MUMBAI: Piramal Foundation in collaboration with Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, USAID under the aegis of Anamaya, Tribal Health Collaborative launched campaign Aashwasan to dispel COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, promote COVID Appropriate Behaviour, and actively find cases of tuberculosis among tribal population of India. In a phased manner, the campaign will cover all villages of blocks with over 25% tribal population in 177 tribal districts.
Implemented by Piramal Foundation, the initiative has so far touched nearly 10 lac beneficiaries in 49 districts across the states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
The key objectives of Aashwasan are to:
- Generate awareness of COVID-19 and COVID Appropriate Behaviour (CAB)
- Reduce vaccine hesitancy
- Improve epidemic preparedness by involving community influencers, faith leaders, tribal healers and others
- Build awareness of TB, identify people with presumptive TB and link them with public services for screening, diagnosis and treatment
While efforts by the central and state governments with support from organisations have led to over 170 crore vaccine administrations, vaccine hesitancy in specific pockets of the country continues to be an issue due to fear, misconceptions, myths, and rumours. Addressing vaccine hesitancy is complex and context-specific. In tribal populations (over 104 million people) this necessitates a unique and customized approach to counter complex challenges of difficult terrain, limited health facilities and social discrimination that create disparity in their health status.
The Aashwasan campaign uses a multipronged approach to reach beneficiaries in tribal villages, dispel myths, misconceptions, rumours and allay fears:
a. Develop micro plan to identify blocks and villages with low vaccination coverage by working closely with block and district administrations
b. Build greater understanding and allay fears about vaccination through workshops with panchayat presidents, ward members, faith leaders, community influencers and others in high vaccine resistance blocks
c. Raise awareness of the benefits of vaccination and urge people to get vaccinated by co-creating solutions with community influencers
d. Heighten awareness about vaccination with the larger community by organizing sessions in local markets and haat bazaars
e. Enable identification of locations for vaccination camps to maximize the reach of vaccination by supporting local administrations
A multi-stakeholder collaborative platform with Piramal Foundation, Gates Foundation, and USAID as core partners, Anamaya is committed to end preventable deaths among tribal and marginalised communities in India by co-creating solutions that strengthen communities and public delivery systems alike. Anamaya works closely with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Central TB division, and other government stakeholders. It engages with national and international organisations, philanthropies, knowledge partners, NGOs, community organisations, and community leaders.
Piramal Foundation is a section 8 company, with a vision to transform Health, Education, Water and social sector ecosystems through partnerships, high impact solutions and thought leadership.
Aligned to the Sustainable Development Goals, it partners with Central Government and State Governments, international and national organisations and academia to help improve delivery of government services in line with its values of “Doing well and Doing good”.
By focusing on the most marginalized groups within India, strengthening State’s ability to deploy impactful initiatives, and engaging youth in nation building efforts, it has touched the lives of 100+ million Indians in the last 15 years.
