Unicef donates communication equipment to govt agencies in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Unicef provided government agencies in Odisha with three sets of communication equipment like megaphones, jukeboxes, and pico projectors for creating awareness on COVID appropriate behaviour, COVID vaccination, and other child health-related issues in the tribal and aspirational districts of the state.

The State Institute of Health and Family Welfare (SIHFW) and the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (Trifed) received communication equipment by Unicef through the generous support from USAID.

“These communication kits would be used by the ASHA’s, Anganwadi Workers and the ANM’s during their community engagement with the adolescent girls and mothers and during the mass event organized in the community. It will amplify the messages of our frontline workers among bigger audience in the communities,” informed Sourav Bhattacharjee, Officer in Charge (OIC), UNICEF State Office for Odisha.

The megaphone is a portable or hand-held communication device for mass communication, while jukebox can used for playing recorded messages during the community dialogue or interaction and the pico projectors are the portable projectors which can be used for screening short films with key messages on COVID and COVID plus behaviours.

UNICEF continues to support the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in the national and State communication campaigns to promote behaviours to prevent the spread of COVID-19 virus and in further accelerating India’s vaccination drive. Our support in communication, advocacy and social mobilization helped raise awareness about the importance of vaccination campaigns.

Simplified scientific messages and compelling audio-visual materials created by UNICEF have helped disseminate accurate information on time and to support the uptake of Covid-19 vaccination, under the Government’s vaccination programme.

“Reaching out to tribal community with accurate and detailed information is essential for promoting Covid appropriate healthy behaviours. The communication aids will help our team to disseminate information widely and frequently and do so when there is a large group gathering at the weekly haats (markets) or events in the community,” opined Rahul Kumar, Regional Director, Trifed, Regional Office, Odisha.

The donation includes 600 megaphones, 60 pico projectors and 150 jukeboxes. Civil society organizations working in the tribal areas of the state would also receive these equipment in amplifying accurate COVID related information in the community.