Campaign In India Research Articles

An irritable state: the contingent politics of science and suffering in anti-cancer campaigns in South India (1940–1960)

This article traces the making of anti-cancer campaigns in South India. Set at the cusp of decolonization, it explores how provincial physicians and women activists framed cancer care in the 1940s and 1950s. It offers insights into the argumentative, contingent ways in which public health concerns were framed and mobilized in Indian cities between a middle class public, medical experts and state agency. These cancer campaigns and local health debates have been neglected because historians have tended to focus on national level, political visions of health, on debates regarding international aid, transfer of medical technology, and targeted disease control programs. This has also shaped and limited how we have understood the complex, changing meanings and expectations of health and development in newly decolonized societies such as India. Analyzing the activist campaigns and writings of Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddi an influential physician, renowned Women’s Indian Association leader, and legislator, and tracing the making of urban, anti-cancer networks, I argue that cancer care campaigns both invoked and challenged nationalist and developmental priorities, and questioned assumptions about what were termed as ‘normative’ diseases and health risks in India. Even though they spoke of the curative, technoscientific and specialized aspects of cancer treatment and urged its provision in local hospitals, they also encouraged the state and philanthropists to assume moral responsibilities for care and chronic suffering. They built on contemporary social and political metaphors, especially Tamil cultural representations of women. These ideas created emerging spaces for debates through multiple discursive ambits that emerged while trying to articulate and balance ‘needs’ that were seen as dichotomous and competing between managing population wide, curable diseases and the needs of a vocal, minority of advocates supporting cancer care. These debate were no doubt also limited by the visions of middle-class women, urban philanthropy, and engagements with male political leaders, and health officials.

Mobilizing Shakti: Hindu Goddesses and Campaigns Against Gender-Based Violence

Hindu goddesses have been mobilized as powerful symbols by various groups of activists in both visual and verbal campaigns in India. Although these mobilizations have different motivations and goals, they have frequently emphasized the theological association between goddesses and women, connected through their common possession of Shakti (power). These campaigns commonly highlight the idea that both goddesses and Hindu women share in this power in order to inspire women to action in particular ways. While this association has largely been used as a campaign strategy by Hindu right-wing women’s organizations in India, it has also become a strategy employed in particular feminist campaigns as well. This article offers a discourse analysis of two online activist campaigns (Priya's Shakti and Abused Goddesses) which mobilize Hindu goddesses (and their power) in order to raise awareness about gender-based violence in India. I examine whether marginalized identities of women in India, in relation to caste, class and religious identity, are represented in the texts and images. To do so, I analyze how politically-charged, normative imaginings of Indian women are constructed (or maintained). This analysis raises questions about the usefulness of employing Hindu goddesses as feminist symbols, particularly in contemporary Indian society, in which communal and caste-based tensions are elevated.

Long-term impact of a community-led sanitation campaign in India, 2005-2016.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the long-term impact of a community-led total sanitation campaign in rural India.MethodsLocal organizations in Odisha state, India worked with researchers to evaluate a community-led total sanitation campaign, which aimed to increase the demand for household latrines by raising awareness of the social costs of poor sanitation. The intervention ran from February to March 2006 in 20 randomly-selected villages and 20 control villages. Within sampled villages, we surveyed a random subset of households (around 28 households per village) at baseline in 2005 and over the subsequent 10-year period. We analysed changes in latrine ownership, latrine functionality and open defecation among approximately 1000 households. We estimated linear probability models that examined differences between households in intervention and control villages in 2006, 2010 and 2016.FindingsIn 2010, 4 years after the intervention, ownership of latrines was significantly higher (29.3 percentage points; 95% confidence interval, CI: 17.5 to 41.2) and open defecation was significantly lower (−6.8 percentage points; 95% CI: −13.1 to −1.0) among households in intervention villages, relative to controls. In 2016, intervention households continued to have higher rates of ever owning a latrine (26.3 percentage points; 95% CI: 20.9 to 31.8). However, latrine functionality and open defecation were no longer different across groups, due to both acquisition of latrines by control households and abandonment and deterioration of latrines in intervention homes.ConclusionFuture research should investigate how to maintain and rehabilitate latrines and how to sustain long-term behaviour change.

