Ahmedabad, February 14, 2014:
India’s first International Communication Management Conference (ICMC
2014), on ‘Managing Health Communication’ concluded on Friday at Mudra
Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad (MICA), India's premier
Communications Management Institute. ICMC 2014 brought together
healthcare providers, communication professionals, academia, donor
agencies, marketing experts, policy makers and activists all under one
roof.
Mr.
PVRN Iyer, Managing Trustee at The India Sight Screeners' Foundation
who was invited as the Chief Guest, lauded MICA’s initiative to organize
such a conference. He noted, “The development in medical science has
led to longevity of life and India has found answers to many dreadful
diseases. However, communication will play a major role to communicate
the treatment available to many disorders across our country. Despite
the availability of medical facilities, 80-85% of blind people in India
could have been treated had proper communication reached them. This
percentage is hardly 5% in developed economies, only due to
non-availability of treatment and not lack of appropriate
communication”.
Dr.
Nagesh Rao, President & Director of MICA, stated “This conference
is a dream come true for MICA in its endeavor of creating not only
corporate leaders but also professionals dedicated to development
communication, social issues and healthcare communication. In this
direction, MICA has undertaken several initiatives to improve the health
of Gujarat such as rural immersion program; MICAvaani- a community
radio station which invites villages in the vicinity to participate and
share their problems; CCC students spent significant amount of time with
District Development Officers, understanding issues such as
malnutrition, sanitation, etc and creating content to amplify these
issues. Similarly, Election Commission had asked MICA students to create
communication urging people to register and vote.”
The
inauguration was followed by a ‘Pharmaceutical Industry Panel’
comprising Dr. Shivang Swaminarayan, Healwell, Kalol and Dr. Manjul
Joshipura, VP Medical Services, Cadila Pharmaceuticals as key speakers.
The post lunch session discussed ‘Health Behavior & Health
Education: Theory, Research and Practice’ where Prof. Srividya
Ramasubramanian, Associate Professor, Texas A&M University, USA
presented paper on ‘Communication and Holistic Health: Theoretical
Approaches’, Ms. Sunaina Batra, Ph.D Scholar, Lady Irwin College, Delhi
presented on ‘When incentives strengthen health communication: An
insight into how incentive theory of motivation is catalyzing safe
motherhood behavior’ and ‘Communication at grassroots: Empowering health
workers, promoting safe motherhood’, Ms. Nishu Chaudhry, Delhi spoke on
‘Human Resource Development for Health Communication: An Indian
Initiative’ and Prof. Ruchi Gaur, Assistant Professor, Lady Irwin
College, Delhi – spoke on ‘Ensuring the Survival of the Girl Child: How
can Communication Strategies Help?’. The final session revolved around
‘Surrogacy: Past, present and future’ where Dr. Nayna Patel,
Obstetrician, Gynecologist, Medical Director, Akansha Infertility and
IVF Clinic, Anand interacted with two surrogates and an intended set of
parents moderated by Prof. Saumya Pant, Adjunct Faculty, MICA.
Day
2 of the ICMC 2014 started with a media panel discussion on “Role of
media and films in making a healthier India”. The media panel comprised
Rahul Bose, actor and activist, Dr. Sumit Ghoshal, Managing Editor-
Healthcare Executive, Prof. Srividya Ramasubramanian and Shalini Anand,
Principal Health Correspondent, CNN IBN. Rahul Bose cleared the myth
that films alone cannot address the challenges of healthcare in India as
its penetration is only 7%. He said, “The consumption of print media,
television, radio and internet is highly skewed in India. Communication
through radio and television has the potential to win the game due to
their better reach. Social media can further enhance this communication.
Issues such as sanitation, malnutrition, female infanticide, etc need
to be addressed at grassroots level. He further added, “A contest akin
to reality shows can be initiated, wherein 104 villages can compete for
the ‘best village award’ based on certain predetermined parameters. The
assessment of these villages should be done over a period of one year,
where local community engagement will happen given people’s excitement
about their own progress and that all their hard work pays off.”
The latter half of the day witnessed the following sessions:
•
‘UNICEF-Communication Capacity Development for Child Survival and
Development’ where Dr. Avishek Hazra, Sr. Programme Officer, Population
Council, Delhi presented on ‘Effectiveness and sustainability of
behaviour change interventions supporting child survival: Evidence from
South Asia’, Dr. Mario Mosquera, C4D Specialist, UNICEF, Delhi presented
on ‘India Public Advocacy and Behaviour Change Communication Strategic
Framework for Reproductive, Maternal, New-born, Child and Adolescent
Health’, Dr. Lopamudra Tripathy, Programme Officer, UNICEF, Bhubaneshwar
presented on ‘Institutionalizing and Social and Behaviour Change
Communication: A Case Study of the Center of Excellence in Odhisha’ and
Mr. Sunil Verma, Chief Technical Advisor, FHI 360, Delhi presented on
‘Capacity Building on Social and Behaviour Change Communication in
India’
•
‘Communicating the trust and change in behavioral practices: Health
Discourse in Workplace and other Cross-Cultural Environments’ where Dr.
