Health for the Millions, Vol. 12, No. 5&6, Oct. - Dec. 1986
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- Title
- Health for the Millions, Vol. 12, No. 5&6, Oct. - Dec. 1986
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HEALTH FOR THE MILLIONS
VOLUNTARY HEALTH ASSOCIATION OF INDIA
October-December, 1986
Volume XII
No. 5 & 6
Information is not communication. Information is,only potential communication. We communicate this in
formation using various media. Our messages and the media we choose have cultural connotations and reflect
our social environment’s beliefs, taboos, prejudices and preferences. In this issue of Health for the Millions,
we make an attempt to define various commonly used media, along with their potential and limitations.
This year saw a bloodless revolution in the Philippines—a revolution energized, sustained and supported
by “Veritas", the Catholic Radio and its news magazine. For this effort, Cardinal Sin, Archbishop of Manila,
was honoured at the 14th Congress of the Union Catholique Internationale de la Presse (UCIP) at Vigyan Bhavan,
New Delhi on 22nd October. His key note address, explaining the role of communication for political change,
appeal's on p. 21.
November '86 saw a unique development mela at Chakradharpur, Bihar. Birsa mela is held in the memory
of Birsa Munda, a tribal freedom fighter who was martyred in 1900. The mela was organised Jointly by an
enthusiastic IAS Officer and the tribal youth of Singhbhum district, in an attempt to demystify new technologies
for development. The Bihar VHA found this a unique opportunity for massive health education. Some of the
learnings irom this experience are shared on p. 18.
1986 has witnessed many changes in VHAI's existence: the inauguration of the new VHAI building, the
sad demise of Fr. James S. Tong, the appointment of Shri Alok Mukhopadhyay as Executive Director (Designate)
and the VHAI renewal where the staff and board of VHAI rededicated themselves to making health a reality
for all through people's participation.
For some time now, we have felt the need to enlarge the scope of Health for the Millions. We have discussed
this matter within VHAI and outside. The general feeling is that we expand Health for the Millions to cover
a particular theme in each issue: we incorporate a section covering national and international news on primary
health care and finally, initiate a debate on various aspects of primary health care around controversial issues.
We hope that the third section will enable the readers to participate in Health for the Millions more effectively.
Before we finalise this format we would like to have your views so that we can match your expectation.
Please fill in the attached suggestion card and send it to us soon. We are suspending the publication of Health
for the Millions till March to get all set for the new format from April. From April onwards, our magazine will
have 36 pages, a better get-up and layout and hopefully, vastly improved contents, .
Please do not forget to send your suggestion card.
With very best wishes for 1987 from all of us at VHAI!
Editor
CONTENTS
Communication for Development
Radio in Support of Mother and Child Health
As if People Don't Matter Anymore
Folk and Mass Media
Fair Communication: Reflections on Birsa Mela
Communication, Culture, Religion: The Philippine Experience
Sharing for Action: A Report on ESPOM II
1
io
14
16
18
21
25
This issue of Health for the Millions has been compiled and edited by Radha Holla Bhar, for Voluntary Health Association of India,
40. Institutional Area (near Qutab Hotel), New Delhi-110016. Designed and Produced by Parallel Lines Editorial Agencv E-8
Kalkaji, New Delhi-110019.
COMMUNICATING
FOR DEVELOPMENT
Communication is an essential
part of education. Education can
never be neutral. Education is a tool
that helps either reinforce existing
values or questions them with the
idea of ‘liberation’. In the latter form,
it sharpens people’s critical facilities.
Health education is again a
political tool for advocating change
by empowering people to demand
their rights by making them aware
of the nature of exploitation that
they suffer: this is ‘liberating’ educa
tion. Or it can suggest means of
symptomatic relief without facing
the real causes of ill health: this is
‘progressive’ education.
Health education, to be truly effec
tive in conscientizing people, does
not involve any readymade
packages. Mere transfer of informa
tion is not education. Education has
to be action-oriented. Such educa
tion assumes that the educator and
the learner share and exchange their
roles in the process of increasing
their knowledge together. Health
education involves the individual.
the community and their relation to
each other, in the process of problem
solving. So it involves community
systems—social, economic, political
and religious.
Who is a Health Educator?
A health educator need not
necessarily be a doctor or a health
professional. He is very often
another person, who lives in the
community, observes, listens and
wants to offer his time towards help
ing others become aware of the
reason for their exploitation. He does
not treat the community as a
laboratory to find out whether his
experiments are successful, but
together with the people, works to
find solutions.
Guidelines for a Health Educator
★ Admit openly to your students
that an education gap exists, and
that the shortcoming is yours as
much as theirs.
★ Understand in a personal way
the life, language, customs, and
needs of your students and their
communities.
★ Try not be the main teacher,
especially if your field of
specialization is narrow, and
limited to health care.
★ Always begin with the
knowledge and skills the
learners already have, and help
them build on these.
★ Make yourself as unnecessary as
possible, as soon as possible.
David Wernor, Helping Health Workers Learn
The health educator is humble
and maintains the lifestyle of the
community. He often has to unlearn
what he has professionally learnt
and is open to new concepts. He
often has to change the values
imbued in him through his own
previous lifestyle. The health com
municator views health problems in
the context of the existing social,
political and economic structures
within the community. He learns
how the community has traditional
ly solved its problems. He finds out
what the community believes to be
the causes of ill-health. He first
approaches everyone as a learner
and is willing to learn from each
person in the community.
The health educator does not
impose his ideas on the commu
nity, but through a series of
communication exercises, guides
and facilitates the community's
recognition of problems and the
finding of solutions.
What is Communication?
Communication is the process of
attempting to change the behavior
of others. Communication attempts
to alter the original relationship
which we have with the environ
ment. It attempts to reduce the
probability that we are solely the
target of external forces and
increases the probability that we
exert force on ourselves.
Communication is sharing: The com
municator’s job is chiefly helping
people learn to look at things in a
new way. Sharing real life ex
periences helps people see their
problems in perspectives other than
those they are used to. When you
share yourself with others, share
your feelings, your deepest
thoughts, you help others open up
and speak of things that really
matter to them.
When people exchange ideas and
information, they can work together
better. They strengthen one
another’s understanding and sup
port one another in action.
Sharing also entails parting with
information that gives power. Health
secrets are the most closely-guarded
secrets of the medical profession.
Sharing this knowledge helps over
come the imbalance in the power of
society over its health and promotes
self reliance.
Communication is trust: Sharing
oneself fully and honestly with
others is the first step in building
trust. Trust is the cornerstone of
communication. We believe in the
people whom we trust; we are will
ing to try out new ideas with them.
Trust comes when we live the
lifestyle of the people we are
1
★ Treat learners as equals—and as
friends.
★ Respect their ideas and build on
their experiences.
★ Invite cooperation; encourage
helping those who are behind.
★ Make it clear that we do not have
all the answers.
★ Welcome criticism, questioning,
initiative and trust.
★ Live and dress modestly; accept
only modest pay.
★ Defend the interests of those in
greatest need.
★ Live and work in the communi
ty. Learn together with people,
share their dreams.
David Werner, Helping Health
Learn.
Living Communication, Abner M. Eisenberg, Prentice Hall
communicating with, when we are
consistent in what we say and do.
Trust comes with humility. We need
to be honest about our potential and
our limitations. We have to accept
that our knowledge is not only
incomplete, but may be inappro
priate or wrong in the situation. We
should show our willingness to learn
from others.
Communication is listening: Listen
carefully and listen constantly. If
you have been open about yourself
and have facilitated sharing sessions
where everyone opens up, you will
be amazed at the perceptions of the
community. The community will
appear to be much more knowledge
able than you had probably
assumed. Always remember: com
munication is a two-way process.
Ask people about their problems.
Elicit their opinions and views.
Listen carefully to the answers.
These answers are the most impor
tant for helping you decide what you
want to communicate.
Listening helps build trust.
Listening helps you identify
priorities.
Communication Is honesty:
2
Be
Community health education is
successful to the extent that it
empowers ordinary people gain
greater control over their
health and their lives.
honest about what you can or will
do, and what you are prepared to
and capable of doing. This streng
thens trust. Be sure to keep your
promises.
Communication Is feedback: When
people share their information, feel
ings and problems with you, these
are important inputs in helping you
develop plans of action. Communi
cate progress back to those who
have helped you. Report back any
changes in plans that they have
helped you to make.
Communication is more than words:
It is more than films, slide shows.
puppets, mime, talking and reading.
Body language is also communica
tion. People are always responding
with non-verbal signals. Observe
them. Note them. They will give you
an indication of what your audience
is feeling.
Workers
What Does Communication
Entail?
Communication entails identify
ing a ‘message’ that needs to be
communicated. The message needs
to be put into a ‘code’—translated in
to symbols. These symbols can be
words, pictures, photographs,
stories, etc. The message is then
‘transmitted’—through books,
newspapers, posters, films, charts,
graphs, plays, songs, etc. The other
person to whom you are com
municating ‘receives’ the message
either visually, by hearing, or
through any of the other senses. He
then ‘decodes’ the message.
Any breakdown in any one of the
processes can cause a communica
tion breakdown.
Communication Breakdown in the
Process is Duo to
Vague idea or too general
Unclear symbols
Misunderstanding of the
symbols, indifference and
misperception
Unskilled transmission
Outer disturbances and
interference.
A. Jebamalaidass, Make a Model Before
Building.
Methods of Communicating
Communication methods include
interpersonal approaches (directed
towards individuals and groups).
visual aids and mass media. In
terpersonal communication - is
usually the best because it allows for
more interaction, more sharing, and
more learning for both the teacher
and the learner. Health education is
done best by these methods.
However, when mass awareness
needs to be created, other media
also come into play. A mixed media
approach possibly has belter results
than using any one single medium.
Campaigns particularly need a
multimedia approach, and also a
multi target approach. Choosing ap
propriate media depends on the ef
fects desired as also the cost.
When communicating, be sure of
what you want to communicate.
Does your message promote self
reliance, does it seek to transfer
knowledge, does it seek to
demystify? This is as important, in
fact more important than the
message itself, in the long run.
Individual educational efforts in
clude home visits, visits to work
place, and casual visits to the com
munity. In the following pages we
will try to provide an overview of the
other channels of communication.
Demonstration
Demonstration is a carefully
preplanned process. It starts as a
one-way communication but in the
hands of a good communicator, can
become a two-way process. It is best
suited to small groups, and to
teaching particular skills. It has
much more effect if the participants
themselves then practice what has
been demonstrated.
Group Discussions (group dynamics)
When a group of persons from dif
ferent backgrounds, class and caste
come together for the first time, they
may have difficulty in opening up
and sharing. Some of the people will
be talkers, and some listeners. The
talkers cap easily dominate the
discussion. They are also usually
from the more powerful section of
the community. Initially, they may
all listen, and expect you to do all
the talking.
A good leader looks for ways in
which she can get the more silent
and less powerful persons share
their ideas and feelings without fearing repercussions. The group leader
helps by supporting ideas, even if
she herself may not agree with some
of them. She facilitates by asking
questions, and helping the par
ticipants clarify their ideas.
Some helpful suggestions:
☆ Sit in a circle with everyone else.
This will help you feel an equal
and not superior to others.
☆ Dress in local style if possible.
★ Listen more than you speak.
Speak only to evoke responses
from the participants.
* Ensure that each one gets a
chance to speak. Do not let
anyone interrupt, especially
yourself.
■a- Be honest about your skills. Do
not presume to know all the
answers.
* Be open and friendly.
☆ Laugh with the group, not at
them.
* Try and remain in the
background. Encourage others to
take the lead.
☆ Recognize conflicts of interest.
Help participants find solutions
DOWN THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD or FROM FACT TO FALLACY
/
WHAT HAPPENED
THE EVENT
THE LABEL
(1st Inference)
2nd Inference
3rd Inference
4th Inference
ETC.
/
/
"1 see a
/
/
/
MR. "B" SAYS:
MR. "A" SAYS:
"It is a man
with a brief
case."
"He is taking
some work home
with him."
"He must be a very
dedicated man to
take work home
with him."
"A man that dedi
cated is bound to
be a success in life
and an asset to our
community."
ETC.
"1 see a
1
/mAN AND
1
/
I
S
(
BRIEFCASE
f
man and
briefcase/
\
COMMENT
l
\
1
\
"It is a man
with a brief
case "
yu
I
"Spies sometimes
use briefcases.
'
*
1
ff MAN AND^ \
//
BRIEFCASE S $ Jr\
I \< \
1
j
"1 wouldn't be
surprised if that
man doesn't turn out
to be a spy.
MAN AND
BRIEFCASE
"This country is
infested with spies
and unless we do
something about it
we're in trouble."
MAN AND
BRIEFCASE
No argument
i Inference because
\ it could be a
\ woman dressed
i like a man.
I Going off in
\ different
\ directions.
\
\
Where’s everybody going?
Brother!
ENDSVILLc
Communication—The Transfer of Meaning, Don Fabun, Glencose Press.
themselves. Group discussions
are best confined to groups of four
io ten people.
Storytelling
Storytelling is as old as com
munication itself. It is a natural part
of communication in communities
where learning still heavily leans on
‘audio’ methods. Stories project
situations and concepts without
confronting the listener directly with
his inadequate knowledge. They
allow listeners to identify with the
hero, who usually solves the pro
blems in the end. This is particular
ly true in cases where the practices
advocated in the story contrast with
or contradict existing beliefs and
practices. Il is precisely for this
reason that care should be taken in
selecting the story. The story cannot
afford to mock existing attitudes.
beliefsand practices, if the aim is to
give people confidence in their own
selves and their cu!lures.
Storytelling should be followed
with group discussions for further
expanding the concepts introduced.