The impact of measles immunization campaigns in India using a nationally representative sample of 27,000 child deaths.

India comprises much of the persisting global childhood measles mortality. India implemented a mass second-dose measles immunization campaign in 2010. We used interrupted time series and multilevel regression to quantify the campaign's impact on measles mortality using the nationally representative Million Death Study (including 27,000 child deaths in 1.3 million households surveyed from 2005 to 2013). 1-59 month measles mortality rates fell more in the campaign states following launch (27%) versus non-campaign states (11%). Declines were steeper in girls than boys and were specific to measles deaths. Measles mortality risk was lower for children living in a campaign district (OR 0.6, 99% CI 0.4-0.8) or born in 2009 or later (OR 0.8, 99% CI 0.7-0.9). The campaign averted up to 41,000-56,000 deaths during 2010-13, or 39-57% of the expected deaths nationally. Elimination of measles deaths in India is feasible.

Child Undernutrition Following the Introduction of a Large-Scale Toilet Construction Campaign in India

Background: Lack of toilets and the wide-spread practice of open defecation contributes to India's large burden of child undernutrition. We examine whether a large national sanitation campaign launched in 2014, the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), corresponds with reduction in stunting, underweight, and wasting among under five year-old (u5) children in India. Methods: We used district-level data from before (2013-14) and after (2015-16) SBM from three national surveys to derive, as our outcomes, the percentage of u5 children per district who are stunted, wasted, and underweight. We defined our exposures as (i) binary indicator of SBM and (ii) percentage of households with toilets per district. Our analytic sample comprised nearly all 640 Indian districts. Linear fixed effects regression analyses controlled for baseline differences in districts, linear time trends by state, and relevant covariates. Findings: Relative to pre-SBM, u5 stunting declines by 0.07% with every percentage increase in households with toilets post-SBM. Districts with higher pre-SBM toilet availability show greater decline in u5 stunting post-SBM. Post-SBM reductions in u5 undernutrition concentrate in rural areas, and among the two to five year-old age group. Interpretation: Increase in toilet availability and usage on a national scale, precipitated by the sweeping national SBM sanitation campaign, appears to reduce under nutrition among u5 children in India. Funding Statement: Funding for this research was provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases: 1R03AI135322-01. Declaration of Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Ethics Approval Statement: The authors stated: This study used publicly available secondary data and was IRB exempt.

Measles, mumps, and rubella: A cross-sectional study of susceptibility to vaccine-preventable diseases among young people in India

BackgroundGlobal elimination of vaccine preventable diseases, such as measles, mumps and rubella is a priority. Many countries have reported diminishing of antibody titres against these diseases among young population as immunization coverage of adolescents and adults in not monitored. The objective of this study was to determine the susceptibility against measles, mumps and rubella among young adults. MethodsIn this cross-sectional study serological evidence of susceptibility to measles, mumps and rubella was determined by qualitative detection of IgG antibody titres by commercially available enzyme linked florescence assay (VIDAS, bioMerieux) in serum samples young adults. ResultsA total of 335 young individuals (mean age: 20.54 ± 1.37 years) participated voluntarily between May 2017 to September 2018, of which 183 (54.63%) were males. Seroprotection against measles, mumps and rubella were 87.16%, 82.69% and 79.10% respectively. ConclusionSerological surveillance is important to monitor immune status in population. Susceptibility of young adults to measles, mumps, and rubella indicates need for booster vaccination. With the recent launch of measles-rubella vaccination campaign in India, country specific data will be required to plan periodicity of such campaign, which in turn would be based on accumulation of susceptible individuals in a community. Lastly, inclusion of mumps vaccine in the national universal immunization program needs consideration.

