Information, education communication

Introduction
Information,
education
and
communication plays a pivotal
role
in
creating
awareness,
mobilizing people and making
development
participatory
through
advocacy
and
by
transferring knowledge , skills
and techniques to the people.

The IEC activities are to be undertaken

through
the
available
modes
of
communication in order to inform the
people with messages. Information ,
education and communication (IEC)plays
two most important roles informative
and persuasive and as such crucial for
bringing
about
requisite
social
mobilization and facilitating participatory
development.

IEC/BCC
Information Education Communication
(IEC)is used for generating awareness.
It means process of working with
individuals, communities & societies to
develop communication strategies to
promote positive behaviour that are
appropriate to their settings.

IEC/BCC activities play a very

important and strategic role in the
area of public health. Strategic IEC/
BCC programs use a systematic
process to understand peoples
behaviour and influences.

A successful IEC/ BCC plan would

help in refuting myths and
misunderstandings prevalent in the
society and will lead to a demand for
the various health services being
provided, thus bringing about a
behavioural change among
individuals and the community at
large

Behaviour Change Communication

(BCC)is used taking another step
forward - enabling action. It means
provide a supportive environment
that will enable people to initiate and
sustain positive behavior.

ROLE OF IEC

State Goals of IEC/BCC

To connect the programs to the
people by educating and mobilizing
the masses through Information
Education and Communication (IEC)
To encourage individuals of society to
adopt healthy behaviours.

CONT

The state has decentralized the

planning and implementation of the
activities by coordinating the process
of development of State and District
IEC action plans from bottom up.
I.E.C. materials like posters, stickers,
pamphlets, leaflets, banners etc. are
produced and distributed to health
centers in all districts.

Other activities such as wall-paintings

and hoardings at important sites are
carried out from time to time
throughout the State. The State IEC
cell is also engaged in health
education and spreading awareness
through mass media such as
newspapers, television and radio.

To support health services to reduce

MMR, IMR and TFR

Educate community about the importance of

Ante Natal Care, Institutional Delivery, Post Natal Care
and Child immunization and motivate them to utilize
maternal and child health services on Mamta Diwas.
Educate and advocate about schemes such as
Janani Suraksha Yojna,, Chiranjeevi Yojana for
promoting the Institutional Deliveries for the BPL
population.
Beti Vadhao Abhiyan under PNDT
Promote temporary and permanent methods of
Family Planning

CONT..D

To
Provide
I.E.C.
support
for
national
programmes.
National Health Programmes: National Program
for Control of Blindness (NPCB), National Leprosy
Eradication Programme (NLEP), National Vector
Borne
Disease
Control
Program(NVBDCP),
National T.B. Control Programme (RNTCP),
HIV/AIDS and other programs like Nutrition,
Control of Sickle Cell Anemia, National Iodine
Deficiency Disorder Control Programme (NIDDCP),
Florosis Prevention Control Program, Vit-A etc.

CONT..D

The State IEC team is responsible for

overseeing
the
planning,
implementation,
monitoring,
and
evaluation of IEC activities, Special
Campaigns,
Health
Education
in
emergency, monitoring of activities and
capacity building of staff at the districts
and block levels, and front line health
service providers in communication.

CONT..D

Integration of the IEC activities would

improve overall coordination, more
cost effective and timely utilization of
funds, avoid duplication of resources,
and
strengthen
planning,
implementation and feedback. IEC
activities are especially implemented
through District IEC Officers in all 33
districts with special focus in tribal
districts.

CELEBRATION OF HEALTH DAYS

30 January

Anti Leprosy Day

24 March

World T.B. Day

7 April

World Health Day

11 April

Safe Motherhood Day

15 May

International Day of Families

28 May

International Womens Health

Day

31 May

World Anti-Tobacco Day

5 June

National Filaria Day

1-7 (Week) June

Cleanliness week

1-30 (Month) June

Anti Malaria Month

CONT..D
July

Doctors Day

11 July

World Population Day

1-8 August (Week)

