In Chennai, children spread the good word about small families

In Chennai, children spread the good word about small families
SANCHITA SHARMA

JAN 4: Using innovative schemes, like children spreading the small family message, along with providing infrastructural support, have ensured people's participation in health projects in Tamil Nadu, especially Chennai, according to Dr Chandra Mohan B., Deputy Commissioner, Health, Corporation of Chennai.

This year, Tamil Nadu and Chennai walked away with both the state and district level J.R.D. Tata Awards for population and reproductive health programmes instituted by the Population Foundation of India (PFI). Minister of Health and Family Welfare Dr C.P. Thakur gave away the awards today.

``The states have a better feel of the pulse of their people than the Centre, which makes it important for them to absorb and implement population stabilisation programmes,'' says Dr K. Srinivasan, Executive Director, PFI. ``If some states like Maharashtra, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh feel that a carrot-and-stick policy is the only way to stabilise the population in their state, they are welcome to it,'' he adds.

In Chennai, however, there is no stick in sight. Children are used widely for informing, educating and communicating health messages to the community through the active involvement of schools. ``We have a child-to-child programme, where children are taught the importance of personal hygiene, environmental hygiene and immunisation, and another child-to-community programme where children are encouraged to educate their mothers and family members about health issues,'' says Rajesh K. Lakhani, Additional Commissioner, Corporation of Chennai.

Girls are encouraged to marry late through incentives such as the marriage assistance scheme that offers Rs 10,000 to parents of girls marrying after the age of 20. In the year 2000, Rs 5,000 crore was distributed through this scheme.

``Link leaders'' are further chosen from the community for every 100 people (20 families) to encourage them to avail of the family welfare and maternal and child health services. Needless to say, most of these link leaders are women who are not paid but given preference in issuing soft loans for community development programmes.

``Why most of the programmes work is because of the political and administrative will, evident in the fact that all health officials -- including commissioners -- are also evaluated on their performance in family welfare activities,'' says Leena Nair, Commissioner (Family Planning), Tamil Nadu.

While Tamil Nadu was the only state to get the award, the district awards were shared by Chennai, Alappuzha (Kerala) and Jorhat (Assam). Special awards were also given to districts that did well despite being in poorly performing states: Dehra Dun (Uttar Pradesh), Purbi Singhbhum (Bihar) and Cuttack (Orissa).