THE QUESTIONS OF DISTORTION OF FACTS IN DESCRIPTION OF REALITY IN A HISTORICAL NOVEL

Summary. The article explores the problems of describing artistic reality with historical reality in Russian historical novels of the 1930‒50s. One of the main reasons for this was the approach to events schematically, from an ideological point of view. It is shown that in some historical novels of this period this principle was observed; but in many works distortions of historical events and personalities took place. The historical novels «Egyptian», «Stars over Samarkand», «Dmitry Donskoy» by one of the prominent representatives of Russian literature ‒ Sergei Borodin, attract attention as the first best examples of this genre in Soviet times. If the novels of the writer «Egyptian», «Dmitry Donskoy» took into account the spirit of the era, trends, historical chronological principle, then in some places of the historical novel «Stars over Samarkand» this principle was not observed. In a work of art, historical and artistic truth must be combined in such a way that the writer should not distort the essence of the event. S. Borodin’s «Stars over Samarkand» is a trilogy. The first book is Lame Timur , the second novel – Campfire Bonfires, and the third one was Lightning Bayazet. It is clear that the novel was devoted to historical figures and events that were not covered properly in the Soviet era as historical figures and events. Here, both historical events and historical figures must be evaluated in such a way that there is no distortion of the truth. In the trilogy of S. Borodin, this was observed to a certain extent; here, in addition to historical facts, artistic imagination is also present. This is completely natural, because the writer is not a historian to describe him as he was. The writer must first describe the spirit of the era with all its liveliness. This aspect in one sense or another has been observed in the trilogy. For example, there is information in various historical sources about Timur’s attention to traders, the continuation of trade even during the war, and the openness of roads for its development. In the novel «Stars over Samarkand» there are pages, even chapters on Timur’s support for trade. When writing these pages, the writer relied on historical realities. For example, after Timur’s campaign in India, learning about what trophies market traders return to, he writes that they will earn money here: «India! In the market ranks they talked anxiously about goods brought from there. To find out what to bring from or send there, they sent a detective to the experts». Therefore, the writer should not only study the historical events of this period well but also be objective about them.

The Glitch in Mental Health Awareness Campaigns in India

The Glitch in Mental Health Awareness Campaigns in India

Measles & Rubella Vaccination Campaign in India: Why, How, When and Where

Globally, in 2015, measles killed an estimated 1,34,200 children - mostly under-5 years of age and an estimated 49,200 deaths occurred due to measles in India. Most of these children were the ones who have not received two doses of measles vaccine. This is despite the fact that the Government of India is providing vaccines free of cost under the Universal Immunization Programme. Even today some of the children in the country are not protected against the deadly life-threatening diseases. Some of these children are left unvaccinated because their parents are hesitant to immunise, believes that vaccines are dangerous. (1)
 There are many reasons for low vaccination coverage like lack of awareness or fear of side-effects of vaccination. Some of the times children are left unvaccinated because their parents receive wrong information about vaccination from a handful of people who keep trying to sabotage the vaccination programme in the country by giving factual figures and facts. (2) With digital age, social media and WhatsApp has become a new tool to spread rumours without even disclosing their identity. (3)

Attitudinal change in children: An insight from three decade of advertising campaigns in India

Exposure to advertisement is considered to be the primary source of indulgence and distraction for children. Past studies have treated children as both empowered and vulnerable. Empowered because after a certain age children become mature enough to understand the difference between entertainment and persuasion, but before reaching that stage children are extremely naïve. This paper aims to explore the changes in childrens’ attitude towards frequent changes in advertising campaigns with reference to a popular product of a famous chocolate multinational brand in India. Four focus groups comprising of 22 children of both the genders between the age group of 8–14 years participated in the study. Selective advertisement from a period of three decades (1983–2016) were chosen and shown to the children in a birthday party and their responses were collected. Congruency Theory of Social Psychology was applied for the analysis of the excerpts. The findings reveals that frequent changes in advertising campaigns create confusion in the minds of the children. The entertainment and empathy towards the advertisement were reduced considerably when the advertisement execution shifted from children to adults.

