Leading national experts confer at Lifebuoy symposium on child health

New Delhi: A national symposium on child health was organized at New Delhi by Lifebuoy, India’s leading health and hygiene soap brand from Hindustan Unilever. Experts and leading practitioners in the fields of hygiene, nutrition, education and child health representing prominent institutions and organizations such as The Energy Resources Institute (TERI), National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), St. John’s Medical College, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), National Institute of Health and Family Welfare (NIHFW), Diabetes Foundation of India (DFI), Association of Adoloscent Child Care in India (AACCI) and Scientific Advisor to Lifebuoy and Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) participated in the 1st Lifebuoy National Child Health Symposium 2009.

The one-day symposium was inaugurated by Ms Sujata Rao, The Secretary, Department of AIDS Control, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and Director General NACO, Govt. of India and Mr. Nitin Paranjpe, CEO, Hindustan Unilever Ltd. Speaking on the occasion Ms Sujata Rao said, “This is an interesting and important initiative that Lifebuoy has taken. It is heartening to see prominent institutions such as NIMHANS and others participating in the symposium. Such partnerships are valuable to the cause. The endeavor to provide a healthy and enabling environment to our children so that they realize their full potential will contribute significantly to ensuring that we as a country actually reap the demographic pidend.”

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Nitin Paranjpe said, “Through the Lifebuoy Symposium we hope to make a contribution, in our own small way, by bringing multi-functional experts, practitioners and policy-makers together on one platform for a better understanding of child health and towards formulating interventions needed to make a positive and sustainable impact on child health. The most important and pressing taks for us a country today is to invest behind the health and education of our children.”

The symposium focused on 5 key factors influencing child health – Nutrition, Hygiene, Education, Physical Environment and Socio-Psychological Environment, with focus on interventions that can be put in place and implemented easily by teachers in schools and by parents at home towards improving child health on a sustainable basis.

Each of the sessions were Chaired by different subject experts. The Nutrition session was chaired by Dr. Swati Bhave, Executive Director, AACCI and the Education session was chaired by Ms. Saroj Bala Yadav, National Council of Education Research Training, the Hygiene session was chaired by Mr. Sudhanshu Vats, Vice President, Hindustan Unilever Ltd., The session on physical environment was chaired by Dr. Y.L. Tekhre, National Institute of Health & Family Welfare, and the session on Socio-Psychological Environment was chaired by Dr. Shekhar Sheshadri, NIMHANS.

More than 100 professionals, including academics and representatives from leading NGOs such as Care India, Navjyoti Foundation, USAID and WASH among others participated in the symposium. They deliberated on the various interventions required in each of the five focus areas.

The symposium ended with a Recommendation Group on each subject drawing up conclusions and putting forth suggestions for parents, schools, community and the government. The various Recommendation Groups unanimously endorsed the need for strengthening early childhood programmes and research as an effective means to improve child health.

The symposium will culminate with the presentation of the inaugural Lifebuoy National Child Health Awards. The awards will be presented across six categories to six NGOs for exemplary work in Nutrition, Education, Hygiene, Physical Environment, Psycho-Social Environment. The winners were chosen by an eminent advisory board from a pool of 119 entries received from across the country.

The award application process was facilitated by IndianNGOs.com. The award selection process was also validated by IMRB. The Symposium advisory board comprises of Dr. D. Nagaraja, Director & Vice Chancellor, National Institute of Mental Health And Neuro-Sciences (NIMHANS), Dr. B. Sesikeran, Director National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Ms Ranjana Saikia, Associate Director, Social Transformation Division, Mr. Sudhanshu Vats, Vice President Home Care and Personal Wash, HUL, Dr. Swati Y. Bhave, Executive Director, Association of Adolescent Child Care in India (AACCI).