Role play
Role play helps develop skills and
4
understanding through guided prac
tice. In this aspect it is similar to
drama. The members of the learn
ing group act out real life situations
and problems. But a drama has an
end planned in advance, which role
play does not have. In a role play.
the beginning is there. The end
develops through the play and is
often a surprise.
For example, a nutrition professor
once played the role of a poor
mother with eight children, and no
source of income except for a
depleted piece of land; a mother who
woke up at five in the morning after
a night of fitful sleep; a mother who
had to work as a labourer besides
having to cook, clean, fetch.water,
care for her husband, in-laws and
children. Towards the end, when
the money lender asked her to pay
the instalment on the loan she had
taken, she hit him on the head with
a handy paperweight. Fortunately.
the person playing the role of the
money lender was not seriously
hurt.
Role play helps one get into
another person’s skin, and feel the
problems from inside, as it were. It
helps the player explore ways of
overcoming the situation he would
meet in real life.
Role playing is especially useful
for developing practical skills in peo
ple who learn from life rather than
from books; it is helpful to the latter
also in putting into practice what he
has learnt in theory.
Such play helps develop leader
ship skills, and organizational skills.
It teaches players look for alter
natives in problem-solving, and
helps them critically analyze the
social, economic and political factors
that mould a person’s health.
Role playing is usually done in
small groups. There is no need for
any audience. The duration is usual
ly upto 20 minutes, if the action
maintains a high level of interest.
Role play works best when people
know and trust one another.
Games
Games arc fun, and at the same
time, can be used for imparting Im
portant messages. With adequate
Flipcharts
Flipcharts keep charts, pictures,
posters, diagrams neat and clean
and in proper order. The flip chart
keeps them bound. The pictures are
often connected by a story line.
Notes or explanations are written on
the back of the previous picture. A
flip chart needs a table, and is useful
for generating discussions in small
groups.
Flashcards
They are similar to flip charts. As
they are not bound, they are more
flexible. They can be rearranged to
tell different stories, or to present dif
ferent ideas. They create a dramatic
emotional impact through the flow
of pictures. Narration and handling
of flashcards are important for giv
ing appeal to the picture stories.
preparation and involvement of the
learners, they can become very rele
vant to the real conditions existing
in the community. However, if they
ar© not properly prepared, games
can pass on a lot of hidden
messages—especially games where
dice is used. Such games, though
ostensibly helping people get control
over their own health, can reinforce
ideas of‘fatalism’—the role that fate.
chance and luck play in life, and
thus shift responsibility from the
individual.
Games are best used in small
groups and are very effective with
children.
Songs
Song is a very attractive medium.
Songs and poems on health can be
effective if they have been developed
by the people. They help reinforce
messages and are a very good aid to
memory.
Puppets
Puppets again are fun. They are
also an accepted traditional form of
communication. They can interact
with the audience and elicit
responses immediately. They are
particularly effective with children.
Puppets need a dramatic story
with exaggerated action. Flat pup
pets do not need any props. Other
puppets may need simple props.
practise using puppets thoroughly
before you try it in front of an
audience.
Suggestions for effective use:
★ Keep the puppets facing the
audience.
★ Do not show yourself.
★ Make the good characters very
good and the bad horrible.
★ Avoid silent pauses.
★ Make your puppets speak to the
group. You are only the voice. Let
your voice be loud and clear.
Move the puppet when it speaks.
★ Change your voice when you in
troduce another puppet.
★ Make up the story as you go
along. Respond to the group’s
interests.
★ Let the puppet ask questions,
especially those you haven’t yet
asked.
★ Get the puppet to address
individuals directly.
★ The puppet directly answers
questions put by the group.
Flannelgraphs
These are flannel backed cut out
pictures placed in a series on a flan
nel board in the sequence of the
story. They help visualize concepts
and recreate situations involving
motion. They are again used in
groups like flashcards and
flipcharts.
Chalkboard
The chalkboard can be used in
conjunction with the other teaching
aids, to summarize essential points,
to draw diagrams, to clarify certain
points and to write our directions.
Remember: the chalkboard is not the
basis of the lesson; it only helps to clarify
it.
Newspaper
Wall newspapers are like bulletin .
boards which are regularly updated.
These newspapers are printed on
only one side, and are glued to the
wall. They contain considerable
amount of information. They are
useful for initiating discussion, infor
ming about new events, and as they
are stuck at the same place each
time, they can become an incentive
for adult literacy. Illustrations
enhance the newspaper’s appeal.
Posters
Posters are signs. They , inform
about coming events. They attract
attention. Posters can carry health
messages. They can motivate ac
tion. To be effective, posters should
5
A.
Communication Sender
B. Communication Receiver
DOES
COMMUNICATION
REALLY OCCUR
OR ONLY
ONE SIDED
‘LECTURING’
HAPPEN HERE ?
COMPARE
THE SECOND
SITUATION
WITH THE FIRST
Communication can be sucessful only if the SENDER of the MESSAGE also becomes the
RECEIVER of communication.
‘Teaching Village Health Workers—a Guide to the Process’, Ruth Harnar, Anne Cummins, VHA1
carry one message, with a simple
drawing. Colour strengthens the im
pact of the poster.
Posters can be used for initiating
discussions, creating awareness, or
as a health education aid.
Posters should be in local
language, and the illustration
should be applicable to local
conditions.
Books
As in all forms of communication,
the communicator must be clear
about his audience. A book or a
manual as an educational tool is
Judged by the response of the reader.
If he Is bored, he will simply shut it.
Written texts should be
★ warm and personal. Friendly
texts invite one to go ahead and
read more.
★ simple in structure without being
naive.
★ simplified by the use of diagrams.
★ Interspersed with appropriate
illustration.
The form of the book can be infor
mative. instructive or persuasive.
The choice depends on the target
audience, who writes the book, and
6
why. Printed word, like other forms
of communication, can either
‘domesticate' i.e. tie people more
closely to their realities; the hidden
messages in the book may be rein
forcing the reader’s role and status
within the existing system.
Liberating literature on the other
hand questions the system, conveys
knowledge on how to overcome it,
demystifies technical knowledge
and shares it with the layman.
Classic examples of liberating
literature is “Where There Is No
Doctor” and “Helping Health
Workers Learn”. Using all the three
forms where appropriate, the books
are person-centred. They acknow
ledge the reality of the people, and
help them gain skills to improve
their control over their health status.
While books can be occasionally
used for group discussions, they are
more useful as reference material
and aids to memory. They are also
helpful in teaching new skills.
especially if accompanied by
diagrams, flow charts and tables.
Illustrations
Illustrations are-very.good com
municators. They help in
understanding of the printed word
particularly.
Illustrations
★ bring visual interpretation to the
written word
★ bridge information gaps left over
in a written form
★ act as an exciter to further
imagination
★ bring an element of entertain
ment
★ simplify complicated concepts
★ present a realistic documentation
★ work as a creative element in a
good piece of printed material
★ work purely as a decorative
element
R. Kothari, The Role of Illustration in
Adult Education Material,
Illustrations can be and often are
misunderstood. While appropriate
drawings increase comprehension,
inappropriate ones block communi
cation.
While preparing visuals, work
with a talented person of the com
munity. She is often able to draw
HOW TO FIELD TEST
A- Decide who exactly is your audience.
☆ What do you want your audience to do with your message?
* Select a sample group from the audience. The group must have at
least 30 persons.
* Explain to the group what you are doing and why.
* Revise after testing.
REMEMBER: YOU ARE TESTING YOUR MATERIAL—NOT
THE AUDIENCE.
much better than you can. She also
visualizes things the way the com
munity generally would, and draws
them in a manner understandable to
everyone. Test all visuals before you
finally print them. If you are using
visuals in a book meant for a large
section of the population, test them
in all the places where they would
be used. For example, people in
North India sleep on a cot or bed,
while in the South, they sleep on the
floor. Women of Punjab wear salwar
kameez, women in Maharashtra
wear a sari tucked up between their
legs, and women in the South and
East wear a sari in their own styles.
Again, different foods are available
all over the country, and are served
in different ways.
Visuals should try and motivate
action.
Photos, Slides and Filmstrips
Photos are the basis of slides and
filmstrips. Slides can be used effec
tively to
* generate discussion and debate in
small groups;
yr motivate into action;
•A- question existing values;
* recognize signs and symptoms;
and
* teach practical skills.
Slides are usually accompanied by
narration—either pre-recorded or
adapted to the needs' of the au
dience. Slides can be interchanged,
or replaced by other more ap
propriate slides to change the thrust
of the presentation or to make it
more relevant to the area. If there is
on-going discussion, a particular
slide can be projected for as long as
is needed. Slides require narration.
This makes it a flexible tool for com
munication as the script can be
changed to suit the audience.
Filmstrips have similar advan
tages. However, as they have move
ment, and often a story, they gather
larger crowds. Filmstrips have the
added advantage that they can be
shown at the local cinema. But a
particular frame cannot be changed
if unsuitable, nor can it be shown for
a longer period if found necessary.
Both slides and filmstrips are ex
pensive. and need other accesories
like a slide projector, a film projec
tor, generators (if you are not sure
of the electricity status of the area).
technicians, etc.
Some helpful suggestions
* Try to shoot pictures in which ob
jects are familiar to the people;
yr Shoot at normal angles, and
using natural colour.
★ Shoot filmstrips in logical
sequence.
☆ Keep everything not really essen
tial out of the picture; extra
details merely tend to distract
from the main action or message;
Ar Take people’s permission if you
want Lo use their photographs.
Explain the use you wil be put
ting it to.
yr Pretest the photographs, slides
and filmstrips.
yr Introduce a film before you show
it, so that the audience knows
what to expect. It will give them
a purpose for viewing the film.
RECEIVER
Response:
"I don't
like it."
Division Manager
response:
"OK, I'll got
SENDER
the agency
to work
on it."
r
SH
RECEIVER
message:
Wants to
announce
a new
product.
message:
"Here's that
new product
ad."
Message:
"The boss
doesn't
like it."
Advertising Manager
response:
"We’ll start
SENDER
work
right away.'*
message:
Information
on new
product—
"Prepare an
p ad.”
message:
"Here's the
ad."
Message:
'The diem
doesn't
like It."
response:
"We’ve
turned
it over
to our
_
creative
department."
RECEIVER
Message:
"What’s the
matter with
you guys,
anyway?”
response:
"We’re
working
on it."
Advertising Agency |[
Account
Representative
SENDER
T
RECEIVER [
j Agency Creative
*
—
Supervisor
SENDER
message:
"Prepare
an od."
message:
"Prepare
an ad
about this
thing."
message:
"Here's the
ad.”
message:
"Here's the
ad."
RECEIVER
*^Copy writer/artist
SENDER
Communications—The Transfer of Meaning, Don Fabun, Glencose Press
★ The screening should be follow
ed by discussion. This will help
the group fix the important
messages in their mind, and will
clarify any points raised. If
necessary, show the film again.
Radio and Television
The choice of whether to listen or
not. to see or not. lies entirely with
the listener or the viewer, in both
these media. They are basically a
one-way communication. However,
if the programme has been devised
with the help of the listeners and the
health communicators in the field,
they can increase the credibility of
the health communicator.
In many countries, radio listening
groups have been formed, to in
crease the effectiveness of radio
broadcasts. These groups usually
listen to a programme together, and
then discuss it. Questions which the
health worker cannot answer are
referred back to the radio or TV sta
tion, and the answers relayed at the
next broadcast. Especially good pro
grammes can be taped for further
use.
Radio and TV programmes for in
itiating action cannot be very effec
tive without follow-up by the other
services. For example, a programme
t hat motivates mothers to immunize
their children is not of any use if the
local health centre does not have
any vaccines.
TV and radio to a certain extent
have become commercialized. The
TV particularly has proved very ef
fective in selling new lifestyles and
creating new consumer demands.
Using this medium to sell health and
development messages means the
further commercialization of the
fundamental right to health and life
with human dignity.
Both radio and TV in India are
controlled by the government. Many
of the programmes are produced by
the Centre, and are therefore total
ly irrelevant to the people in other
parts of the country. Again, though
there are many TV transmitters set
up, very few people can afford to buy
the TV sets they need to catch the
programmes. Again being govern
ment channels of communication,
these media have to transmit
messages that maintain the existing
structures of power. Messages sent
over the radio and TV today can on
ly be progressive and not liberating.
However, within these con
straints, programmes can be devis
ed with the local community, and
using traditional forms of com
munication, for beaming health
messages to a wider audience. The
basic purpose of such messages is
reinforcing the message of the
health worker in the field and in
creasing her credibility in the eyes
of the community.
TIPS FOR ILLUSTRATING
★ Use illustrations and words
together.
★ Use illustrations to motivate and
remind.
★ Discuss the illustrations with
audience.
★ Explain all symbols.
★ One illustration—one idea.
★ Use numbers to show the order of
viewing.
★ Make illustrations realistic.
★ Use realistic colours.
★ Use normal view for showing ob
jects. people and action.
★ Field test each illustration.
REFERENCES:
Handbook of National Conference of
Culture. All India Association for
Christian Higher Education. 1986.
2. Where There Is No Doctor. David
Werner. Hesperian Foundation
3. Helping Health Workers Learn. David
Werner. Hesperian Foundation
4. Health Education. N. Scotncy. Rural
Health Series 3, African Medical and
Research Foundation
5. Medical Service. Vol. 39. No. 8. Sept-Oct
1982. Catholic Hospital Association
of India.
6. A Manual oj Learning Exercises, Ruth
Harnar, Lynn Zelmer. Amy E.
Zelmer, VHAI
7. Make A Model Before Building, N
Jebamalaidass. Scarsolin
8. Basic Communication Skills for Develop
ment Workers. Draft. 1976. for the
Communication Strategy' Project.
Ministry of Information and Broad
casting, Colombo. Sri Lanka
9 ■ Community Health Education in Develop
ing Countries, Action Peace Corps. In
formation Collection & Exchange Pro
gram & 1 raining Journal Manual No.
