Social behaviour change communication and community mobilisation to address the issue of maternal and child malnutrition

1. Health
SBIYFI Fellow (2016-17)
Ankur Chhabra
Social behaviour change communication and community
mobilisation to address the issue of maternal and child
malnutrition

2. Project Location – Jawhar Block,
Palghar District
• Situated in the Western Ghats
• Vibrant cultural heritage
• Tribal Communities – Varali, Konkana, Koli, among others

3. Background & Objectives
Background:
• Malnutrition is a multi-dimensional issue
• Till September (2015-16) – 254 children (< 5 years old)
succumbed to malnutrition in Palghar district
• Worse affected area in Palghar – Jawhar block
Project Objectives:
• Health Promotion – Social behaviour change communication
(BCC) and Community Mobilisation (CM) to provide
malnutrition awareness among:
• Children (below the age of 5)
• Mothers; Pregnant and LactatingWomen (PLW)
• Adolescent children

4. Approach – 2 Pronged Strategy
Household Level
Maternal, Newborn
and Child Health
(MNCH)
Pre-Intervention
survey (12 Severe
Acute Malnourished
children identified)
Project
Interventions
(Nutrition-sensitive
& Nutrition-specific)
Monitoring &
Evaluation
School Level
Adolescent children
(Standard 8th and
9th)
Pre-Intervention
survey
Project
Interventions
(Nutrition-sensitive)
Monitoring &
Evaluation
Capacity Building
via Sustainability
Measures

5. Household – Nutrition-sensitive
Interventions
Health Communication
- ‘Swasthya Samwad’
General health check-up
campaigns
Immunisation camps
conducted at the village
health sub-centre

6. Household – Nutrition-specific
Interventions
Setting up ‘Perennial
Nutrition Garden’ in
Households
Procurement and
distribution of seed
packets
Demonstrations
provided by the
Community Resource
Person and the
Anganwadi workers

7. Tribal School – Nutrition-sensitive
Interventions
Food, Nutrition and
Balanced Diet
Health Education via
AV aid
Child Marriage
Awareness – Class
discussions and essay
writing

8. Tribal School – Nutrition-sensitive
Interventions
Sanitation awareness drive
engaging school students
Use of posters for
Anaemia awareness
Animation film on
malnutrition
awareness

9. Malnutrition Awareness – Board
Game
School children playing the
‘Malnutrition Board Game’
Self designed ‘Malnutrition Board
Game’

10. Outcomes (Severe Acute Malnourished
Children) – Household
• Weight – Average weight gained – 0.6 kg
• Height – Average height gained – 5 cm
• Mid Upper Arm Circumference – Average MUAC gained – 0.6 cm

11. Outcomes (Awareness Levels) –
School
• Highest outcome – Awareness levels on ‘Balanced Diet’ and ‘Malnutrition’
• Positive impact on health literacy levels among adolescent school children,
especially girls

12. Sustainability and Way Forward
AnganwadiWorkers (AWWs) and Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs)
Provided health promotion and education material to the mentioned
stakeholders
‘Train theTrainer’
Selected teachers trained on healthy practices and malnutrition
‘Student Health Ambassador’
Two student health ambassadors from standard 8th – selected (based on
student elections)