Breast Feeding Week

25 Aug-10 Sep

Eye Care Fortnight

1-7 (Week) September

Nutrition Week

15 September

Occupational Health Day

24 September

Word Heart Day

1 October

International Day For Older

Person

1 October

National Voluntary Blood

Donation Day

2 October

Anti Drug Addiction Day

CONT..D
4-10 (Week) October

Mental Health Week

16 October

World Food Day

14 November

Universal Childrens Day

14 November

Diabetes Day

14-20 (Week) November

Newborn Care Week

1 December

Anti AIDS Day

3 December

World Handicap Day

10 December

Human Right Day

THRUST AREAS OF IEC

FRAME WORK FOR IEC SRATEGY

CONT..D

As envisaged in the Programme

Implementation Plan (PIP) of NRHM
Behaviour
Change
Communication
Strategies implemented are a mix of media,
message and interpersonal communication
with emphasis on counseling of families
and community. The BCC interventions
under NRHM focused on a) Mass Media, b)
Mid Media (use of folk groups) and c)
Interpersonal Communication.

CONT..D

WhileMass media campaignfocuses on

making use of electronic, print and other possible
media of mass communication towards creating
awareness
and
publicity
for
demand
generation/behaviour change
Mid media campaignfocuses on
communication through art/folk media for which
NRHM has identified groups who can perform
street plays and other folk arts and Equipped
them to perform plays that communicate health
messages.

CONT..D

As an aid to Inter Personal

Communication, flip charts on prioritized topics
were developed and are being used by JPHNs and
ASHAs at the FIELD level.
Innovativeinitiatives likeRadio
Healthis also being implemented. Further,
special communication campaigns are launched
for immunization, promoting breast feeding,
control of communicable and vector borne
diseases.

Ward Health Nutrition days with

focus on Reproductive Child Health
care services are held in all the
Wards in the state every month on a
particular day focusing largely on
Behaviour Change.

Definition and concepts

Information: Defined as to describe it as

one or more statement or fact that is
received by a human which have some form
of worth to him. Information affects the
perspective of the recipient person. The
facts and figures that are received by human
have to be true and factual to be labeled as
information. Lays, fare hood counterfactual
information is not information itself but is
called misinformation.

education

Education: it is process by which

behavioral changes takes place in an
individual as a result of experience
which he has undergone. Education
in a learning process or a series of
learning experience through which as
individual inform and orients himself
to develop skills and intelligent
action.

Communication

Communication is the process of attempting to

change the behavior of other. The
communication job is chiefly helping people learn
to look at things in a new way by sharing idea
and information. When people exchange idea
and information they can work together better,
sharing entail parting with information that gives.
Power communication is a general term for the
flow of information linking people or place. It is
therefore the process of exchanging news forts
opinion and massages individual.

The essentials of IEC

Information, education and

communication (IEC) combines
strategies, approaches and methods that
enable individuals, families, groups,
organizations and communities to play
active roles in achieving, protecting and
sustaining their own health.IEC is the
process of learning that empowers people
to make decisions, modify behaviors and
change social conditions

IEC training scheme

The information education and

communication training scheme was
launched by the ministry of health and
family welfare, with financial assistance from
USAID on 17th November 1987 in four Hindi
speaking states of UP, MP, Rajasthan and
Bihar in phased manner. Thus the ministry of
health and family welfare abroad the
scheme to continue as a plan scheme under
the 8th plan and made budgetary provision
as part of the IEC division of the ministry

Objectives of IEC:

1 Increase

the reach of
services by
making visit
of worker
and
supervisor
more
predictable
and regular.

2 Improve

the quality
of services
through
knowledge
and skill
developme
nt of
worker.

3 Make

supervision
more
oriented
towards
problem
solving

4 link
supervision
with at
various
levels

5
concentrate
on local
field
problems
both for
developme
nt of
training
material
and their
users.

6 combine
interperson
al
communica
tion
strategy
with mass
media
approach.

7 Improve
performanc
e level
through
continuous
with village
community
volunteers

Aims of IEC

Major component of
IEC:

Health education

Definition:
(According to WHO)
Health education is any combination
of learning experiences designed to
help individuals and communities
improve their health, by increasing
their knowledge or influencing their
attitudes.

Aim

To improves the health status of

individuals, families, communities,
states, and the nation through
enhancing the quality of life for all
people and reducing the cost spend
on treatment.

Objectives of health education

Motivating Informing
people
people:

Importance of health education

It improves the health status of people.