8, 1978
1.
WHERE DOES THE PROBLEM LIE?
An Analysis of Communication to Aid Solving Breakdown Problems
Characteristics
Ingredients
Sources
Ability
Knowledge
Attitudes
Culture
Social System
—to reason out
— to plan
—to decide
— to select
—of the subject
—ot the audience
—of the medium
—of the communication
techniques
—of the communication
approaches
—of the society
—of the communication
theory and process
—of the communication
situations
—•towards oneself
—-towards the audience
—■towards the medium
—-towards the purpose
—perception
—Interpretations
—usages
—barriers
—concepts
—acceptance
—involvement
—contribution
—similarity of
culture to
receiver
—position
—role he plays
—to adapt
— to act
—to listen
Messages
Channels
Weight
Content
Motivation
Adaptation
Influence
— to bring out the
correct perception
—enriching
—affect the belief
—local customs
—stimulating
—provoke thinking
—vocabularies
— to capture the
attention
—simple and
understandabl e
—change the customs
— to clarify the
interpretation
— to effect timely
response
—too general or
vague
—suited to audience
—create problems
—expressive
gestures
and habits
—differing
meanings
—through
frequency
—through
isolation
—through
reward
Capacity
Variety
Effects
Availability
Techniques
—to transmit
—five senses and the
nervous system
—easy access to
reach many
—traditional
media
—structure
and condlon
of the
channel
—relevancy of
the C
—balanced
use of the
channels
—at the
appropriate
time
—correct selection of the1—clarity of the channel
channel
— reduction of the effort
—group media
—to capture attention
—right use
—adaptable to
environment
—to convey the
correct meaning
—multi channels use
—known to the
audience
—to amplify
Receivers
--towards the receiver’s
groups
—to multiply messages
—to be available
— light wave channel
—sound wave channel
—electronic systems.
Ability
Knowledge
Attitudes
—economically
viable
Culture
—of the subject
—towards oneself
— to recognise the
—of the source
—towards the source
stimuli
— to perceive the purpose —of the medium
—of the society, environ —towards the medium
of stimuli
ment and culture
—towards the stimuli
—to interpret
—of the communication —towards his group
—to respond
—situation
—and least
effort
Social System
—cultural barriers —concept
—customs and
—acceptance
traditions
—understanding — involvement
— interpretation
—contribution
Make a model Before Building, A. Jebamalaidass
9
THE RADIO IN SUPPORT OF MOTHER
AND CHILD HEALTH
P.V. KRiSHNAMURTHY.
*
PETER CHEN.
**
Radio broadcasting has been in In
dia since 1927. The Government of
India named it ‘All India Radio'
when it nationalised the radio ser
vice in 1930. Today. AIR broadcasts
from 86 stations, covering about
89.65 per cent of a population of
about 750 million people.
AIR’s programmes include pro
grammes for development such as
agricultural extension, women
welfare, school broadcasts, youth
an«J current affairs, entertainment
programmes, commercial programmes and external services
programmes.
In order to improve the special
programmes for women and
children, the Ministry of Information
and Broadcasting of the Govern
ment of India, in collaboration with
UNICEF, has been organising
special
media
orientation
workshops on Mother and Child
Health for radio producers since
1982. These workshops focus on the
first year of a child’s life, from con
ception to 12 months of age and the
health interventions required for the
survival of the mother and child.
These workshops have been unique
in that they are all area and regionalspecific, involving decision makers
of various state governments from
the highest office down to the lowest
rung of field workers—the Anganwadl workers and Auxiliary Nurses
and Midwives.
Programme Formulation
Methodology
The radio series in support of Mother
and Child health is evolved during
a ‘Media Orientation Workshop’ for
the producers of relevant program
mes. This is a six-day workshop
where participants drawn from the
10
Social Welfare Department, Health
and Family Welfare Department, as
well as the Rural and Tribal Welfare
Department of the concerned states.
interact with media personnel from
the All India Radio. Doordarshan,
Field Publicity Department and the
Song and Drama Division of the
Ministry of Information and Broad
casting of the Central Government.
The number of participants and
resource persons are usually around
75 to 80, to optimise the organisa
tion of the workshop. The purpose
of the workshop is to
★ motivate producers to develop an
empathy for field-level workers
and to realise their role as a sup
port to them.
★ make the field level workers
realise the importance of media
as a support to their programmes
and its legitimising and confir
matory potential.
★ involve decision makers and sub
ject matter specialists in pro
viding the needed services and in
put to the programme.
★ develop the technique of a team
mode approach to programme
conceptualising, planning and
production.
The participants selected for the
workshop are such that all levels of
functionaries connected with the
implementation of the social welfare
programme and delivery of health
services are represented.
The programme producers from
AIR and Doordarshan are those
who are responsible for the produc
tion of women welfare programmes,
children’s programmes, Farm Radio
Officers and Extension Officers,
Field Publicity Officers from the
Mass Education and Information
Department of the State Govern
ment are also invited to participate.
Participants from the Social Welfare
Department range from the Deputy
Secretary-ICDS, Deputy SecretaryDD, to Anganwadi workers. Super
visors, DDPOS and the District
Social Welfare Officers. Participants
from the Health Department include
the Director of Health Services, the
Director of Family Welfare. District
Medical Services. Lady Health
Visitors. ANMS and traditional mid
wives (Dai).
Audience Profile
At the first plenary session of the
workshop, an audience profile of the
people of the area within the listen
ing range of the radio station is
presented to the participants. This
audience profile study is normally
undertaken by a social scientist/researcher of a University or Col
lege of Home Science or Agriculture
located in the same area. This has
the added advantage that the resear
cher is a local person and he/she
understands the language and
culture of the local population.
Besides the usual demographic
and psychographic profile, the study
highlights the knowledge, attitudes
and practices of mother and child
health (and by its extension, care of
the pregnant and lactating women
and new born infants) of the rural
population. The study also takes a
look at the medical services and
facilities available, as well as the
local belief, taboos and superstitions
associated with child-bearing and
child-rearing. This ‘audience profile’
is to give the participants an idea
about the people that they will in
teract with during the field visits.
Though all the participants are from
the same state with most of them
from the same region, it is con
sidered important to recap for them
what most of them may already
know of the KAP towards mother
and child health, through a scientific
study.
Self-Introduction for Breaking
the Ice
As the participants are drawn from
a cross-section of activities in the
social development area, each per
son is asked to introduce
himself/herself and say a few words
about his/her experience in the field
till date. This is a very effective way of
‘breaking the ice’ between the ‘class’
and ‘status’ barriers normally en
countered when people working at
different levels are brought together.
The participants are told that the
status of superiors and subordinates
will not be in force for the next five
days but that they are to sit on a
common platform to evolve the
series of radio programme schedule.
Field Visits
The participants are divided into
small groups, normally around eight
to a group, with each group a
heterogeneous whole as far as possi
ble. Each group will have at least
one media person, one social
worker, one health worker and one
resource/decision making person.
The resource persons are drawn
from specialists on various fields
such as communication, nutrition,
pediatrics, gynaecology, preventive
and social medicine and ad
ministrators of the social welfare
programmes. Throughout the
workshop, there are no lectures or
presentation of papers (except for
the audience profile initially). The
resource persons act as guides to the
participants to clarify any doubts
they may have in the field of their
specialization beside participating
as full-time participants.
On the second and third days of
the workshop, each group is sent out
to visit different villages within the
listening radius of the radio
transmitter. As the radio transmit
ter is usually located at the outskirts
of a city, some groups travel as far
as 80 to 100 km away for their field
visits, while others are distributed
between urban slum areas and near
by villages.
The purpose of the field visits is for
the participants to get to know the
routine working of a day in the
village, unbiased by previous infor
mation of their arrival so that the
villagers do not get the feeling that
an ‘inspection’ team is visiting them
and that they are to ‘prepare’ for the
visitors.
On arrival at the villages, the
groups normally split up into
smaller groups of two or three per
sons so that they can interact with
the villagers easily and conduct a
door to door survey. The survey is
not a regular structured one but em
phasis is placed on observation and
unstructured questions. No doubt
this method makes it a little difficult
to analyse data thus collected but it
is invaluable for creating rapport
with the villagers who usually see
visitors as strangers or government
people who normally come to ask a
lot of questions, make a lot of pro
mises and leave without ever going
back to implement their promises.
The information sought in this
survey is focused on the period of
conception, to delivery, till the child
attains his/her first birthday, the
type of health care/interventions
that rural women take to ensure the
safe delivery and survival of their
children and themselves, the
facilities available and whether they
use them or not, the availability of
radio sets in the villages, and the
types of programmes they listen to
and whether they will listen to
special programmes on mother and
child care if they are produced for
broadcast on a regular basis.
It is interesting to note that in all
the 16 workshops organised since
1982, though most of the topics
evolved for the radio series were
about the same (as the process of
pregnancy and childbirth always re
main the same), each region where
these workshops were held, laid dif
ferent emphasis on different aspects
of pre-natal,/- post-natal and child
care. Thusr; Haryana in the northern
part of India stressed on the early
age of marriage and early concep
tion as a problem to be addressed,
while participants of the workshop
held in the Koraput district of Orissa
saw the problem to be prolonged
breast feeding of the child among
the tribals of Orissa.
An important component of the
field visit is the pre-testing (actual
ly, post-testing) of radio program
mes that are already broadcast. The
purpose of the pre-test is to elicit in
formation from the rural audience as
to whether the programme is one
they normally listen to, and if not
why not, the language used in the
broadcast—whether it is too
academic or technical, and the
format—whether it is pleasing and
acceptable. The rural audience is
also asked to recommend the format
for producing the series of program
mes on mother and child health. In
all the 16 workshops, the radio pro
ducers and other media personnel
found it very useful to have this ac
tual field level interaction with the
villagers. As one of the radio pro
ducers said, they do not have the
time to sit and ‘chat’ with the rural
people when they go out to record a
programme in the field as there is
always the question of time con
straint or availability of transport.
So they record quickly what they
think to be acceptable by the rural
audience and produce a programme
for broadcast. This field interaction
also enables the participants from
other departments to see the need of
linking up service facilities and
departmental interaction.
11
Group Work
During the remaining two days of
the workshop, each group compiles
and analyses the data collected from
the field visits. Based on the infor
mation gathered, they draw up a list
of recommended radio programme
information gathered, they draw up
a list of recommended radio pro
gramme schedules to be produced
and broadcast later. It is during this
group work that the resource per
sons’ expertise comes in handy to
help formulate the schedule. The
schedule lists the problems iden
tified, the messages to be imparted
to address the problems and suggest
programme titles. Normally, an
average of 26 radio programmes are
identified for broadcasting. As each
group comes up with a different
schedule, a technical committee
screens all the schedules and com
piles a ‘master’ schedule which is
presented to a representative of the
Information and Broadcasting
Ministry at the valedictory function
on the sixth day. This schedule
gives the programme producer a list
of topics to produce for the next six
months if these special programmes
are to be broadcast once a week.
An average schedule of radio pro
gramme topics reads like this: (Final
schedule of the Cuttack workshop)
★ Age of Marriage
★ Signs of Pregnancy
★ Diet during Pregnancy
★ Ante-natal Check-up
★ Common Diseases during
Pregnancy and their Prevention
☆ Anaemia
*
☆ Toxaemia of Pregnancy
*
☆ Ante-partum haemorrhage
*
★ Preparation for Delivery
★ Post-natal Care
★ Diet During Lactation
★ Breast Feeding is Best Feeding
★ Colostrum is Necessary for the
*
Child
★ Care of the Newborn
★ When to Immunize the Child and
Why
★ Polio, a crippling Disease
★ Diphtheria, a Dangerous Disease
★ Whooping Cough is Dangerous
★ Tetanus, a Killer Disease
★ Measles—be Careful of Compli
cations.
12
★ Save Your Child from Tuber
culosis
★ Diarrhoea is Dangerous—do not
Neglect it
★ Infants’ Diet
★ Growth and Development of the
Child
★ Weigh Regularly and Know the
Progress of Your Child
★ Common Childhood Diseases
★ Common Accidents during
Infancy
★ At your Service—
☆ Health Institutions
☆ Health Workers
☆ Anganwadi Workers
★ Sanitation for Health
★ Responsibility of the Family for
the Health of the Mother and Child
★ Safe Drinking Water
*
★ Nutrition from the Kitchen
Garden
★ Spacing for the Health of the
Mother and Child.
(The participants at the Cuttack workshopfelt
that those programmes marked with an
*
asterisk
should be treated separately, hence
they came up with a total of 31 programmes
for the schedule.)
Follow-up
The Media Orientation workshop is
only the beginning of the project to
harness the vast potential of the
radio for development communica
tion, focusing on mother and child
health in the rural areas. The next
logical step is io see that radios are
made available to the rural women.
Though statistics show that there is
a high proportion of radio ownership
in India, few of them are actually in
the hands of those who need to use
it most, the rural women. Due to a
variety of reasons stemming from
traditional subservience to the male,
to families not being able to afford
the cost of a radio set, rural women
rarely get the chance to listen to pro
grammes primarily aimed at them.
Collecting groups of women
together to listen to a radio pro
gramme is one thing and getting
them to learn from them is another.
In order to facilitate the absorption
of the child survival and develop
ment (CSD) messages by the rural
women, the Anganwadi worker is
given basic training on how to
generate group discussions. A pre
pointed and pre-paid letter paper is
also given to her along with a guide
book in the form of a flipchart for use
during the group discussions. The
guide book (flipchart) has a picture
of the programme topic on one side
while the other side has a small
synopsis of the radio programme
with a few printed leading—in ques
tions. The questions help the
Anganwadi worker start the discus
sion regarding the programme
broadcast. At the end of the session,
the Anganwadi worker fills in the
pre-paid inland envelope and mails
it to the radio station. If there are
questions raised by the audience she
cannot answer, the reply will be
broadcast during the first five
minutes of the next scheduled
broadcast.
