Launch of Mother's Absolute Affection (MAA) Campaign

MAA- Mother's Absolute Affection', a breastfeeding promotion program launched by Shri J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, along with Ms. Madhuri Dixit, Actress and Brand Ambassador for this program, at New Delhi.

Health Minister Launches MAA Programme to Promote Breastfeeding

“Breastfeeding is the most natural and cost effective intervention and should be promoted at all levels. This is an enormous resource that every child has access to. It is our job and our privilege to promote the world’s most effective investment for human development.” This was stated by Shri J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare at a launch of MAA (Mothers Absolute Affection), a flagship programme for promotion of breastfeeding, here today. Shri Faggan Singh Kulaste, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Smt. Anupriya Patel, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Shri C K Mishra, Secretary (Health) and Smt. Leena Nair, Secretary (WCD), Mr. Louis George Arsenault, UNICEF Representative to India and Ms. Madhuri Dixit, UNICEF Celebrity Advocate were also present at the occasion, along with other senior officials.

Shri J P Nadda highlighted the life cycle approach of the Ministry and said that a Continuum of care approach has been adopted by the Ministry with the articulation of ‘Strategic approach to Reproductive Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent health (RMNCH+A), bringing focus on all the life stages. The Health Minister further added that we must appreciate that breastfeeding is a child’s first inoculation against death, disease and poverty and according to the latest scientific evidence, breastfeeding is our most enduring investment in physical, cognitive and social capacity development.

Addressing the gathering, Shri Faggan Singh Kulaste, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare said that awareness is the key among people and we have to work on dispelling myths and misconceptions. Shri Faggan Singh Kulaste further added that breastfeeding creates a special bond between mother and baby and the interaction between the mother and child during breastfeeding has positive impact for life, in terms of stimulation, behaviour, speech, sense of well-being, security and how the child relates to other people.

Smt Anupriya Patel, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, stated that Breastfeeding is central to improving child survival. Poor breastfeeding practices contribute to about 13% of child deaths. Smt. Anupriya Patel further added that the Ministry is launching MAA-Mother’s Absolute Affection'’ to create an enabling environment to ensure that mothers, husbands and families receive adequate information and support to promote breastfeeding practices.

Ms. Madhuri Dixit, laid emphasis on Mothers milk in ensuring the survival of the child. The actor and mother of two healthy children, said, “Early initiation of breastfeeding within one hour of birth and thereafter exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months are essential for the wellness of the child.” She further added that awareness should be generated to promote breastfeeding. The simple act of breastfeeding can ensure our children have the right nutrients to start their life”

Highlighting the importance of this initiative, Shri C K Mishra, Secretary (Health) said that there is hardly any difference in rates of breastfeeding among rural and urban population as against the perception that rural area might have higher rates of breastfeeding due to traditional practices. This implies that need for support regarding breastfeeding is universal. The Secretary (Health) further mentioned that the MAA - the nation-wide breastfeeding promotion program, is about intensified efforts to promote, protect and support optimal breastfeeding. It builds upon the existing initiatives and addresses the needs of all children including those living in difficult circumstances.

“MAA-Mother’s Absolute Affection'’ is a nationwide programme launched in an attempt to bring undiluted focus on promotion of breastfeeding and provision of counselling services for supporting breastfeeding through health systems. The programme has been named ‘MAA’ to signify the support a lactating mother requires from family members and at health facilities to breastfeed successfully. The chief components of the MAA Programme are Community awareness generation, Strengthening inter personal communication through ASHA, Skilled support for breastfeeding at Delivery points in Public health facilities, and Monitoring and Award/recognition.

Also present during the function were senior officers of the Ministry and representatives of the development partners.

Amitabh Bachan: Launch of the RI Communication Campaign by the Ministry of Health

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare with strong support from UNICEF, launched a comprehensive and holistic 360 degree communication campaign on 14 July 2016, to enhance full immunization rates and support the successful Mission Indradhanush across the country. The launch of the campaign happened during an event organized by the MoHFW to celebrate the country’s elimination of MNT and Yaws as well. Another great achievement for India, following the eradication of Polio. But also even more reason to vigorously continue our support to GoI to ensure full coverage of routine immunization for all children will be achieved!

UNICEF is very pleased to also announce that Mr. Amitabh Bachchan, UNICEF goodwill ambassador who has been supporting the polio eradication campaign for years has agreed to wholeheartedly support this campaign!

This RI communication campaign was conceptualized basis the findings from a formative research carried out by UNICEF last year. The survey highlighted that 1) fear of adverse effects following immunization, and 2) low awareness around benefits of full immunization and where to go for vaccination, are important reasons for children being missed out. The campaign was conceptualized and developed in a strong team effort between Health, C4D, Polio and A&C teams, in close coordination with MoHFW.