Damien de Veuster (1840-1889): A life devoted to lepers

Father Damien de Veuster, or Saint Damien of Molokai (1840-1889), was one of the pioneers of the holistic approach to care provision for leprosy patients and contributed to the overcoming of the patients’ social stigmatization. He devoted his life to the lepers living in America’s only leper colony, on the Hawaiian island of Molokai, where people with leprosy were required to live under government-sanctioned medical quarantine. Father Damien gained practical skills in caring for the sick, eagerly learning wound cleansing, bandaging techniques, and drug administration from a nurse. Mahatma Gandhi said that Father Damien's work had inspired his own social campaigns in India.

Social media as a gateway for young feminists: lessons from the #IWillGoOut campaign in India

ABSTRACTOver New Year’s Eve in 2016, a slew of sexual assault cases against women came to light in India’s tech hub of Bengaluru. Four years prior, against the backdrop of a violent rape in the nation’s capital of Delhi, prominent feminists and activists took to the streets as part of mass public protests calling for legal protections for women in India. The response to the New Year’s Eve allegations, however, differed in two ways. The first was the conspicuous role social media played for the first time in the feminist movement in India. The second was the leadership provided by young feminists in the country. A coalition of various feminist organisations and individuals banded together to form a collective under the hashtag #IWillGoOut. This article discusses feminist activism over a period of two weeks at the start of 2017, when the #IWillGoOut collective rapidly mobilised widespread public support calling for the safety of women and minorities in public spaces in India. The campaign organised and led marches and events in over 30 towns and cities of India with no formal fundraising effort. I draw on my personal experience of organising the campaign to share insights into its success in transforming online support to offline action using social media. This experience provides a useful example that can be used in other social justice movements in the Indian subcontinent.

The Anthropology of Corruption

The Anthropology of Corruption

Vedantic applications of augmented reality for strategic social marketing campaigns in India

PurposeSocial outreach campaigns such as mainstream commercial marketing campaigns are drawn to digital communication practices for increased visibility, speed and recall. This paper aims to highlight the usefulness and application of augmented reality (AR) technologies and proposes a change-driven usage of the AR environments for social marketing.Design/methodology/approachParadigmatic structural analysis is used to extract the underlying schematic forms. A multimodal analytic approach is used to propose the conceptual framework.FindingsAR is defined vis-à-vis conceptualizations of reality and hyper-reality from the Vedantic philosophical texts and treatises. The study examines and demonstrates an earlier version of AR expression in ancient times in the use of spatio-temporal constructs and their degrees of modality. It derives a conceptual schema based on AR resonant applications in narratives from the Vedantic literature. Based on these, the study highlights the persuasive appeal and co-creative potential of these illustrative examples to recommend marketing communication strategies for social outreach campaigns.Research limitations/implicationsThe analysis recognizes a conceptual bridge between human extra-sensory/transcendental ability and contemporary technology. This study identifies five propositional structures (PS). It opens up the field of social marketing research to alternative methodologies such as multimodal analysis.Practical implicationsWhile most of contemporary AR usage is in commercial marketing, this study has derived specific guiding principles/propositional structures. These can be applied to create specific virtual environments that can simulate and demonstrate desirable societal outcomes and behaviours. As newer technologies permit further and more futuristic design interventions, developers could experiment with transitional states to impact behaviours, with implications for experimental layering of information.Originality/valueThis study responds to a call for innovative design interventions in the field of social marketing. Its originality lies in its use of the Vedantic framework which has not been explored in this direction elsewhere.