Analysis of Experience
From July 1982 till 31 July 1986, a
total of 16 Media Orientation
workshops were held in 12 states
with participation from 57 AIR sta
tions. Eleven of these stations went
on the air for organised group listen
ing while the others are either in the
various stages of the project or have
already used the information
gathered from the workshop for
their normal programme produc
tion. Some of these stations, after
the completion of the series, have
gone on to repeat the series with
minor modifications based on the
evaluation of the programme under
taken by a third party. It is in
teresting to note that ongoing
monitoring and evaluation of these
programmes showed that there is a
very significant number of
disorganised listeners turning into
the programmes and writing to the
radio stations on their own to seek
more information or clarfication
regarding
the
programme
broadcast.
Observations and results of three
monitoring and evaluation studies
carried out in the states of Haryana,
Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh In In
dia provided a number of organised
listeners’ groups in these three
states were 1470. 1000 and 250,
respectively. It is not known how
many self-owned radio sets are in
these states as the government of In-
dla has discontinued the need for
maintaining license fees for low cost
radio receivers, on which basis an
enumeration could have been made.
For the purpose of the study, a
total of 2041 listeners from organis
ed groups were interviewed while
only 249 independent listeners were
interviewed. Simultaneously, 290
group animators were Included in
the survey with 248 non-listeners
thrown in to complete the picture.
The combined studies showed
that more than 90% of the clientele
consisted of women from the weaker
sections of the community with the
majority of the respondents within
the age group of 20-39 years of age
(approx. 80%). Over 50% of these
women were illiterate while about
35% of these were still nursing their
children. Most of these rural women
also live in Joint or extended families
with or without a radio set in the
house. Though about 60% of them
claimed to have a radio set at home
they rarely listened to radio pro
grammes. This may be because they
could not get access to the radio set
as the husbands carried it off to the
field or their place of work. Motiva
tion for listening to the special pro
grammes promoting child survival
and development were usually pro
vided by the Anganwadi worker as
this took the form of extension
education through the radio. A
welcome feature was that over 45%
of the respondents were elderly
women with grown-up children.
These were the mothers and
mothers-in-law who normally take
the responsibility of bringing up the
children in the village.
The number of women in each
listening group varied, ranging from
10 to 35 with an average centred
around 23 per group. About 60% of
the groups surveyed entered into
discussion of the radio programmes
topic immediately with initiation
from the animators. This gave the
listeners a lot of satisfaction as well
as new knowledge, as their im
mediate doubts were clarified.
Significantly, about 97.19% of the
Anganwadi animators surveyed
reported gain in new knowledge
related to child survival and
development issues while over 74%
women learnt something new.
Topics from which new knowledge
was gained were: common vaccine
preventable diseases (74.83%),
Vitamin A deficiency (69.85%).
anaemia (60.86%), common eye
infections (69.85%), cleanliness of
environment (58.60%), diarrhoea
management (40%), and family
planning/spacing (19.46%). Those
who participated ingroup listening
gained more knowledge through
discussions of the topics after the
broadcast although individual
listeners also made significant
knowledge gains.
The evaluation studies also show
ed that retention of new knowledge
gained varied from topic to topic,
with the highest on accidents
(95.18%), common eye infections
(89.70%), cleanliness and environ
ment (82.5%), diarrhoea manage
ment (50%). family planning/spacing
(43.90%), etc. The reasons given for
the low retention of some of the
messages were that these were too
complex and difficult to follow and
so were forgotten easily. Those
messages that had prior exposure
had higher retention value.
Attitudinal and behavioural
changes were also noticed among
the respondents who listened to the
programmes. Nearly half of the
respondents in Tamil Nadu showed
their willingness to add more
greens, milk and vegetables to their
diets after listening to the broad
casts. A large number of listeners
consulted medical practitioners on
the subjects of immunization,
nutritious food for their children,'
care of children, care of pregnant
women as well as on family spacing.
As a result of these radio program
mes, a large number of rural women
came to know of the services
available to them. They also ac
cepted the advice young Angan
wadi workers gave them on nutri
tion and mother and child care even
though a number of the workers are
unmarried. This was the legitimis
ing effect as previously, the Angan
wadi workers were treated as inex
perienced girls, who were still un
married and “naturally will not
know about childbirth and child
rearing’’ by the older women of the
community.
Tailpiece
As a spin off, All India Radio has
now also included sessions on using
the radio for promoting mother and
child health in the courses con
ducted at their Staff Training In
stitutes at New Delhi and
Hyderabad, for senior programme
producers and station directors who
go in for refresher courses.
Doordarshan has also requested
UNICEF to organise special media
orientation workshops for their TV
programme producers working in
the’INSAT’ stations beginning with
Nagpur, Maharashtra. The ‘INSAT’
stations are those TV stations which
have the responsibility of producing
programmes for telecasting to the
rural area via the Indian Satellite,
INSAT-IB. Presently, there are six
such production centres located in
Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat,
Maharashtra, Orissa and Uttar
Pradesh.
* P. K Krishnamurthy is Media Consultant,
UNICEF ROSCA, New Delhi.
** Peter Chen is Assistant Programme Com
munication Officer, UNICEF, New Delhi.
‘ ‘There is absolutely no inevitability as long as there is a willingness to contemplate what
is happening. ”
13
The New Drug Policy
The new drug policy has been
finally announced, after four years
of intense discussions.
It is well recognized that health
care ideally covers preventive, pro
motive and rehabilitative aspects.
besides the curative. However, in
the absence of such an ideal situa
tion, curative care becomes very
important, and a rational national
drug policy becomes imperative.
Keeping this in mind, numerous
national and international organiza
tions like VHAI, MFC, FMRAI, KSSP,
D AF WB, AIDAN (All India Drug Ac
tion Network), CHAI and WHO
organized conferences, seminars
and workshops. The policy makers
also had recourse to the recommen
dations of the Hathi Committee and
the WHO model list of essential
drugs. The example of Bangladesh’s
drug policy and its positive impact
on the health care system was also
there.
What is the essence of the new
drug policy and why should health
personnel be seriously concerned
about it?
★ Decision making and formula
tion of the drug policy has been done
by the Chemical Ministry, with very
marginal inputs from the Health
Ministry. Not merely has there been
no Informed public debate, with free
availability of the relevant
documents and statistics, but worse
still, even the Parliament has been
bypassed.
* Hike up of drug prices has been
assured to the drug industry.
Estimates of price rise are
anywhere between 20 to 300 per
cent. A rise in the price of essential
drugs will force the government to
spend a larger part of the already
meagre health budget on buying the
same amount of drugs.
The decision to increase the mark
up to 75 and 100 per cent on the two
new categories has already been
taken, while the drugs to be includ
ed in these categories have not yet
been finalized. While an attempt to
keep these lists of Category 1 and 2
drugs as small as possible has been
14
AS IF PEOPLE DON'T MATTER ANYMORE
made, it has been decided to decon
trol all other drugs, leaving the
manufacturers free to fix and adjust
their own prices.
The government proposes to set
up a National Drugs and Phar
maceutical Authority (NDPA)/
which is to be the apex body of
decision-making on drug issues.
However, this authority will be set
up only after three months. Though
such a statutory body was recom
mended even by the Hathi Commi
ttee, the present proposed body is
merely advisory in nature. While its
composition is not specified, special
mention has been made of the
representation of the industry
among its members. There is no
mention at all of health groups, con
sumer groups and other concerned
sections of society. Again, as an ad
visory body, its recommendations
cannot be enforced; those which suit
the industry are bound to be heed
ed, and those which put people
before profits will be put in hiberna
tion, as has been the practice all
along.
★ There is no assurance of
availability of essential drugs. Drawing
up of the nation’s Essential Drugs
List is the first exercise to be under
taken when framing a drug policy.
We have enough recommendations
to go by—WHO’s essential drug list,
the recommendations of the Interna
tional Consultation on Rational
Selection of Drugs, organized by
VHAI, the drug list of Bangladesh,
whose health problems are so
similar to ours. Yet the main thrust
of the new policy appears to be
reducing such a list to the barest
minimum. While the model lists
contain around 250 drugs, under
the new policy Categories 1 and 2
will total about 100 drugs, and
Category 3 has been done away with
altogether.
The government has delicensed
96 drugs in the hope that more
essential drugs will be produced.
Past experience has, however,
shown a decrease that a certain
percentage of essential and life
saving drugs be produced, as had
been demanded by health and con
sumer groups. In view of the
existing shortages of essential and
life-saving drugs, it was critical that
a stipulation be made, making it
mandatory to produce 50 to 75% [
essential drugs.
The increase in MAPE (Maximum
Allowable Post Manufacturing
Expenses)
the
government
presumes, will make the production
of essential drugs more attractive to
the industry. This again has been
disproved by past experience, and at
tremendous cost to the consumer.
★ There has been no attempt at
banning of useless, irrational or hazar
dous drugs. India has the- largest
number of formulations in the whole
world. And a majority of them are
combinations, whose ingredients
and dosages are in total violation of
therapeutic norms. The Hathi
Committee and the WHO have
recommended the need to withdraw
such drugs. In view of the increas
ingly available medical reports and
results of studies which indicate the
cost ineffectiveness or harmfulness
available, such drugs should be
removed from the market.
Yet the policy makers have not
taken the trouble to screen the for
mulations available, blacklist harm
ful ones, and make the information
available to the medical profession
and to the people at large.
(
Instead, the only mention made is
that the NDPA will, as one <Of itS I I
naftpr
*
many activities, look into the matter
of formulations and make recommen
dations for banning. Besides the
irony of the NDPA and the drug in
dustry deciding on the rationality of
drugs, this means precisely nothing
when we remember that the NDPA
is only an advisory body.
No mention has been made in the
policy about detailed package
inserts or any form of unbiased in
formation to the medical profession
and to the user.
From the health point of view, it
is extremely irresponsibile on the
part of the policy makers not to have
ensured rationalization of drugs in
the market before taking the deci
sion to raise the markups. Such
drugs, even if their prices fall, are an
economic waste; but when their
prices increase, it is nothing short of
criminal.
★ Production ratios have been chang
ed in order to increase the produc
tion of essential drugs, or so claims
the policy document. The new ratios
are as follows:
Bulk Formulation
FERA Companies
ExFERA and Indian
Cos.with turnover
over Rs. 25 crores
Turnover between
Rs. 10 & 25 crores
Turnover less than
Rs. 10 crores
1
4
1
5
1
7
1
10
The question of enforcing the
production ratios does not appear to
have been looked into, and from
past experience we know that such
ratios were never abided by. Earlier,
50 percent of the bulk production by
the FERA companies was to be
made available to unrelated pro
ducers for formulations. The new
drug policy says nothing about this.
Delicensing of bulk drug produc
tion has taken place even in areas
where production capabilities have
been established by wholly Indian
companies. In the case of those
delicensed drugs which fall outside
Categories 1 and 2, the production
of non-essential, irrational and
hazardous drugs would escalate,
because of their increased
profitability.
One of the major criticisms of this
aspect of the policy by the industry
itself is that though 40 per cent
diluted, ex FERA companies are yet
essentially non-Indian, especially as
the difference between the capital
i nvested by them and foreign remit
tances made by them is so drastic.
These companies are being treated
on par with wholly Indian
companies.
With increased profitability, no
control on the foreign remittances,
transfer pricing, etc., it will not be in
the interest of national economy and
the growth of indigenous industry to
treat ex FERA companies like
Indians.
★ The new drug policy has ex
tended broad banding to 31 groups of
bulk drugs and formulations. This
means that companies can produce
drugs and formulations having
similar processes without needing
special licences. That is. companies
can make changes in multiingre
dientformulations, even if the major
ingredient does not come under
broad banding. Broad banding can
only work if irrational and hazar
dous drugs are removed from the
market, and restrictions are placed
on combination drugs.
* Quality control is of prime con
cern to the policy makers. Any
attempt at controlling the quality of
over 40,000 formulations of different
combinations and permutations has
to begin with restricting the number
of formulations allowed, and by en
suring that a majority of them are
single ingredient drugs. Only then
can good manufacturing practices
and good quality control be ensured.
Allowing responsible institutions
like labs of academic and govern
ment institutions conduct quality
control checks is theoretically a
good idea in the absence of any
other infrastructure. Yet the ram
pant corruption, the purchasing
power of the industry’ and the
previous track record of several
companies will place the onus of
quality control on the consumer,
who will be forced to evolve indepen
dent counter checking strategies if
he desires a safe, cheap and yet ef
fective drug. This responsibility
must ultimately lie with the govern
ment and the manufacturer.
India with a well evolved phar
maceutical industry, a large medical
system and a democratic form of
government could well have affored
a people oriented rational drug
policy. Yet the present policy is
nothing but a new year’s gift to the
industry—people have taken the
back seat.
The whole issue of brand name vs.
generic names has been given a
silent burial. This, infact was one of
the major demands of consumer and
health groups—a demand backed by
the experience of other third world
countries, a demand that would
have cut down confusion for the
medical profession and cost for the
consumer.
The policy makers appear not to
be content with mere handling
backwards to appease the industry’
but have converted industry
demands into policy statements.
Liberalization of policies to help
industries is understandable when
it comes to consumer goods, but un
pardonable when it comes to life
saving drugs in a country’ where the
majority of the people are too poor
to afford even on square meal a day.
These drugs are literally the dif
ference between life and death for
them, if they are cheap. If they have
to further scrimp and save for just
a few tablets or injections, and this
through government action, the
government is going back on its
responsibilities. The commercializa
tion of health, in India is complete.
The most shocking aspect of the
announcement is not that the policy’
is so outrageously pro industry. It is
the apathetic, indifferent silence of
the health institutions, medical
colleges, and a majority of the
medical academic bodies.