The multi-media campaign is designed to reinforce the message of complete immunization through the tag line (Paanch Saal, Saat Baar). This indicates the importance of seven visits for immunisation , during the first five years of life.

The open files of the communication kit which consists of a wide range of mass media and IPC material will be uploaded on the website. The ministry will also initiate the airing of the PSAs in the coming weeks. 

UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador India Priyanka Chopra Supports the #FairStart Campaign

New Delhi, 5 July 2016 –UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Priyanka Chopra today addressed over 100 adolescents from top schools and over 80 media from Delhi and Haryana, highlighting the need to give a Fair Start to every child.  

The Fair Start campaign was unveiled by UNICEF India recently in the backdrop of the global advocacy efforts on Equity for Children. It focusses on persisting inequities that large groups of children in India face, affecting their survival, growth and development. The #FairStart film gives an insight into the lives of thousands of children from various background, who are full of potential but less likely to grow up healthy and safe, less likely to attend school, less likely to learn, and more likely to be married as children.

UNICEF India works closely with the Government of India and many other partners to try to improve the situation of the most vulnerable and deprived children, ensuring that each child born in this vast and complex country gets the best start in life, thrives and develops to his or her full potential. Investing in children, particularly the most vulnerable, brings multiple benefits not only to children but also to their families, communities and economies.

Speaking on this occasion, Mr. Louis Georges Arsenault, UNICEF Representative to India said, “We have a clear choice to make – to invest in progress of children being left-behind or if unaddressed, face consequences of a far more divided and unfair world by 2030. Changing mind-sets through awareness-raising is critical. Mobilising entire communities – in terms of political, caste and religious leaders to frontline workers, parents and children have shown positive results.  An integrated approach is needed to bring about change. This includes enforcement of legislation and protective mechanisms, ensure access to education for girls and generating opportunities for empowerment.”

Currently, 6.1 million children in India are out- of -school; around 10 million children are engaged in work in India; close to 3500 children die every day before reaching age 5; 42 per cent of tribal children in India are stunted in their growth and development; and almost half the population of India, about 564 million people still practice open defecation. Girls in India deserve an equal chance in life too, but on an average 2.22 million girls marry early every year in India, and 23% girls between 15-19 years of age experience physical or sexual violence.

“To make change happen, a mind-shift is required. When the most deprived children are not given a fair chance to realise their rights, they fall further behind. Each  one of us can make a difference in our own spheres of life, by creating awareness and ensuring that every child reaches their full potential.”

Ms Chopra has been associated with UNICEF for almost a decade. In 2010, she was appointed a UNICEF National Ambassador, tasked specifically with promoting child rights and adolescence. She has partnered with UNICEF to feature in videos and advertisements aimed at building awareness for child rights and the need to create healthy environments for children, filled with opportunities to blossom. She is kindly lending her voice to the strong cause of providing each child a fair start in life.

About UNICEF

UNICEF promotes the rights and wellbeing of every child, in everything we do. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere.

Poverty, Illiteracy and Early Deaths Await World’s most Disadvantaged Children: UNICEF

The release of the State of World's Children report was addressed by  Professor Shyam Menon, Vice Chancellor, Dr. Bhim Rao  Ambedkar University, Delhi, Dr. Rajesh Kumar,  Joint Secretary (ICDS-Child Development), Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, Dr. S. C. Khuntia, Secretary, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India and Mr Louis Georges Arsenault, Representative, UNICEF India.

 Making the right choices now can, and will, reverse this fate, new report says

Download a PDF of the report and multimedia content at: http://weshare.unicef.org/Package/2AMZIFFS4KH

NEW DELHI 28 June 2016 –Based on current trends, 69 million children under five will die from mostly preventable causes, 167 million children will live in poverty, and 750 million women will have been married as children by 2030, the target date for the Sustainable Development Goals – unless the world focuses more on the plight of its most disadvantaged children, according to a UNICEF report released today.  

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The State of the World’s Children, UNICEF’s annual flagship report, paints a stark picture of what is in store for the world’s poorest children if governments, donors, businesses and international organizations do not accelerate efforts to address their needs. 

“Denying hundreds of millions of children a fair chance in life does more than threaten their futures – by fueling intergenerational cycles of disadvantage, it imperils the future of their societies,” said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake. “We have a choice: Invest in these children now or allow our world to become still more unequal and divided.” 

