camps were also conducted at villages with political parties getting involved to improve the hygienic conditions across the areas.
Yet, there’s a long way to go. Public health communities have to take health communication seriously and as a priority. With the emergence of newer diseases, the initiatives taken always seem less. Focus should be drawn more towards lifestyle disorders, incurable diseases (Cancer), seasonal diseases (Dengue) and so on. Rural population are also bound to get affected with infectious diseases from animals. Little do they know that the animals of their farms can cause serious health issues? Let’s take an example of swine flu. Such a disease wasn’t really in the charts from centuries. It was developed and found out by experts the cause of swine flu was through an influenza virus that infects only pigs. Farmers never really knew about the symptoms and the reason for the local citizens to often fall sick. It was later through experiments found the reason and the vaccination was invented. Not necessary one has to be next to a pig farm to get affected. This virus was contagious. All forms of media covered the news of this breakout. People were asked to wear masks as a precautionary purpose. There were posters across streets, colleges, schools, bus stops, railways stations on this virus spread and were even asked to avoid going to public places frequent. As you never know, who may be infected, it could even be the person standing next to you. Initiatives in schools and colleges were taken by the government to conduct sessions by the professionals on the symptoms and immediate arresting of the virus.
Every year, the news papers release a census of the number of deaths caused due to dengue and chikungunya. Two deadly diseases that happens frequently during rainy season due to mosquito bites. The census released is not to scare people but to make them aware that these diseases are round the corner and hygienic conditions needs to be taken care. Also reporters across broadcast media, cover news from hospitals asking for a count of patients admitted with this disease. It is also a medium for people to not neglect a simple cold or a head ache. A viral cold is all it takes to get affected with dangerous diseases. Media campaigns are a part of health communication but not vice versa. Indeed growth of health communication has impacted India in a great way however, this needs to be taken as a serious priority for the officials and made a mandate across all forms of media. A vast outreach is yet to be made across all parts of the country by professionals specially trained for it on a full-time basis.
Health communication is a vast area and incomplete knowledge tends to do more harm than good. There’s still a lot more to explore, lot more to discover, lot more to learn and lot more to be educated. Every day a new form of bacteria, a new form of virus and a new vaccine is being explored by the scientists. There’s a long way to go for India to reach the at least among the top 50 in World health Index. It is we the literates who needs to act now. Educate those in need. Along with the pledge, together Indians must take an oath to save the people of our country for a better future.
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