Uttar Pradesh National Health Mission and TCIHC Develop Integrated Family Planning Media Campaign

Contributors: Deepti Mathur and Mukesh Sharma

The NHM in Uttar Pradesh and TCIHC co-created an integrated media campaign that was released on World Population Day.

The Challenge Initiative for Healthy Cities (TCIHC) in India believes a positive attitude towards family planning is key to increasing the adoption of modern contraceptives by giving agency to women in decision-making. With this goal in mind, TCIHC collaborated with the National Health Mission in Uttar Pradesh (NHM-UP) to develop an integrated family planning media campaign aimed at young and low parity couples.

In July 2021, in coordination with World Population Day, the NHM-UP released the campaign featuring five video public service announcements (PSAs) on its social media platforms. The NHM, the Government of UP and the State Innovations in Family Planning Services Project Agency (SIFPSA) co-branded campaign has five method-specific spots, developed under the leadership of the NHM’s Mission Director.

The package of five Hindi-language family planning videos has created a buzz and drawn the attention of several government counterparts, allied organizations and people in general. In a short period, NHM-UP’s Facebook page viewership has increased with the PSA on birth spacing trending at the top with more than 2,000 views, 500 likes and 150 comments.

The NHM-UP and TCIHC grounded the entire campaign within the concept of women’s empowerment. The videos position a dialogue between a husband and a wife that clearly shows the wife openly discussing contraceptives and asserting her voice. It aims to make contraceptives a symbol of freedom with a woman making her own choice regarding the number and spacing of her children – a choice that can significantly impact her health and well-being. The specific objectives of the campaign are to bring about behavior change in decision-making by actively involving women in the process, and to increase awareness about various modern contraceptive methods and dispel any myths or misinformation about them.

All five PSAa are free to air on all platforms, including television, cable, social media and static screening (i.e., cinema halls) for four years. Uttar Pradesh stakeholders believe this campaign is destined to give more power and agency to women when making a contraceptive choice.