The report notes that significant progress has been made in saving children’s lives, getting children into school and lifting people out of poverty. Global under-five mortality rates have been more than halved since 1990, boys and girls attend primary school in equal numbers in 129 countries, and the number of people living in extreme poverty worldwide is almost half of what it was in the 1990s.  

But this progress has been neither even nor fair, the report says. The poorest children are twice as likely to die before their fifth birthday and to be chronically malnourished than the richest. Across much of South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, children born to mothers with no education are almost three times more likely to die before they are five than those born to mothers with a secondary education. And girls from the poorest households are twice as likely to marry as children than girls from the wealthiest households. 

Although education plays a unique role in levelling the playing field for children, the number of children who do not attend school has increased since 2011, and a significant proportion of those who do go to school are not learning. Globally, about 124 million children today do not go to primary and lower-secondary school, and almost 2 in 5 who do finish primary school have not learned how to read, write or do simple arithmetic.  

Acknowledging education to be one of the key instruments in promoting equity, the focus of the Report launch in India was on Education. Releasing the report, Louis-Georges Arsenault, Representative, UNICEF India said, “The early years are foundational and children who start behind, stay behind. There are long-term consequences, particularly for the most marginalised and disadvantaged children, when they enter school without a quality preschool education. And gaps between disadvantaged children and other children become harder to bridge at later points in their education.” 

India has much to celebrate in the area of education, particularly in ensuring children’s access to school, through the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and implementation of the Right to Education Act. This is reflected in the near-universal enrolment in primary education and the steady decrease in numbers of out-of-school children. The number of out-of-school children between 6 to 13 years has declined from approximately 8 million in 2009 to 6 million in 2014. Yet challenges still remain. In India, out of the 74 million[1] children between 3-6 years, about 20 million were not attending any preschool education in 2014, and it is the children from the poorest families and marginalised communities who are often left behind[2]. 

The report points to evidence that investing in the most vulnerable children can yield immediate and long-term benefits. Globally, cash transfers, for example, have been shown to help children stay in school longer and advance to higher levels of education. On average, each additional year of education a child receives increases his or her adult earnings by about 10 per cent. And for each additional year of schooling completed, on average, by young adults in a country, that country’s poverty rates fall by 9 per cent.  

Inequity is neither inevitable, nor insurmountable, the report argues. Better data on the most vulnerable children, integrated solutions to the challenges children face, innovative ways to address old problems, more equitable investment and increased involvement by communities – all these measures can help level the playing field for children.

Dr S. C Khuntia, Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, Dr Rajesh Kumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, Professor Shyam Menon, Vice Chancellor of Ambedkar University, Delhi, and several other dignitaries from the field of academics, policy, civil society, CSR heads and media were also present at the launch.   

Three parallel sessions were also held after the launch, involving children from the Nine is Mine campaign, youth activists from Youth Ki Awaaz and top CSR heads emphasising that everyone has a role to play to make sure that every child can have a fair start in life. The ‘Fair Start’ film, unveiled recently as part of a UNICEF India led social media campaign, was also screened during the launch. The film focuses on persisting inequities that large groups of children in India face, affecting their survival, growth and development.  

About UNICEF

UNICEF promotes the rights and wellbeing of every child, in everything we do. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere. For more information about UNICEF and its work visit: www.unicef.org. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook

[1] As per census 2011

[2] RSOC 2014​

#EndViolence - UNICEF Collaborates with Radio

Mumbai, 16 June 2016 – 83% of 18-year-olds in India believe young people are in danger of being sexually abused or taken advantage of online and more than 66% think their friends participate in risky behaviours while using the internet, a new UNICEF study shows.

Perils and Possibilities: Growing up online is based on an international opinion poll of more than 10,000 18-year-olds from 25 countries, revealing young people’s perspectives on the risks they face growing up in an increasingly connected world. Globally, one in three internet users is a child. In India more than 28% youth have online presence. The report provides important insights from young people themselves on issues concerning online safety. The report further finds that adolescents appear confident with their own ability to stay safe, with nearly 81 per cent of interviewees in India believing that  online abuse or bullying would never happen to them. 

In this backdrop, 40 radio journalists from All India Radio, Maharashtra and Gujarat as well as several private FM channels  were sensitised to issues of digital safety and child rights during a two-day workshop in Mumbai. 

Inaugurating the workshop, Professor Shambhu Nath Singh, Head of Journalism and New Media Studies, IGNOU, said, “Technology is ever evolving. With incredible speed, frequency and effect, the medium of internet is influencing our lives. It therefore becomes pertinent for us to identify safe spaces for our children in the digital world.”

UNICEF is engaging the media, particularly Radio, for creating a holistic environment around the End Violence Against Childreninitiative, through interactive workshops culminating in the Radio4Child awards. Also present in the sessions were dignitaries from the field of media, business CSR heads and academia contributed to the proceedings.