Engaging youth in anti-tobacco awareness campaigns in India

Launch of CampaignObjectiveImplementationQuit Tobacco Movement (2008) Launched in 2008, it is implemented every year in the schools having SBF's Super Army Leadership ProgramTo promote freedom from tobaccoInspired by the Quit India Movement Used freedom struggle imagery to promote freedom from tobacco. Street plays, rallies, poster exhibitions at railway stations and public places.Life Se Panga Mat Le Yaar (2011) This campaign was launched involving a celebrity from Indian film industry to get the attention of youth on the important issue of tobacco and its harmful effects. The campaign had a long term impact due to media coverage.To counteract positive images of tobacco in popular cinema.Launched using a celebrity ambassador Street plays, rallies at public places. Audience engagement through radio, social media.Election Campaign (2014) This campaign was done during the parliamentary elections in India in 2014. The similar campaign will be conducted during the state and municipal elections to create awareness on tobaccoTo encourage people to stop using tobacco as part of New Year's resolution.The students took on the role of campaigners and voters for a hypothetically created "Tambakhu Mukta Party". Automated voting machine was created to showcase various voting options to choose from various tobacco products.''Tambakhu Ko Dhishum'' (2015) It is a long term online campaign which makes the use of social media like Facebook where photographs clicked by children are posted on a continuous basis.To collect cases of violation of COTPA 2003 actOnline campaign launched on 'World No Tobacco Day 2015' with NGOs in Mumbai. The campaign monitored the violations of the act related to sale and promotion of tobacco products.

Diminishing the Effectiveness of Vote Buying: Experimental Evidence from a Persuasive Radio Campaign in India

Diminishing the Effectiveness of Vote Buying: Experimental Evidence from a Persuasive Radio Campaign in India

“Saved a Generation”

The last three decades have witnessed campaigns in India by the women’s health movement against provider-controlled contraceptives, i.e., long-acting contraceptives, non-surgical sterilisation and anti-fertility vaccines. These campaigns are examined to understand and analyse the engagement of women’s groups with contraceptive technology in opposing the entry of these contraceptives into the Family Planning Programme (FPP) of the country. The rise of social movements challenging scientific knowledge and scientific institutions is attributed to the “scientisation” of politics; however, we argue that the politicisation of contraceptive technology and its research was the result of women’s collective action in India. The paper explores collective action strategies and intersecting frames of overpopulation, development and technology used by women’s groups to consistently oppose the provider-controlled contraceptives from entering the FPP of the country. The paper uses the internal documents of women’s organisations, media reports and personal interviews to explore the engagement of women’s collective action with contraceptive technologies.

Rapid onset optic neuritis following measles vaccine in India: Case report

Though rare, neurological serious adverse events following measles immunization are well documented in scientific literature. However, we could retrieve only 7 published reports of optic neuritis following measles/measles containing vaccines. We report a case of bilateral optic neuritis that developed within 24h of administration of monovalent measles vaccine in an eight-year-old male child during special measles immunization campaign in India.

Auld lang syne

Auld lang syne

Television is More Effective in Bringing Behavioral Change: Evidence from Heat-Wave Awareness Campaign in India

Summary This paper analyzes a unique data set that details the daily advertisements on Information, Education and Communication (IEC) material to avert heat stroke mortality in different media used by the state government of Odisha, India and the actual daily heat-wave mortalities in the state over a period of eight years. The paper then investigates the relative effectiveness of the different media in reducing mortality econometrically. The government adopted awareness generation as an adaptation strategy for heat waves in the year 2003 and intensified the use of public media from 2007 when multiple newspapers and radio and television channels were used for dissemination. I analyze the district-level daily death occurrences due to heat stroke using both linear and non-linear econometric models. Media used on the same day or on previous days are represented in the models by grouping them as either print, audio or video media. The data used is a daily panel data set consisting of only summer days (15th March–20th June) for the years 2005–12 for each of the 30 districts of the state. The estimated models account for the gap in data and the multidimensional nature of the panel (days, months, years). The results show the repeated use of video media to be the most effective in reducing deaths followed by newspapers and radio. The paper’s novel contribution is the use of secondary data to evaluate media and compare media effect of public health communication strategies in a developing country.