Press Release: India’s first international conference on ‘Managing Health Communication’ concludes at MICA

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.

 

  

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