"Childline 1098 is the largest children's helpline programme in the world. Operating in over 402 districts across the country, we receive over 9 millions calls for help each year. It's interventions like ours that you must direct audiences to, as we can provide the adequate support and recourse from there", said Mr. Nishit Kumar, Communication & Strategic Initiatives Childline India Foundation, at the brainstorming session of Radio participants at Radio for ‪#‎ENDViolence Workshop.

Basis their learnings the trained programming heads will incorporate the issue of #End violence through their radio programs, blogs and social media platforms in addition to regular programming. UNICEF officials from Delhi and Mumbai facilitated the workshop for two days.

UNICEF India Launches Public Advocacy Campaign ‘Fair Start’ for Every Child

New Delhi, 25 May 2016: UNICEF India today unveiled the ‘Fair Start’ film as part of a (social) media campaign that will focus on persisting inequities that large groups of children in India face, affecting their survival, growth and development. A series of impactful films will give an insight into the lives of millions of children from various backgrounds, who are full of potential but less likely to grow up healthy and safe, less likely to attend school , less likely to learn, and more likely to be married as children.

Introducing the film, Caroline Den Dulk, Chief, Advocacy & Communication, UNICEF India said, “Every child deserves a fair start in his/her life and deserves adequate nutrition, education, sanitation, protection and health care. The campaign draws attention to the lives of many children who are deprived of these basic rights, often at times determined simply by where they are born. Every child should have a fair and equal chance in life, irrespective of their caste, ethnicity, gender, poverty, region or religion.”

UNICEF works closely with the Government of India and many other partners to curb the situation of the most vulnerable and deprived children, ensuring that each child born in this vast and complex country gets the best start in life, thrives and develops to his or her full potential.

Every Child deserves a #FairStart.  Currently, 6.1 million children in India are out- of -school[1]; around 10 million children are engaged in work in India[2]; close to 3500 children die every day before reaching age 5[3]; 42 per cent of tribal children in India are stunted in their growth and development[4]; and almost half the population of India, about 564 million people still practice open defecation[5].Girls in India deserve an equal chance in life too, but on an average 2.22 million girls marry early every year in India[6], and 23% girls between 15-19 years of age experience physical or sexual violence[7].

 “Often the issues faced are immensely complex in nature and cut across all layers of society”, said Mrs. Den Dulk. “To make change happen a mind-shift is required. The #FairStart campaign aims at engaging the larger public in a debate and for everyone to see they have a role to play to make sure every child can have a fair chance in life”.

The ‘Fair Start’ films were produced with the participation of a group of children who brought their own daily reality to the film set.

“We have made this film with a lot of love and we hope you like it. Help us get a fair start, life. We deserve a #FairStart”

“The #FairStart campaign was quite a remarkable and prestigious project to work on for me, as well as the entire team. at Avant Garde Films. The most memorable thing was working with such wonderful kids from ‘Bigger Than Life’ NGO. They played cast and crew really well. For me, and I am sure for everyone who was a part of this project, it would be the most memorable experience and will be close to our hearts forever” – Abhishek De, Avant Garde Films.

Crew:

Sahil: Camera man - Sahil is a 14 year old enthusiastic boy who is interested in sports and music. He is an avid cricket fan and wants to pursue cricket as his profession. He has a mother and a sister who love him. His father passed away 3 years back. He helps his uncle in laundry work. Sahil goes to an English medium school.

Suraj: Art Director - Suraj is 10 years old. He has 3 sisters and 2 brothers. His mother works very hard selling corn. He helps his mother at her work. His father is an alcoholic and fights at home. Suraj wants to become a scientist when he grows up.

Shawn: Camera Man / Director - Shawn is 15 years old. He has 6 siblings. Since his father has left home and mother keeps unwell he has taken up the responsibility to work and earn money for his home. So he goes everyday to clean gutters. He does not go to school but wants to. He is good at football. He is very helpful and caring by nature.

Belinda: Costume - Belinda is 13 years old. She goes to a municipal school. She is Shawn's sister. She works at home after school hours. She is a very shy girl but aspires to become an office accountant when she grows up.

About UNICEF

UNICEF works in more than 190 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments. For more information about UNICEF and its work visit: www.unicef.org and www.unicef.org/india

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[1] SRI-IMRB Study for MHRD, Govt. of India, 2014

[2] Census 2011 

[3] 2013 Report of Sample Registration System

[4] RSOC 2013-14

[5] UNICEF-WHO Joint Monitoring Report 2015

[6] Census + RSOC 2013-14

[7] NFHS3