The community hall at Subbammapeta fishermen hamlet in Uppada Kothapalli mandal was well decorated and a special show was projected on the LCD screen arranged for the occasion on Friday.
In the presence of the district officials, over 300 women from the vicinity watched the videos in rapt attention. As most of them are either pregnant or neo-natal mothers, the short films on maternal care and infant nutrition have made them identify themselves with the characters. At the end of the screening, some of them have their doubts cleared on malnutrition.
This was the first ever screening of short films to create awareness among the rural folks and to reduce the mother mortality rate (MMR) and infant mortality rate (IMR) in the district.
UNICEF, in association with the Integrated Child Welfare Scheme (ICDS), launched the pilot project of screening of the short films at the anganwadi centres for the benefit of the pregnant and lactating. “People seen in the films are probably from the Hindi area. But, they spoke in our slang, which is the very interesting part of the films,” observed Yajjala Nagasudha, a pregnant from the fishermen hamlet.
The Unicef has dubbed 16 short films from Hindi to Telugu and converted them into four video discs and presented them to the district administration. On its part, the district administration through the ICDS made 1,000 copies of each disc and made arrangements for screening of those films in all the 5,000 anganwadi centres in the district in the presence of the local Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs).
“The idea is to make the women think about their proper care during the crucial phase of their lives and lead a happy life with their families. Lack of awareness about proper care of the pregnant and the infants is leading to the increased rate of MMR and IMR,” said H. Sridevi, district coordinator of ‘Mahila Sisu Sanjeevini,’ an ICDS project being supported the Unicef.
In the first phase of the project, the short films will be screened in 1,000 anganwadi centres by the end of July. “The videos are very informative and are much better than the stuff being viewed by the women on the television sets in the name of entertainment,” said H. Arun Kumar, district Collector.
“We are very happy that the officials have chosen our centre to launch this prestigious project. I am sure the women will discuss at length about the content of these videos from tomorrow onwards,” said Suravarapu Chittemma, in-charge of the Subbammapeta anganwadi centre.
Unicef in association with ICDA launches the pilot project at Subbammapeta fishermen hamlet
