Abstract:
Equitable early childhood policies and programmes are crucial for meeting global sustainable development goals(SDG). Early childhood offers a critical window of opportunity to shape the trajectory of a child’s holistic development and build a foundation for their future.The Mother and Child Protection card was introduced for functionaries of National Health Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) in April 2010 (2). MCP card and Home-based Young Child Care (HBYC) developed by Government of India in 2018 is an effective tool to empower health care workers in contributing to holistic development of child. We used MCP card and HBYC JOBAID for mother empowerment as a sustainable solution for holistic child development and child safety tips in medical college. We assessed knowledge of mothers about the child development and safety for prevention of accidents and educated and created awareness amongst parents about developmental milestones.The study also made an effort to assess and determine the effectiveness of picture cards in educating parents and caregivers. This is a prospective cross sectional study at Dr. D.Y Patil Medical College, Hospital and Research Centre, Pune, India. The study is approved by Institutional ethical committee clearance and voluntary informed consent was obtained from the parents before enrolling in the study. The study group included parents and healthy children between 0-2 years age group.We excluded sick children, children with congenital anomalies, premature babies. A prevalidated semi structural proforma in vernacular language (Marathi) is used for data collection and picture tool of HBYC jobaid, MCP card, Ministry of health and family welfare, Government of India. Data analysis was done in percentages and thematic analysis was done for qualitative questions.The data analysis showed more than 80 % mothers agreed the utility of picture card as a health education tool. It helped to build the confidence in 80% mothers. Only less than 50% got parenting tips about child development. Our study brought the picture tools are the good options for educating the parents about child development as a sustainable solution of ECD.
Audience Take Away
- The audience will learn about the mother empowerment techniques which will help them in practice.The audience will learn to integrate early child development in health system
- The audience will be able to use these techniques in their practice of child health
- Community health workers can use in their job.Doctors can do hand holding. Medical schools can replicate the techniques for undergraduate teaching and explore further in research. This provide a practical solution to a problem of early detection of developmental delay in children and early treatment. The picture tools the best solutions for parent teaching and empowerment.It is simple and easy to understand
