Adolescent Health Information (Madhya Pradesh)

Programme Description

Madhya Pradesh is implementing the Peer Educator Component of Rashtriya Kishor Swashya Karyakram (RKSK) in 13 districts of the State to promote health and wellbeing of the adolescents.

National Health Mission, MP, in partnership with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) conducted consultation with adolescents and Saathiya to understand exact expectations from job aids for conducting monthly sessions and they suggested that material should have pictures, less text and in form of story.

Based on the recommendations from Saathiya and adolescents, 24 comics were developed on 8 key thematic areas namely Nutrition, Substance misuse, Physical and emotional changes during adolescence, sexual and reproductive health, child marriage, mental health, gender based violence and self-awareness.

Salient Features of the Comics

• 3 comics for each of the 8 themes.
• Branding of Saathiya as Madhav and Muskan characters across all the comics.
• Interesting storylines developed for each comics keeping in mind the audience. Scripts developed by professional writers.
• Only 2-3 key messages are delivered in each comic making it easy to remember.  Suspense created at the end of each comic to raise curiosity and ensure participation in subsequent monthly sessions.
• Mentoring chain used effectively to provide comics in each of the program village on monthly basis.
• Monthly Cluster level mentoring cum review meetings with Saathiya and ASHA are used for comic distributions and practice session on upcoming months comic.

Programme Outcomes

NHM, MP has received positive feedback from the field on village level session and some of the key impact of comics on village sessions are as follows:

• More than 70% Saathiya are conducting monthly session with their groups using comics.
• Comics are not only read by the adolescent in the group but also by other adolescents not enrolled in group as well as parents contributing to increased awareness and knowledge on adolescent health issues in villages.
• Saathiya and ASHA participation increased in cluster meetings and more than 75% Saathiya participate in monthly mentoring meetings.

Source : We Care Coffee Table Book - Good, Replicable and Innovative Practices 2019