Gurgaon Ki Awaaz Samudayik Radio has been broadcasting Chahat Chowk, a half-hour weekly program focusing on women’s reproductive health since July 2013. Supported by Commonwealth of Learning, through their Healthy Communities initiative, and with training support from Maraa and Ideosync Media Combine, Chahat Chowk follows a multi-stakeholder, multi-media approach to program design. The program has been designed with the active participation of the Civil Hospital Gurgaon, the NRHM RCH centre in Mullaheda, St Stephen’s Hospital, Gurgaon, migrant women groups in Mullaheda, Mahila Mandal groups of the NGO Mera Parivar, local Haryanvi women groups in Mullaheda, ASHA workers, ANMs, local shopkeepers and TARSHI (Talking About Reproductive and Sexual Health Issues), and the IVR service provider Awaaz De.

The program uses radio broadcasts coupled with listener group interactions, sharing of key messages over an automated IVR system (Awaaz De), and posters and flyers in Mullaheda to share messages of sexual and reproductive health. That these issues have emerged from a lengthy process of focus group discussions with community women and health workers further strengthens the process.

The pilot phase of Chahat Chowk, which consisted of 16 episodes of a 30-minute magazine format program followed by 60 minutes of Live telephony where listeners could call into the show and talk directly to Auxiliary Nursing Midwives (ANMs) or doctors, concluded on October 31, 2013. In Phase 2, another 16 episodes were produced, with the major shift being that the primary audience was expanded from just women to, now, men and women (couples) between 20 and 40 years.

Phase 2 of Chahat Chowk delves deeper into the issues of reproductive health that are plaguing the women of Mullaheda

While Phase 1 consisted of weekly listener group meetings, focus group discussions, and a launch event that brought all of Mullaheda on its feet with a foot-tapping Bhojpuri mandali performing at “Chahat Chowk”, Phase 2 of Chahat Chowk delves deeper into the issues of reproductive health that are plaguing the women of Mullaheda, as well as bringing in a wider array of media platforms so that the message reaches the last mile – the woman inside her home. Issues include responsible sexual behaviour, safe pregnancy, the role of other members of the family in ensuring safe pregnancy and birth, anaemia, lack of privacy, poor nutrition among women, menstrual health and hygiene, understanding the changing body of an adolescent, STDs among men, and common myths and misconceptions about male sexual health.

This document was last updated on March 29, 2020
It was first published on March 25, 2020 . Filed under: #covid-19, #hospitals

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