Michael Krzeminski, Professor and Mr. Andreas Viehof, Ph.D Scholar -
Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, Germany talked about
‘Behavior changes that can be achieved via media in order to increase
workplace safety in the occupational group of floor tile pavers – a
regional German pilot study’, and Dr. Anil Kumar, Manager- Training and
Development, Care Convergence Center, Hyderabad spoke about
‘Communicating To Build Trust And Confidence - A Healthcare
Perspective’
•
‘Health Policy: People, Practice and Perspectives’ where Prof. Biplab
Loho Choudhury, Associate Professor, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan
presented on ‘Reviewing Status of Communication in India’s Contemporary
Health Policy’, Mr. Dinesh Thapak, Assistant Professor, Shanti Business
School, Ahmedabad presented on ‘Evaluating the Impact of Electronic
Health Records on employee and patient engagement, patient health and
physician workload, cost reduction with use to technology and Prof.
Ravindra Kumar Vemula, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Mass Comm. and
Journalism, EFL University, Hyderabad presented on ‘Public Health care
in private hospitals: A critical Analysis Arogyasri Health Insurance
Scheme of Andhra Pradesh, India’
•
‘State of health in States of India: a regional perspective’ where Ms.
Urbi Ghosh, Independent Scholar, New Jalpaiguri shared ‘Key areas of
black fever in Darjeeling district and use of communication methods for
prevention and treatment’, Mr. Romesh Chaturvedi, Sr. Lecturer, Amity
University, Lucknow shared ‘Gaps in Health Communication strategy and
impact on public perception : Case Study on Japanese Encephalitis in
Uttar Pradesh’ and Dr. L B Asthana, Dy. Director, Directorate of Health
Services, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh (MP), Bhopal shared ‘Making change in
Behaviors and Social Norms through Research-based Multi-Media
Communication Strategy, focusing on human channel of communication,
especially in rural MP’.
•
‘ICT in Health Communication: Cutting the Barriers or Creating
Barriers?’ where Ms. Ruchi Yadav and Ms. Neha Sharma, Ph.D Scholars,
Lady Irwin College, Delhi spoke on ‘Facilitating Change; Examining an
innovative ICT based tool for communicating Reproductive and Child
Health issues’ and Mr. Vikram Desai, Group Head DECU, ISRO talked about
‘Telemedicine in India’.
Day 3 witnessed the following sessions:
•
‘Communicate to connect: media construction of messages and emerging
partners of health communication’ where Prof. Arbind Sinha, MICA,
Ahmedabad spoke about ‘Human Channel of Communication: Panacea for
Health Communication in India’, Ms. Priyanka Bakshi, Indian Institute of
Health Management Research, Jaipur spoke about ‘Health Communication
for Healthy Food- Observations from Image Profiling’, Prof. Aparna
Khanna, Associate Professor, Lady Irwin College, Delhi spoke about ‘
Talking Comics for Creating Awareness about Drug Abuse’ and Ms. Anshul
Singhal, Ph.D Scholar, Lady Irwin College, Delhi talked about
‘Strengthening Mass Mediated Health Messages At The Grassroots: Role Of
Kalyani Clubs’
•
‘Communicating for AIDS Control’ where Dr. Naresh Goel, Dy. Director
General (LS) & Joint Director (IEC), Dept. of AIDS Control, Ministry
of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India, Delhi, Ms. Elizabeth
Michael, Team Leader, Mainstreaming, Dept of AIDS Control, Delhi, Dr.
Sanjib Kumar Chakravarty, IEC Consultant, Dept. of AIDS Control, Delhi,
Dr. Rajesh Kumar Rana, Account Director (Media) Dept of AIDS Control,
National AIDS Organization, Delhi, Mr. Manoj Pardeshi, General Secretary
of National Coalition of PLHIV in India, Ms. Aiyeno, Deputy Director
(IEC), Nagaland State AIDS Control Society, Nagaland and Mr. Ashish
Yadav, Senior Projects Manager, BBC Media Action, Delhi had panel
discussion moderated by Dr. Preeti Kumar, Assoc. Professor & Project
Director, AIDS Project, PHFI, Delhi.
The
ICMC 2014 saw 150 participants representing the North-East, North, West
and South of India. The summit featured plenary sessions, paper
presentations and panel discussions that facilitated dissemination and
exchange of the best practices. In the cultural program, the
participants were treated by performance of vocalist Nirali Karthik and
special screening of film Dhoosar (Blurred) by Mr. Amol Palekar.
About Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad (MICA)
The
Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad (MICA) was established in
1991. MICA is the first residential institute in the country and perhaps
in the Asia-Pacific region, dedicated to meeting the integrated
marketing communication needs of the industry, government and community.
The
institute provides specialists in the field of communications
management. Its spirit lies in its grasping of contemporariness,
addressing the needs of an ever-changing environment. The MICA brand
assures the delivery of current, reliable and cost-effective
communication management skills.
Today,
it is the alma mater of professionals serving in leadership positions
in some of the best known companies in India and the world, in
marketing, brand management, research & analytics, advertising,
media, digital and other communication-driven businesses.
Warm regards
Shwetambara Shertukde
Account Manager
Adfactors PR Pvt. Ltd.
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