Dear Anjum and all,
You said: "In our country India, Angan wadi sevikas are the most trusted contact point for spreading health information to women and children. These 'sevikas' are basically community workers appointed by the government. They operate by conducting home visits under certain campaigns launched by local government authorities and inform women in the households about campaign-related preventive measures and curative schemes for the same provided by the government."
https://www.hifa.org/dgroups-rss/ensuring-women-have-access-high-quality...
Do you have any thoughts on why health education about how to treat diarrhoea continues to be very challenging in India? The District Health Surveys for India betwen 2005 and 2016 found no evidence of improvement in basic knowledge. The 2005/2006 survey suggest that 4 in 10 children with diarrhoea are given less fluid than usual, when they should be given more. Ten years later the District Survey (2015/2016) found that '57 percent of children with diarrhoea were given [by caregivers/parents] less to drink and 5 percent were not given anything to drink'. It also found that one in five children with diarrhoea were inappropriately given antibiotics by health workers.
Also, a comment about the title of this discussion thread: Ensuring women have access to high-quality health information. It's interesting that SDG target 3.7 is the only Sustainable Development Goal target that mentions health information:
"By 2030 ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health care services, including for family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programs"
HIFA tried, with the hard work of a few volunteers, to get healthcare information much more recognised in the SDGs. Unsurprisingly, given our tiny size and capacity, we had little impact. Now that we are in official relations with WHO I am confident we shall achieve more in the future.
Best wishes, Neil
Neil Pakenham-Walsh, Global Coordinator HIFA, www.hifa.org neil@hifa.org
Global Healthcare Information Network: Working in official relations with WHO
