Media from 5 states meet on RI

Raipur, Oct 14, 2014: Media professionals from print, electronic and digital media from the states of Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi along with government representatives and health professionals converged in Raipur to deliberate on strategies for greater media engagement in promoting Routine Immunization (RI) of children against deadly childhood diseases.

The Chief Minister, Government of Chhattisgarh, Dr. Raman Singh inaugurated the two-day workshop in the presence of Mr. Aman Agarwal, State Minister of Health & Family Welfare,; Dr. Subhash Pandey, State Immunization Officer, Chhattisgarh; Dr. Kamalpreet Singh, IAS, Director, Health Services, Government of Chhattisgarh; and Mr. Prasanta Dash, Chief of Field Office, UNICEF, Chhattisgarh.

Dr Raman Singh said that reducing Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Maternal Mortal Rate (MMR) in the state has been his top priority as Chief Minister. Dr Singh said that Chhattisgarh has achieved 75 percent coverage in RI. However, the real success would be when the state reaches 95 per cent. “The last mile is always the most difficult but we are committed to devise ways of overcoming infrastructural, manpower and access bottlenecks to increase RI coverage to 95 percent in coming years.”

He emphasised that the media can play a critical role in spreading awareness and dispelling myths about RI. Vernacular language press in particular has to play a key role in engaging the community spread over forested and inaccessible terrain of Chhattisgarh.

The workshop was organised by UNICEF and Samyak Foundation with the support of the Government of Chhattisgarh. The workshop was the second of the three workshops which will cover the nine low Routine Immunization (RI) coverage states in the country. The key recommendations of the workshop included creating a network of health journalists, increased interface between government, civil society and media and capacity building of government officials on handling and responding to the media. All the journalists were encouraged to join the online health network created for them.