It enhances the quality of life for all peoples.
It reduces morbidity and mortality rate.
It empowers the people with knowledge and skill.
It guides the people regarding proper use of health
services.
It stimulate the individuals to achieve health through
their participation in health development programmes.
It brings positive attitude among people towards
health.
It helps people to take rationale decision to solve their
own problems.

The Role of the Health Educator

Interpersonal health behavior

theories

Social
suppor
t
theorie
s

Components of communication

Source (sender)
Originator of message
Can be from an individual or groups, an institution or organization.
People are exposed to communication from different source but
most likely to accept a communication from a person or
organization that they trust i.e. has high source credibility.
Depending on the community, trust and source credibility may
come from:
Personal qualities or actions e.g. a health worker who always comes
out to help people at night.
Qualification and training
A persons natural position in the family or community, e.g. village
chief or elder.
The extent to which the source shares characteristics such as
culture, education, experiences

Abstract

India is a significant contributor to the

worlds total burden of deafness. Out of
all causes, almost 50% of the causes of
decreased hearing are preventable. With
the launch of the National Programme for
Prevention and Control of Deafness, the
need for an effective information,
education and communication (IEC)
campaign was felt.

There is negligible information

available about the status of
awareness levels of the community
about the various aspects of hearing
loss.

We carried out this research with the

objective of getting to know the
existing awareness related to hearing
loss in the community to generate an
evidence base for formulating various
messages to be incorporated in IEC
materials for dissemination in the
community.

We also asked the participants about

their suggestions for the various
information resources so that an IEC
campaign could be designed
accordingly.

Base for Information,

Education and
Communication Needs
of the Community
Regarding Deafness: A
Qualitative Study

Characteristics of
effective communication
All
barriers
have
been
removed.

Two way
communicat
ion has
been
established.

The
proper
media
has been
chosen.
A good
presenta
tion has
been
made.

How to overcome barriers

of communication

The sender must know his/her audiences:

Background
Age and sex
Social status
Education
Job/work
Interests/problems/needs
Language
The messages must be:
Timely
Meaningful/relevant
Applicable to the situation

Barriers to Effective
Communication
Competition
for attention
(noise)

Language
difference and
vocabulary
use

Attitudes
and Beliefs

Age
difference

Methods of Communication
Intra Personal
communic
ation

Mass
communic
ation

Inter Personal
communic
ation

Mass communication

It is a means of transmitting
messages to a large audience that
usually reaches a large segment of
the population. It uses mass media.
Mass media includes broadcast
media (radio and television) as well
as print media (newspapers, books,
leaflets and posters)

Intra-Personal communication

It takes place inside a person. It

includes the beliefs, feelings,
thoughts and justification we make
for our actions. E.g. a person may
look at an object and develop a
certain understanding. However, this
could be affected by a number of
factors including previous
experience, language, culture,
personal needs, etc.

Interpersonal Communication

It means interaction between two or

more people who are together at the
same time and place. E.g. between
health extension worker and
community member, a teacher and
students in a class. The decisive
criterion for personal communication
is that communication happens at
the same time and place.

Cont.

Effect and feedback

Effect is the change in receivers
knowledge, attitude and practice or
behavior.
Feedback is the mechanism of
assessing what has happened on the
receiver after communication has
occurred.

Cont.

Receiver (Audience)
The person or a group for whom the communication is
intended
The first step in planning any communication is to consider
the intended audience.
Before communication, the following characteristics of
audiences should be
analyzed.
Educational factors: can they read? What type of appeals
might convince them?
Sociocultural factors: What do they already believe and feel
about the topic of communication?
Patterns of communication: how people show respect when
talking to another person? What time of the day and which
programs do they listen? Which places do they pass that might
be good places to put up posters?

Cont.

Channel
A Channel is a physical means by which
message travels from a source to a receiver.
The commonest types of channels are
verbal,visual, printed materials or combined
audio visual and printed materials. Your
choice of channel will depend on what you are
trying to achieve, the nature of your audience
and what resources are at your disposal.

Cont.

Message
It consists of what is actually
communicated including the actual
appeals, words, and pictures and
sounds that you use to get the ideas
across. A message will only be
effective if the advice presented is
relevant, appropriate, and acceptable
and put across in an understandable
way.

Cont.