Is it because the implications of
the new drug policy are not really
understood? Is it because, being tied
up with day to day work, many of us
do not have the time to voice our
concern about the policy? By default
would we be allowing for our nation
a drug policy that will ensure further
flooding of our markets with irra
tional and dangerous drugs, con
tinued shortages of essential drugs
and marginalization of the existing
alternatives systems of medicine?
15
FOLK AND MASS MEDIA
I.S. Mathur
We are all aware that our ‘audience
research’ indicates that a com
municator requires to know his
message, audience, mode of ex
hibition and the methodology of
presentation. However, very little of
this is practised.
For example, we can claim that
the television signals are reaching
70% of our population but we are
hesitant to reveal that in reality the
receivers of these signals are not that
many in number because only a
privileged few can own a television
set.
Our 7th Five Year Plan incor
porates and mentions national.
regional/ and localised modes of
communication. (I wish we could
change the priority to localised,
regional and national transmission
in that order).
Do our national programmes
reflect the national character? Are
we sure that we are not thrusting a
culture of few provinces on national
network to the whole nation?
Are we not making our program
mes for the kind of audience which
understands the language of its
makers?
In other words, are we not using
TV for the purpose of mutual
appreciation?
We cannot communicate sitting in
a tower and addressing a few who
belong to our own category. Today
we communicators are aliens to
millions, about whom we have just
started showing concern.
What is the Reality?
The reality is that whatever we
have achieved in terms of mass com
munication is because of certain
personal efforts by few groups which
have used verbal as well as audio
visual means of communication
using inter-personal communication
methodology.
How much have printed media.
16
hoardings and printed advertisements
helped? It is extremely difficult to
find the truth. However, we know
67% of this country’s population is
non-literate. Thus, whatever is writ
ten is of little significance to these
people. What they have heard or
been told, they believed for centuries
(or so we think!). Whatever these
non-literates believed, they
practised—right or wrong.
We can have good doctors and
chemist shops in remotest possible
places but how can doctors and
shops help if people cannot read
the prescription? Do we realise that
when the medicines are given by the
chemist, our people may not be able
to check whether the same medicine
which has been prescribed, is given?
Also people give their own codes to
administer medicines in the day. At
this level of understanding and
literacy what and how can we
communicate?
These are the issues which a
modern communicator has to
understand in contemporary
context.
The moment you talk of inter
personal communications, it is a
two-way communication. It is not
only communication to the masses,
it is communication to small groups,
to individuals. We have thousands
of groups and millions of individuals
who require an individualist ap
proach from one group to another
and from individual to individual.
Let us think how, traditionally,
communication has happened over
the last two thousand years.
Historically, we are very much an
audio-oriented people. Although we
have rich visual traditions, we are
not proficient enough to decode a
visual message in the contemporary
context. I would say our visual
literacy is very inadequate because
the process of learning traditionally
has been through word of mouth.
For any message it is essential that
the coding and decoding is
understood. While the communicator
encodes a message it is the audience
who has to decode it. If the audience
fails to decode a particular message,
that message becomes redundant.
Thus our basic problem with
modem technology and modern
thinking is that we forget that there
are millions in this country who do
not understand the language we
speak or the language we use to
code a message.
If we have to break this approach
we have to work out an elaborate
programme for localising transmis
sion. Programmes should be made
by people, for people at the same
location where it is to be transmi
tted. If we have to achieve any sense
of communication we have to give
identity to the rural audience. In a
culture, where family, society and a
village has its very strong identity
we should work with traditional
methods of communication.
In our villages, still, mass com
munication is done through ‘word of
mouth’. Mass communication hap
pens at the time of any festival.
Religion and ritual is another plat
form where sense or nonsense
could be communicated. Politics
and politicians thrive because of
inter-personal communication.
Lately we have big programmes of
television and transmitters. But if
we want to achieve the desired
result, the television has to be used
as a person sitting inside a box
within an audience group in a
village or in a society where TV is a
group activity. Can we create a
festive atmosphere like bringing a
folk theatre to a village via TV?
Can we make programmes by
using the format where we have a
television set and people gather
around it as in the case of a stage,
and there is video festivity?
It is our belief that no one medium
can help to communicate a message
in its totality. It has to be a multi
media approach where a combina
tion of different media, whether
print, audio-visual or 3 dimensional
kits, are used for a specific purpose
achieving a definite set goal. It is
essential that programmes, par
ticularly on health, education and
welfare have to be immediately
followed by action groups to imple
ment the programmes for which the
communication has been done. For
example, there is no point in
motivating a group for family
welfare programmes if it is not
followed by the family planning
workers to actually implement the
programmes. Communicators can
not work in isolation. Whatever
messages are to be communicated
have to be worked out with the help
of several agencies who are working
at different levels of policy-making
and execution. It is not only the ad
ministrators who should be involv
ed in this process but even a worker
at the grass-root level. Once the
messsage is localised to a particular
location, formulation of programme
should be in the consultation with
the administrators and workers of
that particular region so that pro
grammes are designed in such a
way that they serve that particular
region. This is most essential, con
sidering the cultural diversity and
localised constraints. Programmes
dealing with health and hygiene,
particularly for mothers and
children, have to be so designed that
they take the shape of interpersonal
communication. Television is not
the only medium which should be
used but has to be supported by
several other media. Thus we have
to design an integrated communica
tion package for each message.
We have designed in the National
Institute of Design, video tapes for
the Department of Adult Education,
where we have incorporated folk
media. We strongly believed that a
commentary-oriented presentation
would be of no use to a rural au
dience. These programmes which
we
have
designed
are
entertainment-oriented and based
on the approach that we would
create a festive atmosphere while
using these communication pro
grammes in a non-broadcasting
mode. Thus these programmes can
simulate the same situation which
is essential for any folk presentation.
We thought that these programmes
which are based on different
superstitions, and are made using
folk theatres of several provinces of
India, will bring a sense of national
integration and will give a cultural
outlook.
Folk theatre is a traditional and
old form of communication. Thus it
would be very easily accepted by the
people. However, if we adopt folk
form for giving contemporary
messages, it is also essential that we
experiment with this form in dif
ferent ays. By sticking to the total
ly traditional form and inserting the
contemporary message, we can
distort the form itself.
We have adopted the basic struc
ture of folk theatre incorporating the
messages by using folk structure.
Scripts of these programmes have
been developed with folk theatre
groups in the villages. The dialogue,
music, rehearsals are also done on
location by the artistes from the
same region. Thus we feel that there
is a very strong sense of identity and
authenticity in these programmes.
We have selected Hindi language
because these programmes are
made for non broadcast use in the
Hindi speaking belt. We are making
13 programmes using 13 forms.
Although we have heard encourag
ing comments about these program
mes, we cannot predict the results
at this initial stage.
The first programme 'Bhoot Bhag
Gaya' has been shot in the Panchmahal district of Gujarat using
‘Bhawai’ folk theatre. The shooting
has been done on location using
local artistes. It is based on the
superstition that if there is a window
in the house the ghost will come
through it. So the houses in the
region do not have windows.
The second programme is 'Nazar
Ka Tamasha.' This programme is bas
ed on the ‘Tamasha’ format of
Maharashtra. It is about the ‘evil
eye’ concept which is prevailing
throughout this country. The
shooting of this programme was
done in Pune district of Maharashtra
using local theatre artistes.
I.S. Mathur is the Senior Designer (Video &
Film), Faculty of Visual Communication, Na
tional Institute of Design, Ahemdabad.
A. V. WORKS
Please! Come
to a Co-op.
meeting!
Please! Come to
my mother's
home!
Please! Come
to a fertilizer
film!
____
17
FAIR COMMUNICATION
Reflections on Birsa Melo
An enterprising young IAS Officer
once discovered a fascinating book
and the historic Birsa Mela was the
result.
Amarjeet Sinha, the subdivisional officer of Chakradharpur,
Singhbhum district, Bihar came
across “Where There Is No Doctor”.
Fascinated by the title, he looked
inside. The contents were a
revelation—If medicine could be
demystified and used to empower
people, why not all of technology?
Sinha was intrigued. He loved his
tribal people. He had visited nearly
all the villages in his division. He
had managed to build an unusual
rapport with the people. Could he
now organise a sort of get-together
of technology and people, where
they could view each other without
fears, where one would not over
whelm the other?
Earlier in 1985, the annual Chhota
Nagpur cultural festival had been in
augurated at Jamshedpur in an at
tempt to encourage, traditional
dances and music, by providing the
various tribes a common venue
where they could perform.
Though the second in the series,
the Birsa Mela was different in many
aspects. For it saw the active in
volvement of the “Ho” tribe. The
Hos are enthusiastic people. They are
essentially group-dependent. All
their activities are done together.
They leave their groups to work as
labourers only when faced with dire
poverty. The intrusion of modern
civilization has led to a disruption of
their traditional values. Alcoholism
is increasing, as is violence. Fights
over land are becoming more com
mon, and oppression by landlords
reaching new heights. The tribals
are particularly apprehensive of the
government. This distrust is
mutual.
The Ho youth were particularly
disturbed. They wished to under
18
stand, accept new technology while
retaining their traditional and
cultural identities. They helped
organise the Birsa Mela in an at
tempt to bring the government and
others who offer such technology
and the tribals face to face in order
to build trust among them.
The Birsa Mela was held at
Chakradharpur from the 14th to the
16th of November. Inaugurated by
the Regional Development Commis
sioner, the Mela had over 15000
visitors everyday. The were over 80
participants from both government
and voluntary sectors. The Bihar
Voluntary Health Association’s con
tingent of 44 persons and seven
stalls was the largest.
The various stalls participating
communicated mainly through the
use of posters and models. Some of
the stalls introducing carpet mak
ing, weaving, knitting and
smokelesschulhas demonstrated us
ing actual tools. In fact the
smokeless chulhas generated a lot of
interest.
The Bihar VHA contingent
represented by Ankuran, CASA
(GAYA), Catholic-Charities, Damien
Leprosy Foundation, Dhanbad,
Gram Vikas Kendra, Jamshedpur.
Sr. Ann D’Souza, Sr. Marie Theresa.
Sr. Elise, Rajesh Seraphim and
Benedicta met earlier to decide on
priority issues—maternal and child
health, diarrhoea management,
T.B., Malaria, Leprosy, Worms,
Scabies, first aid. and herbal
medicines.
The issues would be presented
through posters and would be
followed by discussions. Some of the
visitors understood Hindi, but not
all. The participants decided to seek
the cooperation of local Anganwadi
workers, especially the tribal girls,
to help in communicating the
messages.
Earlier, Amarjeet Sinha had
distributed the Hindi edition of
Where There Is No Doctor to twenty
five village school teachers. These
teachers would also be able to help
in translating the messages into Ho.
The participants also visualized a
health checkup for children, depen
ding on the availability of local doc
tors who would be able to follow up
on the children.
On evaluating the material
brought by the participants, we
found it necessary to re-do numerous
posters. Again, posters themselves
were not too effective in com
municating. The Fair had hundreds
of posters on various topics, hun
dreds
of
messages
were
disseminated by various people on
various issues, what would the
visitors retain? Some clues were im
mediately available. The Diarrhoea
Management stall, with its puppets,
attracted attention. The herbal
remedies stall with the actual
samples gathered crowds.
The worms and scabies stalls
showing neem plants, papayas,
chiraita plants, drew in people.
These were issues that touched the
people most; they could recognize
the remedies being offered,
Our team was enriched by the par
ticipation of a group of street artistes
and puppeteers from Social Work &
Research Centre. Champaran.
On the first day, the SWRC team
put up puppet shows on the need for
education, and on liquor. The stories
were held together by the use of a
"Sutradhar"—in this case Jokhim
Chacha, a venerable old puppet who
interacted with the audience ques
tioning them and eliciting answers.
He built up a rapport with the au
dience and thus his own credibility.
Once he had established himself, the
other puppets could come on and
tell their stories.
The group also presented a play
on diarrhoea. On the first day, they
presented a straight message on the
need for oral rehydration. After the
play was over, the audience of over
five hundred people dispersed.
The evaluation session in the
evening discussed this and realised
that straight messages did not hold
much interest, only the puppets did.
The next day, the play was
presented with a different approach.
Jokhim Chacha analysed the causes
of diarrhoea. He explained how doc
tors and drug companies backed
each other into perpetuating a need
for themselves at the expense of
others. He disclosed how a simple
remedy like oral rehydration was
not told to the sufferers, instead they
were given costly, dangerous and
useless drugs. After this analysis,
the people stayed on. They visited
the stalls asking for more informa
tion on various issues.
The nightly evaluation sessions
brought out other interesting points.
Antenatal care messages needed to
be addressed more to the men. The
men conducted their wives’
deliveries. Men, traditionally being
hunters, now worked only for about
the three months in a year. The
women did everything else, in
cluding marketing their goods. But
the total control over the income
was with the man. Malnutrition was
a problem, but not vitamin and
mineral deficiency, as each family
grew its own drumstick tree.
tamarind tree, pumpkins and other
vegetables. Regarding immuniza
tion, the delivery centres were far
away and were often understocked.
The people were keen to know
more about herbal remedies. They
wanted seeds and know how on how
to grow and use the plants. They
traditionally went to a “Dehri” or
“Pahan" who would treat them with
prayers and herbs, but who would
not divulge his art. (In the interiors,
there is a belief that the medicine
man loses his power if he uses it for
personal gain or for harming others.
But in villages closer to towns and
cities, the proximity to an ex
ploitative system has had its effects
on the “Dehri” who now demands
goats and chicken as his fees.)
Even the books sold reinforced
this. Books giving information of self
care were very much in demand.
However, no one was willing to
spend more than Rs. 3 to 5 on a
book, particularly one with less than
a hundred pages.
One more common complaint of
the visitors was that Chakradharpur
was a town, and many villages
found it too daunting to visit such a
place so far away.
