At 10 a.m. on Tuesday, an audio message on the importance of breakfast by the dietician of an Ernakulam hospital reached anganwadi workers in the State through WhatsApp.
The message went into the importance of breakfast, what to eat for a balanced meal, the quantities, and how skipping breakfast may lead to weight gain.
It was a reminder of the importance of breakfast for a healthy life.
Such messages are sent every day as part of the Women and Child Development Department’s Poshan Vani initiative as part of the Sampushta Keralam project to improve nutrition among children, adolescents, and pregnant and lactating women in the State.
Focus is on social media
The Poshan Vani initiative launched last month aims at creating the largest information, education, and communication (IEC) network in the State to take the message of nutrition to the people. The focus is on social media, with WhatsApp being the main platform for dissemination of the messages - in audio format. Doctors, nutritionists, dieticians, social workers, academics, department officials... all contribute to the audio messages. The messages are shared from the State unit of the nutrition mission to the district programme officers to child development project officers to supervisors to anganwadi workers as part of this network.
Besides information on nutrition, the messages touch upon all topics related to women and children, be it schemes or their rights. As it is a broadcast group, the public too can become a part of it if a message is sent on the number 9447588588.
Women and Child Development Director T.V. Anupama says that as WhatsApp is a fast, cheap, and near universal medium, the nutrition mission is relying on it to disseminate information to the public through field functionaries. As it is given a considerable time every day, it is easy to ensure transmission of messages through it.
The IEC repository, as per content, will be put up on the department website.
