By IANS,
New Delhi : With the swine flu claiming over 100 lives and infecting nearly 4,000 people in India, the government has planned a Rs.600 million (Rs.60 crore) campaign on street corners, health facilities, schools, cinema halls, television and radio to spread awareness about the virus.
Since May, some advertisements have been appearing on television and radio in English and Hindi, but now the health ministry is now planning to air them in 12 regional languages.
“The virus is spreading fast in the country and there will be more cases in the winter. As awareness is the best way to prevent the spread of the disease, we have planned a series of advertisement campaigns,” a health ministry official said.
About Rs.600 million have been earmarked for the campaign, the official told IANS.
As many as 101 people have died in India, while 4,101 people have been tested positive for the flu so far. The first swine flu death in the country was reported Aug 3.
“Our aim is to reach out to as many people as possible. By the end of this month or early October, these will be out. The focus is on visibility. There will be hoardings on the roads, posters in hospitals and health screening centres and in cinema halls,” the official added.
As the health ministry study has shown that most of the dead include the young people, the focus will be to reach out to children and their parents.
The posters and awareness campaign material is being prepared to target not only children and parents but also teachers.
For children, simple preventive measures like how many times to wash hands and ways to safeguard against catching virus will be listed. For the teachers, the information will on how to tackle the situation if someone has been detected with the flu.
Parents too will be provided with a list of do’s and don’ts, the official said.
“As its natural for parents to panic, we want to inform them what all is needed to be done. If simple preventive measures are followed then there is nothing to worry about,” the official added.
The awareness campaigns, which have been planned by Unicef, focus on sending a positive message.
The official said the advertisements now on air shows a boy, who has been tested positive for swine flu, watching others play cricket while he looks at them from his verandah and how a man travelling in a bus uses a handkerchief when he sneeze.
The advertisements express the idea that such behaviour – staying away from crowd, covering nose and mouth with handkerchief while sneezing and coughing and getting test done – is a positive step to curb the virus, the official added.
“We wanted to show the positive behaviour of the people and that’s why our tagline is stop infection and be a hero,” the official said.