Kohima, September 3 (MExN): Nagaland government in partnership with UNICEF has taken an initiative of Social and Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) considering the low level of awareness and apprehension about immunization and its adverse effect. With this new endeavour, a thoughtful consideration is being given to increase awareness and generate demand for immunization services among various stakeholders.
In this context, a three-day workshop was organised from August 31 to September 2 at Hotel Vivor, Kohima as first step towards the new initiative of SBCC in the state.
The primary objective of the workshop was to facilitate systematic planning of communication activities for community demand generation of Routine Immunization (RI) services resulting in increase coverage of immunization. It also aimed at creating vaccine confidence in community. To achieve this larger objectives, the workshop intended to prepare strategic plan to address the barriers, giving due consideration to the social cultural and economic context.
To incorporate diverse point of views, the District Programme Officers who are responsible for implementation of Routine Immunization in the district, ASHA facilitators, District Programme Managers, District Media Officers and IEC personnel from 11 districts of the state were involved to prepare a strategic plan for their respective district. Along with these participants, state level officials of the departments concerned were also engaged to support and supplement the draft planning process during various sessions of the workshop. The final plans will be analyzed together to combine and formulate the state strategic plan for SBCC.
Based on the capacity building plans submitted by the districts, the activities will be initiated from the month of October 2016. The first activity in this initiative will be refresher training of the master trainers, followed by training of district level trainers and block level training of FLWs.
While addressing the participants during the valedictory programme, Dr. John Sweyievisa, Director, H&FW expressed hope that as a result of the workshop, the immunization status in the State will improve. He also called upon all the participants to work in coordination towards the goal of immunizing every child in the State. Dr. John also stressed on the fact that the State will still need the help of the expertise of UNICEF in the coming days in bringing out better communication techniques in order to change the behaviour of the community towards immunization in a positive way.
Dr. Subhash Godara, Regional Consultant, RI (UNICEF), while sharing his observation said it was encouraging to see enthusiastic participation from all districts throughout the workshop resulting in developing innovative SBCC plans.
A total of 70 people participated in the discussions, theoretical sessions, and different group works during the workshop.