The participants also showed
films and video tapes to the visitors.
* ‘Prescription for Health” and a cou
ple of other video tapes on diarrhoea
and immunization were shown to
packed audiences.
The “development mela” closed
each day at around four in the even
ing. The rest of the evening and
night were given over to cultural
programmes by the tribals. Their
songs and dances portrayed the
even tempo of their lives and the ef
fect of the jungle and the seasons on
them. A very moving play on Birsa
and his life was the highlight of the
first evening. Other plays
highlighted the problems of ex
ploitation of the adivasis, particular
ly by the destruction of, and their
loss of control of their forests. The
cultural session ended at 4 a.m.
The Birsa Mela has opened up
numerous opportunities for follow
up action. One such opportunity,
taken by the government at the in
itiative of Amarjeet Sinha, in the
distribution of the Hindi edition of
Where There is No Doctor to 300
government functionaries starting
at the block level. The mela souvenir
also included articles on public in
terest litigation along with other
information.
Each village has an informal infor
mation gatherer, a cashier and the
incharge. These three are usually
the powerful members. The village
headman is a “Munda”. The manki
munka is very influential both In the
villages and with the government.
Any follow up activity receives a lot
of local support if the manki mun
da supports it and is involved with
it.
11 shall call this figure the duck-rabbit. It
can be seen as a rabbit's head or as a
duck’s. And I must distinguish between
the.'' continuous seeing'' of an aspect and
the '1 dawning'' of an aspect. The picture
might have been shown me, and I have
never seen anything but a rabbit in it.
Ludwig Wittgenstein
19
RATING YOUR LETTERS
Rudolph Flesch has written several books on the art of writing. In his book The Art of Readable Writing (Harper
and Brothers. New York), he outlines a simple test that any writer can use to determine the reading ease of
any piece of writing.
Determine your ‘reading ease’ score:
★
Multiply the average sentence length (words) by 1.015
★
Multiply the number of syllables per 100 words by 0.846
★
Total
★
Subtract this total from 206.835. Your reading ease score is
Determine your ‘human interest’ score:
★
Multiply the number of ‘personal words’ per 100 words by 3.635
(This includes pronouns, names of people, identifying names, generic terms such as folk,
crowd, student, etc.)
★
Multiply the number of ‘personal sentences’ per 100 sentences by .314
(This includes direct statements to the reader, quotation, question, command, exclamation,
incomplete or fragmentary sentences)
★
Perfect score in both instances is 100.
READABILITY CHECK
An increasingly popular formula for measuring the readability of your writing is that of Robert Gunning,
and commonly known as the Fog Index.
★
Count a sample of 100 words.
★
Count the number of ‘difficult’ words (three or more syllables).
★
Compute the average number of words per sentence.
★
Add answers 2 and 3.
★
Multiply the answer by the constant 4 (point 4).
Your answer is approximate grade-in-school reading level. If you really want to communicate, your writing
should not have a Fog Index rating of more than 10.
HINTS FOR WRITING
★ Use short sentences: Of less than twenty words.
★ One Idea, one sentence: Avoid using too many ‘ands’, ‘buts’, ‘whiles'.
★ Use familiar words, like ‘house’ instead of ‘dwelling’ or ‘residence’. Use precise words, whenever possible.
★ Make positive sentences: In a few cases negative sentences are better.
‘Don’t smoke’ is better that ‘Avoid Smoking’.
* Make active sentences: Speak directly to the reader.
★ Keep comparisons simple: Whenever possible, be specific.
★ Put In connecting words like ‘who’ ‘which’ and ‘that’.
★ Explain in clear logical order: For example,
☆ Take a glass of clear water.
☆ Add a pinch of salt.
☆ Stir.
☆ Taste. If the solution is saltier than tears, throw it away. Try again with less salt.
☆ Add a scoop of sugar.
☆ Stir.
☆ The oral rehydration solution is ready for use.
★ Write about things that happen to your readers in real life.
★ Break up text with pictures, photographs, etc.
FIELD TEST EACH TIME.
C©MM^CAin©NXULT01Ec
RETOOK:
THE PHSOmKE EXPERSEKCE
Keynote Speech delivered by His
Eminence, Jaime L. Cardinal Sin,
Archbishop of Manila, during the 14th
Congress of the Union Catholique Inter
nationale de La Presse (UC1P) held at the
Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi, India, on Oc
tober 22, 1986 at 11 a.m.—
It deems to me providential—
perhaps the correct adjective is
uncanny—that the theme for your
Fourteenth Congress should be
‘Communication, Culture, Religion.
*
I say this because this theme seems
4o applicable and so utterly relevant
to the fateful events that happened
in the Philippines last February.
And yet, I am told that you chose it
a good two years ago.
It was primarily for this reason
that I accepted your kind invitation
to join you here this morning. I had
to excuse myself from an important
meeting in Rome just to be here on
time.
I feel I have a duty to share with
you the experience that the Filipino
people went through during the
bloodless revolution, an experience
which proved, conclusively and
beyond the slightest doubt, that
communication, culture and
religion, if blended correctly and
made to work harmoniously, can
bring about results as earth-shaking
as the toppling of a well-entrenched
dictatorship—without violence and
without shedding a single drop of
blood.
Before I explain how this came
about, let me explain to you what
the situation in the Philippines was
after the regime dropped all pretense
about being democratic by in
stituting martial law.
Overnight, my country, which
prided itself in being the showcase
of democracy in Southeast Asia,
became a totalitarian state. Over
night, my countrymen saw their
precious human rights being
trampled upon, their freedoms
taken away. Without any warning,
the print and broadcast media,
which had enjoyed the reputation of
being the most free in our part of the
world, found themselves closed
down. Journalists were jailed
without charges.
Because of all these repressive
measures, a climate of fear settled
over the countryside. The military
establishment lorded it over the
populace, and the people dared to
talk only in whispers. A man could
be jailed for subversion if he so
much as said that he wanted his son
to be President when he grew up.
After a while, the newspapers and
the radio and television stations
were allowed to reopen. But. this
time, they were all owned by the dic
tator himself, his relatives or his
friends. The papers could print on
ly what the government allowed
them to print; the broadcasters were
allowed to show only programs that
portrayed the dictator in a favorable
light.
For eleven interminable years,
this was the media situation that ob
tained in the Philippines. The media
ceased to be instruments of the
truth; they had become shameless
purveyors of propaganda. Even if
the journalists wanted to write the
truth, they could not. The spectre of
prison, even summary execution,
loomed over them like a deadly
shroud.
Under these impossible condi
tions, the people could not but be
starved for news, real news based on
fact and not on the blatant lies
peddled by the dictatorship. Every
now and then, that hunger for the
truth was eased when someone suc
ceeded in smuggling foreign news
reports into the .country. Those
smuggled copies were photo-copied
over and over again, and these
copies were passed surreptitiously
from hand to hand. It was
dangerous to be caught with a copy,
but the people risked it, they were
that eager to know the truth.
All through this difficult time,
there was only one voice that dared
to protest. This was the voice of the
Church. Time and again, the
bishops of the Philippines issued
pastoral letters denouncing the loss
of freedom, the tortures and the il
legal detentions. These letters were
read in churches during Sunday
Mass, and their message spread by
word of mouth, keeping the spirit of
freedom alive.
And then, in 1981, Pope John
Paul II accepted the invitation of the
Philippine bishops to come and visit.
This forced the dictatorship to relax
the restrictions and to lift the mar
tial law that it had imposed in 1972.
it would not do for the Holy Father
to discover that "the smiling martial
law" which the dictatorship claim
ed the Philippines to be under, was
actually an ugly, cruel and
repressive one.
If there was no more martial law,
then newspapers and radio stations
could reopen without first securing
government approval. Thus it was
that the Church-owned and Churchoperated Radio Veritas, whose
domestic service had been confined
largely to harmless musical shows
and religious programs, now dared
21
to go into newsgathering and news
broadcasting. Thus it was that on
August 21, 1983, when Benigno
Aquino, the Opposition leader who
dared to return from exile, was
assassinated at the Manila Interna
tional Airport, Radio Veritas was
there, giving the whole country an
accurate, on-t he-spot coverage of the
entire shocking affair.
The government media were
silent about—or made light of—the
assassination. But Radio Veritas per
sisted. Despite almost constant jam
ming by the government, and in de
fiance of repeated threats of closure.
Radio Veritas stayed on the air, ar
ticulating the hopes and fears, the
frustration and the anger of the
people.
When Aquino was buried, two
million people attended the funeral.
But the controlled media did not
play up the story. One newspaper,
in fact, thought that the death of a
man struck by lightning was more
important that the funeral.
It was at this point, that 1 decided
that the Church should publish its
own newspaper, a newspaper that
would have the courage to tell the
truth no matter how much it would
hurt the dictatorship. I felt then—
as I still do now—that the people had
the right to be told the truth. There
were a number of Catholic
businessmen who shared my view
and who were willing to risk their
businesses for the sake of the truth.
We pooled our resources.
And that was how, in the last
quarter of 1983, ‘Veritas,’ the
newsmagazine, was born.
Its slogan was taken from the
gospel of Saint John, “The truth
shall set you free.” And. from the
very first issue, it strove to live up
to its slogan. Its reporting was
fearless, but it was scrupulously ac
curate. Its editorials were incisive
and hard-hitting, and they were
even more fearless.
Despite libel suits and contempt of
court charges, despite almost con
tinuous threats by anonymous
callers, despite the death or disap
pearance of twenty-six journalists
within a span of two years, ‘Veritas’
kept it up. It exposed, in a well-
22
documented article, the fake war
record of the dictator. It brought to
light the travesty of justice thatresulted in the acquittal of all the ac
cused in the Aquino murder.
When the presidential elections
were held last February, ‘Veritas,’
with its customary courage and pas
sion for the truth, disclosed, in great
detail and exhaustive pictorial
coverage, the attempts of the dic
tatorship to manipulate the results
and steal the election.
To this day, many people in the
Philippines are wondering how the
‘Veritas’ editor escaped the fate of
the other Journalists who defied the
dictatorship. He himself says it was
because he was under the mantle of
protection of the Church. I personal
ly attribute his survival to the con
tinuous prayers of his wife. She
stopped reading his editorials alter a
while, but she never stopped pray
ing for him.
After the revolution, one of the
documents that came to light was
what the Americans call a hit list, a
roster of the people earmarked for li
quidation on February 25. Very pro
minent on that list was the name of
the ‘Veritas’ editor. Fortunately, the
revolution broke out on February
22, and the arrests were never car
ried out.
I am very happy to know that the
UCIP is giving recognition to this
man’s courage and his efforts to
uphold press freedom in the Philip
pines during a very trying period.
May I ask my friend, Felix Bautista,
to rise, and may I ask all of you to
give him a great, big hand. Also,
may I ask his wife. Nena, to rise?
She deserves the award just as
much as he does.
My friends, permit me now, after
this rather lengthy background, to
explain how the combination of
communication, culture and
religion brought down a dictatorship
and restored democracy to my
country.
First, let us take up communica
tion. From 1983 until the revolution
last February, both Radio Veritas
and ‘Veritas News-magazine’ bore
the brunt of informing the faithful
about the events transpiring in the
country. Their coverage of the snap
election was exemplary, but their
reporting on the role that the
bishops played was even more so.
The people knew how uncom
promising the bishops were in their
stand against electoral fraud, how
brave they were in saying that
because of the unparallelled
cheating, the dictatorship had lost
its moral right to govern. Thanks to
the two Church media, the people
understood that the strong position
the bishops adopted did not con
stitute interference in partisan
politics. It was, rather, a taking of
sides in a battle between the forces
of good and the forces of evil. And
the bishops, they saw, could not be
neutral in the face of evil.
When the revolution broke out,
and when the puny rebel forces fac
ed imminent annihilation at the
hands of the superior troops of the
dictatorship, it was imperative that
some extraordinary measures be
taken to protect them.
When the rebel leaders contacted
me and said that they would be dead
in an hour unless I helped them, I
knelt down and prayed as I had
never prayed before. I prayed for
divine guidance. And 1 got the
answer. I should call the people to
go out of their houses and to come
to the army camp where the rebels
were entrenched. Only large masses
of people, I thought, could stop the
tanks from advancing.
And so, throughout that first night
of the revolution, I repeatedly went
on the air over Radio Veritas. I ask
ed my flock to come to the aid of
their beleaguered brothers.
The people responded, first in
trickles and then in a veritable flood.
By the next day, there were two
million of them there. By then, the
dictator’s troops had demolished
Radio Veritas, but by then, the sta
tion had accomplished its mission.
The question has been asked: why
did the people respond to my call,
and why did they respond with such
enthusiasm and with such courage
and faith? The answer can be found
in the remaining two elements of
your Congress theme: religion and
culture.
In the Philippine context, these
two are so inextricably intertwined
that one cannot be taken without
the other. Thus, when you look at
Philippine culture, you cannot fail to
notice how deeply imbued it is with
religious symbols. And when you
examine the Catholicism of the
Filipinos, you find it invested with
distinctly Filipino mores and
practices.
The priest is an authority figure in
all Catholic countries, but he is more
so in the Philippines. This image
was enhanced even more with the
onset of martial law. Under the dic
tatorship, the Filipino had no one to
run to when he was in trouble. He
had no congressman to write to, or
no mayor to run to when he needed
help. The dictator had abolished
Congress and he had all mayors
under his thumb. To whom could
the poor citizen go? To the priest.
The priest would be sympathetic,
and he would not turn him over to
the military. Besides, wasn’t it the
clergy and the bishops alone who
were willing to denounce injustice?
The culture dictated that when
the bishop called, the people should
answer. That same culture, which is
rooted in the democratic tradition,
chafed at the constraints of martial
law, and the citizens, with unerring
insight, perceived the bishop's call
as a means of removing those con
straints. Hence, their response to my
appeal, was enthusiastic and
electrifying.
