Adgully Exclusive | Jagran Pehel keeping humanity alive by initiating 'Gestational Diabetes Management'

Social initiatives have now become the norm for most publications and channels. Today in a world, where one is surrounded by negativity and ill deeds, publications are attempting to do that little something to capture their audience and connect with them on the grounds of humanity. Recently we saw a few initiatives by some of the mainstream players and whether or not these are having a meaningful impact; it is definitely a feel good factor. However there is some amount of recall value thanks to these kinds of initiatives.

Jagran Pehel, the non-profit unit of Dainik Jagran which was launched in August 2010 addressed the social issues which prevailed in the society. Some of their previous programs included campaign on rights of women with HIV/AIDS, Increasing public discourse on sex selection (female feticide) through innovative media initiatives, Campaign against domestic violence on women, Condom Bindas Bol, Building Commitment on Malnutrition through District Level Discourse and action and many such programs

Speaking exclusively to Adgully, the National Head, the Jagran Pehel Foundation, Anand Madhab says, "Through corporate social responsibility, we have always aimed at contributing to the society at large. This will always be an important part of JPL. By offering core competencies and resources of mass media, the idea behind Pehel is to extend support to development organizations."

Through their various initiatives, Pehel has always attempted to improve the quality of human life by designing and carrying out programs that aims at abetting high levels of community education, self-efficiency and positive behavioral change by partnering with multilateral or bilateral agencies, government and non-government organizations.

Amongst the various initiatives under the umbrella of Pehel that have been launched is done so, to keep the focus on issues related to health, education, gender equality, water conservation and environment protection amongst many more. Some of the key projects initiated by Pehel includes Gestational Diabetes Management, Campaign for Neonatal Care and Survival, Sapno ko Chali Chooney - A college intervention program, Population stabliziation and the role of media, etc amongst many more

The governments of Delhi and Punjab have announced that the screening of diabetes of pregnant women will be mandatory as a part of the campaign called Gestational Diabetes Management, a recently launched campaign following the Pehel initiative in association with World Diabetes Foundation.

Further explaining about this initiative, Madhab said, "More than 350,000 people were reached through awareness activities under the Hindi slogan "Janch Se Bache Jan" (Screening can save lives). This follow-up project is intended to create awareness on gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and its management in association with local stakeholders including the public health delivery system. The primary target group is women at child-bearing age and pregnant women.

Madhab adds that the foundation believes in social initiatives that involves all the stakeholders, thus working very closley with the Governmental bodies too. "Every year there is a conscious effort by us to be associated with as many causes as we can. We always work with as many value partners as we can to provide a better foreground for our initiatives and to ensure better results. All our initiatives are backed equally by the editorial policy across the Jagran Publications. We engage in multi-stakeholders panel discussions for our initiatives and they have been very encouraging and equally responsible, " he adds.

The initiatives are promoted through the Jagran Publications' long list of daily editions and the foundation always works with a partner who understands the cause and the region well thus making the on-ground activity for the initiatives more relevant. "Our endeavour is never to promote the publications from the group we represent and to change the society in just one go. But our attempt is to reflect all the small stories of change we hear post a successful run of a campaign. Our brand value of belonging to the Jagran Group might get reflected but all we are looking at is sending across a social message to the society and people at large," he adds.

Targeting more than half a million people in Northern India, the project launched will be rolled out in four states. The four states differ starkly in terms of socio-economic situations. Punjab and Delhi are known for their better economic performance and the population faces the risks attached to better livelihood. The overall lifestyle and food habits in both these states show a high percentage of overweight and obesity in the population. Furthermore, women tend to be more overweight than their male counterparts. However Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand are infamous for its high rates of maternal and infant mortality, illiteracy and overall poor health. This program is estimated to reach 510,000 people through media awareness campaign on GDM. More than 124,500 female students from 498 secondary schools and colleges will be sensitized and educated on GDM. In addition, 500 stakeholders will participate in 14 district level advocacy forums on GDM.

Apart from this, on account of women's day Pehel would be launching a book encapsulation the experiences of girls in Bihar. "We are hoping this will reach out to more people and spread awareness at a greater level," said Madhab.

"We do not come out with initiatives for propaganda but because we believe in ceratin causes and we want to see a social change. We want to create some impact and it may not particularly be a large scale impact but can also be a slight change in the minset of a handful of people," he adds whle signing off. | By Janees Antoo [janees(at)adgully.com] with inputs from Prabha Hegde [prabha(at)adgully.com]