Amul milk ads evoke nostalgic childhood memories of the 90s. They effectively captured myriad messages i.e. the importance of consuming milk and milk products, women’s empowerment and dairy farming as a self-sustaining industry. In 2015, Ching Secret’s “India Ke Hunger Ki Bajao!”, in partnership with the NGO Akshaya Patra and actor Ranveer Singh as brand ambassador, spread the message that “it takes only INR 750 to feed a child for a whole year.” The campaign’s website served as an information and donation hub, giving actionable voice to the cause encapsulated in its tagline. Such focused media campaigns reflect the importance of nutrition education.
According to the Journal of Nutrition education and Behaviour, “nutrition education” broadly refers to “any combination of educational strategies, accompanied by environmental supports, designed to facilitate voluntary adoption of food choices and other food- and nutrition-related behaviors conducive to health and well-being”. Key to building food security and fostering sustainable development, it is “delivered through multiple venues and involves activities at the individual, community, and policy levels” (Isobel Contento, 2011). It extends beyond “education” as merely an information-providing process to include communication strategies (motivational campaigns), provision of skills (facilitating people’s ability to take action), and providing enabling environments (supporting/reinforcing actions).
Nutrition education activities constantly influence public policies, increase knowledge of myriad nutritious foods and nutrient values, influence behaviors, attitudes and beliefs as well as develop motivation to adopt healthy eating practices. Community-based tools like radio, theatre and street plays are commonly used to help build people’s confidence and ability to discriminate between credible nutrition information and deceptive/misleading commercial food advertisements. In the long run, these measures help shift perceptions of relevant stakeholders, especially among vulnerable groups.
Availability and affordability shape people’s choices regardless of prevalent nutrition-sensitive food systems. This influences nutritional statuses and the nature of sustainable production. In this context, education and awareness importantly empower people/consumers to seek, select and demand better nutritional outcomes, while claiming their rights. People can then accept responsibilities to improve their nutrient intake via informed choices.
Often, there are multiple impediments to the implementation of nutrition-related initiatives on each level despite political will and proactive commitment towards the goal of achieving zero hunger. These include political chaos, delayed decision-making and lack of departmental leadership. Centrality must be accorded to education and targeted awareness-raising interventions. It is also essential to ensure the availability of a committed and well-equipped and knowledgeable workforce at all levels, to garner widespread community-level support and build public opinion.
Overall, awareness campaigns should target everyone, not just those affected by food insecurity. These must present new ideas or information in a concise, compelling and inspiring manner, to avoid saturation. Usually, “Change Leaders” embody the intended change and become drivers within the community. “Early Adopters” cognitively embrace the change, but usually need guidance for implementation. Gradually, “Followers” adopt the change, following interventions and reiterative reinforcements through Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) by the Change Leaders. The “Laggards” need the most work in terms of convincing.
Inaccurate attitudes, practices and beliefs alongside certain traditional values and food taboos, long-established dietary and snacking habits, food distribution patterns in the family, ideas about child feeding, and lack of knowledge of food hygiene and sanitation, contribute to malnutrition. Thus, communication must be specifically designed to suit particular contexts or characteristics of target groups, encourage participation of individuals and the community, strengthen local knowledge and emphasize the value of local food, dietary and eating patterns (FAO, 2010).
Aditi Rukhaiyar
November 20, 2018
source https://indiaoutbound.org/nutrition-education-key-to-effective-implementation-of-campaigns/
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