There is another aspect of Philip
pine culture, this one in keeping
with the practices of the old Chris
tians, that manifested itself during
the revolution. This is what is
known in the Philippines as
pakikisania. I am afraid there is no ex
act translation for it, but it is a value
that combines elements of sharing,
of neighborliness, of brotherhood, of
solidarity and oneness.
It is a value which compels a
Filipino to join hands with others
particularly in time of need, even if
that joining necessitates forgetting
personal preferences or crossing
party lines.
At the barricades, therefore, when
the civilians stood unmoving in
front of the tanks, when they plead
ed with the soldiers to come down
from the tanks and be one with
them—“We are all Filipinos, we
have no quarrel with each other,’’
was the most common line taken—
the soldiers really had no choice.
They forgot all their years of train
ing, of rigid discipline as soldiers
who were taught to obey orders, and
they dropped their weapons.
But why were they so fearless?
Why were they so sure that there
would be no violence that they even
brought their young children with
them? The answer lies in their
religion, in the depth of their faith in
rhe intercessory powers of Mary and
the goodness of Christ.
You have seen pictures of the
revolution. You saw men, women
and children, armed with nothing
more lethal than rosaries in their
hands and prayers on their lips,
stopping the tanks in their tracks.
You saw young men holding statues
of the Blessed Virgin confronting
soldiers in full combat gear.
What happened? The tanks turn
ed around and the soldiers joined
the rebels. The dictator, finding
himself deserted and alone, fled in
to ignominious exile.
After the revolution, foreign Jour
nalists interviewed me and asked
me how we Filipinos managed to do
what we did, topple an oppressive
regime without a shot being fired. I
said there was no explanation for it,
for how do you explain a miracle?
It was a miracle because there
were hundreds of thousands out
there, tired from lack of sleep,
hungry for lack of food. To start a
bloodbath, all it would have taken
was one tired civilian throwing a
rock at a soldier; or one nervous,
trigger-happy soldier accidentally
firing his gun.
But no one threw a stone, and no
soldier pulled a trigger. Instead,
there were embraces and tears of
joy. There was love and goodwill,
there was Joy and jubilation.
That was why I said it was a
miracle.
Today, eight months after, I am
beginning to see things in a different
way. I still believe in the miracle, but
I now realize that, aside from God’s
grace, there was something else that
made the bloodless revolution possi
ble. It was the artful blending, the
harmonious combination of com
munication, culture and religion
that brought it about.
And People Power—now felictously referred to as the Unarm
ed Forces of the Philippines—was
given direction by the highly visible
presence of priests and nuns during
those four momentous days on the
street. Wherever one went, one saw
a priest saying Mass or a nun strum
ming a guitar and leading the peo
ple in song. They were looked up to
and respected, thanks to a culture
that accepts the religious as authori
ty figures.
And how was the religion of the
people most apparent during those
days? It was seen in the utter
selflessness of those present. Not
one, I dare say, was thinking of
himself, of what he could get by join
ing the protest. All he could think
about was how he could stop the
enemy forces from overrunning the
redoubt of the heroic rebels. And
because he was concerned only
about others, he was practising his
religion in the most meaningful way
possible. For isn’t this the essence of
Christianity, that one should be
other-oriented?
This, then, is the Philippine ex
perience taken in the light of your
Congress’ theme. I am envious that
you who live in the West, in the socalled First World, had a much bet
ter view of that experience as it was
unfolding. You saw the revolution
on television, you read about it in
the newspapers, but we who went
through it were denied that same ad
vantage. The controlled press and
television gave it minimal play.
Radio Veritas had by this time been
already destroyed, and although
Veritas Newsmagazine tried valiant
ly to keep the people informed, its
facilities were sadly inadequate to
cope with the demand.
That experience, however, caused
the entire world to focus its collec
tive eyes on the Philippines. We
began to be regarded, no longer as
a nation of sheep who took the
23
abuses of the dictatorship with
passive acceptance, but as a nation
of heroes, as a country who believ
ed ardently in the principle of non
violence. And because we pulled it
off. we were looked upon with new
respect, even with great admiration.
That experience, I wish to tell you
now, ladies and gentlemen, did
something for the Filipinos also. It
gave us back our self-respect, it
restored our confidence in ourselves.
For the first time after twenty years,
we could hold our heads high.
We earned the democracy we are
now enjoying; we deserve the
freedom that we won.
Knowing
Accepting
And
Using The
Information
There Should
Always Be
A Two Way
Communication
And I pray to God—and I urge you
ail to join me in my prayers—that we
shall preserve this democracy and
that we will keep this freedom as we
struggle to make our nation rise, like
a phoenix, from the ashes of the
economic devastation that the dic
tatorship left.
SHARING FOR ACTION
A Report ©n ESPOM IS
SURAJIT CHAKRAVARTI
The meeting of the Executive, Pro
motional and Organising Secretaries
of State VHAs (ESPOM II) took place
at Delhi from September 18 to 21,
1986. It was held at the VHAI
premises. Representatives from all
state VHAs were present at the
meeting.
The session on the 18th started
with a silent prayer in memory of Fr.
James Tong. The report of the
previous meeting was then read out
and discussed. Lynn Zelmer, who
was resource person at last year’s
ESPOM I, had noted his personal
reflections about it. This was read
out, and was much appreciated. The
business session concluded with the
presentation of the summary of the
VHAI renewal held in July 1986.
Mr. Alok Mukhopadhayay, Ex
ecutive Director (Designate) of VHAI,
met with the participants and
shared his perceptions of VHAI
with them. Speaking on the role of
VHAI in making possible the goal of
Health for All, he said that as of now
the voluntary agencies involved in
the field of health care have been
channelizing their meagre resources
for giving health services parallel to
the government. Now, he felt, the
time had come for these agencies to
increase their impact by increasing
awareness among the public of what
the government should be doing for
them.
State of India's Health
Further he discussed the possibili
ty of compiling a report on the ‘State
of India’s Health’, which could serve
as a mirror to the government and
all others concerned with health
care.
Fr. P.D. Mathew of ISI took the
next session on ‘Constitution vis-avis Health Rights’. This session,
which ended the next day, helped
participants learn how the right to
health is protected by the Constitu
tion of India. Fr. Mathew stressed
the need for promoting justice and
equality in the field of health care.
He felt that everyone must ponder
over the basic issue that if people
have the fundamental right for
health care and if the government
has a legal duty to provide them, we
must make use of legal means to get
those rights. It is, therefore, the
duty of every citizen to realize
his/her rights and demand for it.
Legal Rights
The right to health care has been
guaranteed to every citizen under
Articles 21 Part III, 47, 39, 41 and
42. Every citizen has the right to
move to Supreme Court for the en
forcement of the Fundamental
Rights. In case of violation of the
Fundamental Rights, one can also
approach the High Court. Expert ad
vice of a dedicated lawyer is
however required for drafting the
writ petition.
The legal profession can play a
major role in supporting the strug
gle for social justice. This can be
done by creating 'Social Justice
Cells' or ‘Medico-Legal Cells’ as part
of voluntary health organisation at
the state and national levels. Doc
tors, lawyers, journalists, professors
of law. medicine, and social workers
must be members of such a cell.
Such a cell can conscientize the peo
ple regarding their constitutional
rights, new law and amendments,
government politics and orders
relating to health, judgements on
medico-legal cases such as rape,
murder, accidents, abortions.
suicides, death by negligence of
medical profession, etc., and can
give information on government
health schemes. Such a cell can also
share the experiences of other
groups involved with people’s strug
gle for health care rights.
A socio-legal cell can also conduct
training programmes, seminars,
and workshops for health animators
and health promoters to give them
an understanding of how they can
use the law to ensure just and effec
tive health care. The cell can con
duct surveys to see whether existing
laws are being implemented. It can
also initiate public interest litigation
for issues related to the fundamen
tal right to live with human dignity.
Legislation
Dealing with legislation governing
the Prevention of Food Adulteration
Act, the Drugs and Cosmetics Act,
the Pharmacy Act and the propos
ed Consumer Protection Bill, Mr.
Simon Stephen, a colleague of Fr.
Mathew, summed up the objectives
of these Acts as
☆ to punish offenders who mix un
wanted and/or harmful ingre
dients in food stuffs, drugs or
cosmetics;
* to prevent/prohibit manufacture,
sale, storage and import of
adulterated/substandard foods,
drugs or cosmetics;
★ to prevent adding prohibited col
ours in foods, drugs and cos
metics;
★ to avoid misbranding to mislead
people; and
* to keep a check on improper
packaging.
Regarding the proposed Con
sumer Protection Bill, the par
ticipants were urged to study the im
plications of the Bill very carefully
and promote discussions in their
own states. Consumer interest in all
25
aspects of life could be safeguarded
If three critical areas in the propos
ed Bill were taken care of at the
outset:
★ the clauses offering protection be
simply worded;
* setting up a grievance redressal
procedure: and
★ creating mass awareness of the
protection offered.
On the evening of the 18th, Dr.
K.K. Dutta. Assistant Director
General, Health Services, Govern
ment of India, took a session on the
‘Scope of NGO-Government Col
laboration in Implementing Health
Legislation’. Dr. Dutta started with
the Prevention of Food Adulteration
Act. His observation was that con
sumers usually change the shop
when they discover that the shop
keeper has been selling adulterated
food stuffs. This attitude needs to be
changed, for it encourages the of
fenders to flourish in the illegal
tr^de. The right attitude would be to
collect evidence and file a case
against the offender in court, or to
lodge a complaint. It may not be
always possible for an individual to
go to court and fight the case alone.
It is, therefore, advisable to form
consumer groups or approach an
organisation of some standing and
repute like VHAI to take up the
issue.
Dr. Dutta further observed that
there were many loopholes in the
Act: The complaint report against
the offender has always to be for
warded through the Food Inspector,
who may not always be helpful, and
may be in league with the offender.
The punishment of six months to
three years, or only fine is not
stringent enough to deter the
wrongdoers. Testing laboratories
are not always equipped with equip
ment of a uniform standard. This
can give differing results if the same
sample is tested in two different
places. Some of the clauses are
vague and can be interpreted in
various ways to suit the convenience
of the offender. The Advisory Board
comprises of technical experts who
may either be elected, nominated or
ex-officio members. Poor and af
fected consumers are not
represented and hence their in26
terests are not looked into.
Moreover, the capacity of the Board
is purely advisory: its recommenda
tions cannot be enforced.
Dr. Dutta was in favour of develop
ing low cost testing kits in collabora
tion with voluntary groups. These
kits would empower individuals and
consumer groups to file cases direct
ly with the court on the basis of tests
done by them.
Later in the evening, Shri. M.C.
Mehta, Advocate, Supreme Court,
shaied his experiences on en
vironmental laws. According to Mr.
Mehta, in legal terminology, ‘en
vironment’ covers, air, surface
water, underground water, soil,
forest, etc. It is a man’s birthright to
live in an environment free from
pollution. We are passing through a
crisis. Big industrial establishments
are the worst polluters. Our lakes
and rivers have become con
taminated; droughts, soil pollution,
ecological imbalance is spreading at
an alarming rate, and yet very little
thought is given to countering the
situation by those in authority. Ar
ticle 48 A of our Constitution clear
ly states that it is our right to live
with dignity and it is the duty of the
government to protect life and en
vironment. Article 51 G points to the
duty of every citizen to protect our
forests, takes and rivers.
Are the existing laws sufficient to
deal with the threat to our environ
ment? Several Acts are there to deal
with such problems: Water Pollution
Act. 1971; Air Pollution Act. 1974
and 1981; Environment Protection
Act, 1986; and Atomic Energy Act,
1962, 1986.
The Government of India has set
up Central/State Pollution Boards to
look into the complaints. However,
in practice, the Boards are ineffec
tive in actually taking up cases and
redressing the grievance of the peo
ple owing to political and other
pressures. In the guidelines laid
down for the industrialists in the Na
tional Health Policy, it is imperative
that a ’no objection certificate’ be ob
tained from the Heath Ministry
before setting up an industry. But in
practice this is violated.
People's Education
Mr. Mehta was emphatic about
the need for people's education on
legal steps. This alone can bring
about the much needed change in
the present state of affairs. People
should be educated about the in
dustrial guidelines and the Acts.
They should unite themselves to
fight violators. They should write to
the Chairman/Member Secretary of
the State Pollution Boards located in
the state capitals, about complaints
against hazards created by factories
and industries. Those residing in
Union Territories should direct their
cornplaints to the Central Pollution
Control Board at New Delhi. The
public can file a writ petition at the
High Court or Supreme Court,
preferably after writing to the
Boards. This can be done with
reference to Sections 133 or 150 of
the Criminal Procedure Code, as the
case may be. after collecting proper
evidence.
Mr. Mehta urged national level
organisations like VHAI to keep
track of all such activities and con
duct surveys for collecting essential
data to help lawyers in their struggle
to fight the menace of environmen
tal pollution.
Project Flanning
Dr. Ram Vepa took the morning
session of the 20th. on Project Plan
ning. Funding, Development and
Evaluation. He introduced the
elements of a project design which
must take into account:
★ Involvement of people—at every
step of project development, par
ticipation of the people is
necessary. The local people
should be involved in;
☆ giving ideas and suggesting
solution,
defining problems,
☆ assisting in organising the
community
☆ determining priorities,
☆ forming work groups, etc.
★ Collection
information
of
data
and
population,
<< physical conditions.
☆ economic conditions.
☆ health centres and health
problems.
☆ education,
☆ social status,
☆ projects and programmes con1 ducted by other organisations.
* Needs assessment—this can be
done simultaneously with basic
data collection; this involves
☆ identification of specific needs.
☆ obstacles faced and solutions
suggested.
