Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a major health problem that can lead to severe life threatening, as well as long term complications, for both the mother and the baby including a substantial higher risk of future obesity and type 2 diabetes.A media campaign is a unique opportunity to inform people about diabetes and thereby combat one of the biggest issues that GDM faces; lack of knowledge and information.The aim of the project is to raise awareness among the public and various stakeholders, particularly amongst young women about GDM, its consequences and how it can be prevented.
This project is being implemented as an extension of the completed project WDF07-295 which focused on increasing general awareness of diabetes through a campaign in the mass media. The organisation Jagran Pehel, which carried out the previous, is now setting up this new initiative on GDM in seven districts of four states in India, namely Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Jharkhand and Delhi.To increase awareness on GDM, a multiple approach will be used mainly revolving around the following four main components:• Multimedia awareness campaign on GDM management• Education of women through educational institutions• Creating a interactive website• Create a national, state and district level advocacy forum for stakeholdersBefore initiating the project, a baseline survey will be conducted to determine the prevalence and existing knowledge and practices of management of GDM. 200 respondents from each of the seven districts (a total of 1,400 respondents) will be interviewed through specific questionnaires and focus group discussions related to GDM. The inputs from this survey will be used to develop the multimedia campaign.A campaign supervisor and four promoters will use a mobile van to access remote areas in India. They will inform district leaders on GDM and how to initiate campaign activities and provide education material to be distributed in the district. The mobile van will visit five places each day and the venues will be published through newspapers and on the radio, where general messages on GDM will also be dispersed.To ensure the quality of the messages, the staff sensitising people on GDM will participate in a workshop before the media campaign is initiated. Each management team from each of the seven districts will receive education on their roles and responsibilities in the campaign. They will be educated in several aspects of GDM and how to teach other people about GDM, its management and prevention.In order to educate women on GDM, the second component, infotainment will be used in educational institutions to sensitise young women on GDM. Quizzes, debate, essay competitions and talkshows will be some of the components used in the information campaign. The sensitised young women are expected to act as peer informers in their respective institutions, communities and in their families and thereby helping spread the messages.Additionally, a website will be created by a team of experts. A website can guide people, provide proper information and give the right messages. All materials from the media campaign will be uploaded on the website. The website will further act as a forum and encourage doctors, stakeholders and students in online interaction. The website will be available in English, Hindi and Punjabi.Finally, a stakeholder forum will be created at the district, state and national level. The main purpose of this forum is to share knowledge gained through the media campaign and eventually mainstream GDM into existing public health policy.After completion of the project intervention, a repeat evaluation and impact assessment will be conducted on the same 1,400 respondents from the baseline study. The learning from the study would clarify the need of a nationwide GDM initiative
• 570,053 people from 3,630 panchayats reached via awareness camps.• 541 strategic spots were covered through IEC van intervention• 138,468 female school children sensitised on GDM.• 9,499 women screened for diabetes.• 7,575 students participated in World Diabetes Day rally.• A web-based forum created - www.onlymyhealth.com• Baseline and end line study covering 1,400 respondents conducted.• 1,333 stakeholders participated in 3 national, 2 state and 13 district advocacy forums.• Print media campaign covered 3.4 million readers.• Mobile phone campaign sent out 2 million SMS's and received 94,115 responses • Radio campaign covered more than 154,000 listeners.• Several high-level initiatives taken to promote screening for GDM nationwide