A paradigm shift in communication strategies for health and family welfare programmes
Trakroo, P.L.; Bamezai, G.
Media Asia 23(3): 163-172
1996
ISSN/ISBN: 0129-6612 PMID: 12321823 DOI: 10.1080/01296612.1996.11726506Document Number: 355515
This paper analyzes the implications of the interface mechanisms used in India to help people relate to their health care system. The analysis begins by explaining why Indian social structure resisted most development initiatives in the first 25 years after independence, describing the pressure upon traditional forms of communication exerted by technology-based media, and noting that newer development processes have attempted to facilitate informed decision-making and active participation by the rural population by stimulating social changes to empower underprivileged groups. The paper continues by discussing the postindependence phases (cooperative, participation, and involvement) of the empowerment process. Next, the use of communication inputs in the Five Year Development Plans beginning in 1952 is reviewed. The paper then considers newer responses to the challenge of inspiring the rural population to use the health system, the current status of communication research, the mobilization of media personnel, the expected impact of technological innovations, the necessity of reducing gender imbalances, and the availability of community-based structures that could facilitate development. It is concluded that the communication lag among India's development framework, social structure, and health-promoting communication inputs may be overcome by providing appropriate, viable, and cost-effective programs; fully exploiting pressure groups to bridge the people and the health system; and achieving consensus on goals and mechanisms.