* Formation of working groups—
involving establishment of local
organisational structure. Project
design is really a means of form
ing ideas into a concrete and
realistic programme of work. Bas
ed on these ideas, a work plan is
prepared outlining
☆ the objectives,
☆ (step by step) by which the ob
jectives will be translated into
a series of specific tasks,
allocation of individual
responsibilities,
☆ regular schedulcof monitoring
and evaluation. This involves
decision on what information.
when and by whom. The pro
gress should be presented to
the planners and lunding
agencies, as well as to the
community.
Vr phasing of the project to set
out the time framework for
completing the project,
☆ preparation of a budget pro
posal giving a cost breakdown
of the resources required set
out in yearly terms, as well as
for the full period.
The participants were divided in
to five groups, to prepare five sam
ple projects:
★ Translation into and production
of Where There is No Doctor in an
Indian language (Orissa VHA):
★ production of an educational
video film on diarrhoea manage
ment (Kerala and Andhra
Pradesh);
★ setting up of a Medico-Legal Cell
(TNVHA);
* low cost essential drug marketing
unit (Bihar); and
★ establishing an office (Meghalaya
VHA).
After preparing the projects, each
group presented its project to the
rest, who then acted as the funding
agency, and helped the group clarify
its proposals further.
The participants found this ses
sion particularly useful.
CMAI-CHAI-VHAI
That evening, Ms. Rami Chabbra,
Media Advisor to the Ministry’ of
Health and Family Welfare, made a
spirited appeal to the participants to
prepare messages, slogans, films.
radio and TV spots, anything for
communicating health messages
over mass media. ‘You name it.
* ’ll do it’, she said.
we
She gave an overall picture of the
opportunities available in the
government and how voluntary
agencies could contribute towards
reaching the goal of ‘Health for AH'.
Her sharing was very stimulating
and promising. The session conclud
ed with screening of films on health
care— ‘Prescription for Health’.
‘Sorry for the Interruption’, and a
film on David Werner’s project in
Mexico.
Madia Advisor's Appeal
On the last day. D. Rayanna, Ex
ecutive Secretary of APVHA, shared
with the participants the discus
sions held at the joint meeting of
C H Al -CH Al -V H Al recc n t ly at
Hyderabad. Later in the morning.
Ms. Kapila Hingorani and Mr. N.H.
Hingorani, Advocates. Supreme
Court, took a session on Public In
terest Litigation. Public Interest
Litigation is a new weapon for
preventing social injustice. Ms.
Hingorani has been involved in
numberous health related public in
terest litigation cases. A number of
these cases originated from
newspaper reports. Ms. Hingorani
outlined the steps needed for in
itiating such cases. She urged par
ticipants to send information about
cases which they came across in
their states so that she could take
them up on their behalf. Mr.
Hingorani took up some of the ar
ticles of the Constitution and ex
plained how they could be inter
preted for use in PIL.
The participants spent some time
each day with each of the depart
ments of VHAI. The Information and
Documentation team apprised them
of the latest inputs in their activity
and plans. The Community Health
team shared their activities and
their plans for the future. PEHA
discussed ‘Child Survival and
Development’. Dr. Samir Chowdhuri of CIN1, West Bengal,
who is also Vice-President of‘.\IAI,
presented his experiences on Child
Care and the ICDS Programme of
the Government. The immediate
need in child survival according to
the participants, is ensuring the ef
fective distribution of vaccines for
the immunization programme. The
participants met the Communica
tion team and discussed how to
strengthen the VHAs in producing
their own health learning material.
Earlier, on the 19th, the par
ticipants attended the special
meeting to pay homage to Fr. Tong
(see Oct. issue). On the evening of
the 2Qth, they met in a park near ISI
and presented their activity reports.
This sharing and supporting session
carried on till 1. a.m. The par
ticipants also attended the SoundLight programme at Red Fort and
visited Raj Ghat and Shanti Vana.
The next ESPOM meeting will be
held from Septemner 16 to 19, 1987
at Hyderabad. The theme of the
meeting will be ‘Presentation Skills’.
HOW TO MAKE A SILK SCREEN COPIER
To make a screen, you need:
★
★
★
★
★
★
Wood (about 5 cm wide)
Fine nylon cloth
Small nails
Glue or paint that resists water
A smooth board for base
Hinges
Make a wooden frame. Wet the cloth and stretch it tightly over the frame. Nail it down. Spread glue or paint
on the edges of the screen that will not be covered by the stencil. This prevents ink from running through.
When it dries, turn the screen over and attach it to the base with hinges.
To use:
★
★
★
Clean the screen with cleaning powder and water. Dissolve 4-5 teaspoons of bleaching powder in a mug
of water, and pour over the screen. Wash off well with water after 10 minutes.
Write, draw or type on a standard mineograph stencil, and tape it to the bottom of the screen. Place
the paper on the base, so that when the screen is laid horizontal, the stencil will be right above the paper.
Pour a little ink at one end of the screen, and in one firm motion, spread it across the screen with a squeegee
(a stiff strip of metal plywood wrapped in thin rubber and mounted on a wooden frame).
PATHOS SANGAPPA
This skit is not a fictitious creation—it is taken from the pages of life and is based on an incident which
took place in 1978 in the Arikeri village in Shimoga District, Karnataka. Such incidents are not unfamiliar
to us—the circumstances may be varied and the shades, of a different hue.
/
But YOU are faced with a challenge and called to pronounce a verdict.
Sangappa, a bonded labourer of Lokeshappa, earns a livelihood by climbing the tall arecanut tree and
collecting nuts. Lokeshappa, vicious and cruel, is a modern Shylock and is a living nightmare to Sangap
pa. For a loan that Sangappa’s late father had taken from the rich Lokeshappa. the latter literally fleeces
the life of Sangappa. Giving him no respite or peace, he is forever demanding the loan to be repaid. Even
the little consolation that Sangappa and his poor family have in the half-acre of laud provided io them by
the Government Is deprived them when Lokeshappa ‘confiscates’ it in lieu of unrepaid money.
One day the news of Sangappa working in an adjoining field is brought to Lokeshappa. who abuses and
disgraces him, stating that he is only a slave and so does not possess any rights—not even the right of working
in another field to feed and clothe his wife and children. Sangappa is unable to control all his pent-up frustra^
tion and fury, and in indignation demands that his half-acre of land be restored to him. Lokeshappa ar
ranges for Sangappa to be taken to a solitary place and goondas put an end to his life.
When the villagers come to know of this, the matter is brought to the police. But Lokeshappa very easily
and cunningly ’buys’ the police and the greedy men register the case as ‘closed’ knowing fuUy weU who
the guilty are and how they go scot free. When the guardians of law and order and preservers of n’
and equality themselves are lured by the glitter of money, what then is to be done?
The above skit has been presented by the Democratic Friends Cultural Combination—a bodv
of local corporation sweepers and scavengers. Their main objective is to make men realise the evils face and fight them so that they can live as human beings. Through drama and songs, the'co’nbTna^o:!
seeks to bring about radical revolutionary changes in society.
1
‘on
“The greatest power is the power of the people. We have to arouse that dormant power.
Our only hope lies in it. ”
' ■'
28
?
BOOK REVIEW
TAKING SIDES—THE CHOICES
BEFORE THE HEALTH WORKER
Dr. C. Sathyamala, Nirmala Sundharam,
Nalini Bhanot; Anitra, 1985. Price: Rs.
70. Available from VHAI.
Most nations have accepted today
that modern medicine is not the
answer to ill health. In principle,
they have accepted the concepts of
primary health care. The alternate
models of health care supposed to
reflect this new concept have not,
however, been successful in
substantially improving the health
situation. This is primarily because
the cause of ill health is exploitation;
health is governed by the social,
economic and political forces in
society and cannot be viewed in
isolation from them.
Again, medical, nursing, and
paramedical education does not
equip health personnel, particular
ly those at the middle level—who ac
tually face the realities—take deci
sions. formulate a policy, etc. This
leads to frustration, which is further
intensified by the isolation of com
mitted workers from one another.
'Taking Sides’ has grown out of
years of experience of the authors
conducting long and short-term
courses for such workers during
their tenure at the Voluntary Health
Association of India. It is written in
simple language and is well il
lustrated. Graphs, chartsand tables
help comprehension.
The book is divided into four sec
tions. The first deals with the
realities faced by the worker in a
rural area. It raises questions about
the cause of ill health and poverty in
the context of the exploitative
nature of society. As most of these
questions are left unanswered for
the health worker, she usually
leaves the project, frustrated and
unhappy.
Section two analyzes the effect of
modem medicine on health and how
many of the solutions offered by this
system further entrench it in a posi
tion of power.
The third section highlights the
need to determine priorities and
make plans, keeping the social and
economic constraints of the people
in mind. The authors also analyze the
activities of the health workers visa-vis government policies, and pose
the question that whether the
policies are actually planned for the
weaker sections of society as
claimed?
Through case studies and ex
amples, the fourth section makes
suggestions on how a health worker
can use the available resources to
organize people and develop their
understanding of their rights. It
helps strengthen their decision mak
ing capacity.
Especially well written and
thought provoking are the chapters
dealing with family size, poverty.
modern medicine, health of women,
adults, nutrition, health education
and family planning.
There is a comprehensive glossary
at the end of the book, which aids
understanding many of the concepts
presented.
CHILD
PICTURE BOOK
Even today, many girls and
women are ignorant about their
bodies and the process of childbirth.
In many places the world over, more
deaths occur hi childbirth than any
other disease. This can be easily
prevented. For this, it is important
that
information
regarding
childbirth be made available to
these women in simple language
and graphic form.
With this in view. CHETNA has
translated The Universal Child Birth
Picture Book by Fran P. Hosken. with
attractive illustrations by Marcia L.
Williams, published by women’s In
ternational Network News. 1982, in
to both Hindi and Gujarati langu
ages.
This book brings out the whole
proces of childbirth from anatomy
through fertilization, the various
stages of development of the child in
the womb and child birth to natal
problems. The book consists of 34
pages of attractive clear illustrations
with 24 pages of related text for the
use of the trainer. There is a special
section which is aimed at the com
munity health worker or mid-wife
and a glossary of technical terms
and photographs.
In order to get our copy, kindly
write to CHETNA, specifying the
language of your choice. Each copy
costs Rs. 15. Bulk order of 50 will be
entitled to a 15% discount and an
order of 100 will be entitled to a 20%
dis ount. This is exclusive of postal
charges.
Rural Education and Action for
Change (REACH), is publishing a
health manual for teachers, health
coordinators guides workers,
Anganwadi Workers. The book, con
sisting of illustrations, explains the
what, why and how of diseases,
health, and deals with the fun
damentals in very simple Oriya.
The book is coming out as a result
of one year’s training in community
health and women’s develop
ment, organized by REACH for
voluntary groups in Orissa. The
book is written by the trainees in
consultation with the. trainers and
technical exp
*,
rts. The cost of the
book is Rs. 30. For further informa
tion, please write to G. John.
REACH. Jagamara, Khandagiri
P.O., Bhubaneshwar. Orissa
751 030.
A WORD ABOUT CDMU
D.P. Poddar
Community
Development
Medicinal Unit (CDMU) is a non
profit making registered society,
registered under the West Bengal
Societies Act, 1961.
The Drug Supply Unit ‘Central
Drug Marketing Unit’ (CDMU) was
initially started by WBVHA in 1984
and this activity of drug supply was
entrusted to the Community
Development Medicinal Unit
‘CDMU’ in 1986 for better function
ing and effective services.
The Constitution of CDMU is
secular. CDMU assists NGO’s in pro
curing low cost quality essential
generic drugs.
30% of India’s health care is being
undertaken by voluntary organisa
tions. Most of our voluntary
organisations are of non-profit
motive and of a charitable nature.
They run on donation and often face
scarcity of finance. The need for
medicines is increasing but funds
are decreasing. Being an organisa
tion of national importance, it is our
responsibility to put our every effort
to support their work even by mak
ing available quality generic drugs
with drug information at cheaper
prices and in time, by having fair
negotiations with different drug
companies.
The Community Development
Medicinal Unit, a low cost project in
itiated by WBVHA, helps voluntary
sectors to procure medicinal re
quirements at economic prices and
thus helps many poor people of dif
ferent communities in our country
to maintain their health.
CDMU OBJECTIVES
supplied to the member through
CDMU.
★ To perform necessary tests and to
take action as and when required.
★ To help NGO’s cut down the
yearly drug expenses by pro
viding drugs at economic prices.
HOW ECONOMIC WE ARE
One example will make you know
how CDMU helps in getting drugs at
economic prices having ensured
quality and time.
Ethambutol 800 mg (Concept) 100
tabs from retailer
Rs. 133.12
Ethambutol 800 mg (Concept) 100
tabs from wholesaler Rs. 113.33
Ethambutol 800 mg (Concept) 100
tabs from CDMU "
Rs. 67.60
☆ To collect and provide drug infor
mation to member organisations.
* To advise member organisations
about the rational drug therapy,
the right sources of right drugs.
* To make available essential and
quality drugs in generic name at
economic price in time.
JOIN CDMU
★ To maintain central stores at our
office for member organisations
Be a member of CDMU to get
and stock essential drugs in a quality drugs at economic prices. It
scientific and hygienic way.
really helps you and is created for
☆ To help NGOs in not keeping a you. Buy medicines from CDMU
large inventory of drugs.
meant for you. Your cooperation is
☆ To maintain detailed procedures our strength.
for registration of manufacturers’
supply of drugs and to ensure D.P. Poddar is Secretary, Community
that no substandard drugs are Development Medicinal Unit
©PP©RTU‘W’iS
Dr. Ramaprasad, a medical graduate, is looking for a job in Andhra
Pradesh, or in Telugu-speaking areas of Karnataka, Orissa and Tamil Nadu.
Those interested may write to him at
52.B Ramaraja Bhushan Street.
Ashok Nagar. Eluru,
Andhra Pradesh. 534 002.
Position: 415 (9 views)