Receiver. A person from a similar background to the community is

more likely to share the same language, ideas and motivations and
thus be a more effective communicator. One of the main reasons for
communication failure is when the source comes from a different
background from the receiver and uses inappropriate message
content and appeals. This principlethat people who share similar
backgrounds communicate better with each otherhas important
implications for health education. It explains why health
workers who are strangers to the local community are not always
effective in their health education work. Because of this, the health
extension package program
emphasizes recruitment of health extension workers from the local
community. This is particularly relevant in our country where there
is a huge diversified culture.

Two-way
communication

As the message is more complex, twoway communication becomes essential.

In this type of communication,
information flows from the source to the
receiver and back from the receiver to
the source. The addition of feedback
allows the sender to find out how the
message is being received and so it can
be monitored and adapted to better suit
the receivers needs.

Types of Communication

One-way communication

This is a linear type of communication in which

information flows from the source to the receiver.
There is no input (feed back) from the receiver. It is
commonly used in advertising; the message is
designed to persuade the receiver to take action
prescribed by the sender. The model is best used by
organizations when the message is simple and needs
to be communicated quickly, for example, the date
and time of a public meeting. There is no opportunity
to clear up misunderstanding and meaning is
controlled by the receiver

Communication

Communication is the process of sharing of ideas,

information, knowledge, and experience among
people to take action. Communication may take
place between one person and another, between
an individual and a group or between two groups.
Communication facilitates creation of awareness,
acceptance and action at individual, group and
inter-group level. The process always involves a
sender and a receiver regardless of the number of
people concerned.

Community level
models

2.

Social
plannin
g

1.

locality
developm
ent

Intrapersonal health behavior

models

Health
belief
model
Social
learning
theory

Health education models and

theories

Intrapersonal Interpersonal Community

Cont .

The health educator should use terms that can be

immediately understood. Highly scientific jargon
should be avoided.
Health Education should start from the existing
indigenous knowledge and efforts should aim at
small changes in a graded fashion and not be too
ambitious. People will learn step by step and not
everything together. For every change of
behavior, a personal trail is required and therefore
the health education should provide opportunities
for trying out changed practices.

Cont .

It must be remembered that people are not absolutely

without any information or ideas. The health educators
are not merely passing information but also give an
opportunity for the clients to analyze fresh ideas with
old ideas, compare with past experience and take
decisions that are found favorable and beneficial.
The grave danger with health education programs is the
pumping of all bulk of information in one exposure or
enthusiasm to give all possible information. Since it is
essentially a learning process, the process of education
should be done step-by-step and with due attention to
the different principles of communication.

Cont .

The health educators have to make

themselves acceptable. They should
realize that they are enablers and not
teachers. They have to win the
confidence of clients.
The health educators should not only
have correct information with them
on all matters that they have to
discuss but also should themselves
practice what they profess.

Cont.

Health Education should provide an opportunity for

the clients to go through the stages of identification of
problems, planning, implementation and evaluation.
This is of special importance in the health education
of the community where the identification of problems
and planning, implementing and evaluating are to be
done with full involvement of the community to make
it the communitys own program.
health Education is based on scientific findings and
current knowledge. Therefore a health educator
should have recent scientific knowledge to provide
health education.

Cont.

It is necessary to have a free flow of

communication. The two way
communication is particularly of
importance in health education to
help in getting proper feedback and
get doubt cleared.
The health educator has to adjust his
talk and action to suit the group for
whom he has to give health
education. E.g. when the health

Principles of health education

All health education should be need

based. Therefore before involving any
individual, group or the community in
health education with a particular
purpose or for a program the need
should be ascertained. It has to be
also specific and relevant to the
problems and available solutions.
Health education aims at change of
behavior. Therefore multidisciplinary

Steps in developing IEC

Conduct a needs assessment: set the goal. This is a broad

statement of what you would like to see accomplished with the
target audience in the end.
Establish behavioral objectives that will contribute to achieve
the goal: develop the IEC activities and involve as many others
partners as possible.
Identify potential barriers and ways of overcoming them.
Establish an evaluation plan. The indicators should determine
the level of achievement of the behavioral objectives. Having
such specific indicators makes evaluating and monitoring the
progress and impact of the activities much easier. Additionally,
process indicators could be established to track to what extent
and how well the planned activities have been carried out.