Piramal Foundation runs campaign to dispel vax hesitancy in tribal dists

Campaign Aashwasan -implemented along with Union Health and Tribal Affairs Ministries as well as USAID- aims to cover all villages of blocks with over 25% of tribal population in 177 tribal districts

Piramal Foundation, the CSR arm of Piramal Enterprises, on Friday said it has reached out to 10 lakh people in 49 tribal districts across seven states as part of its campaign to dispel COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.

The campaign 'Aashwasan' -- being implemented along with Union Health and Tribal Affairs Ministries as well as USAID -- aims to cover all villages of blocks with over 25 per cent of tribal population in 177 tribal districts.

"Implemented by Piramal Foundation, the initiative has so far touched nearly 10 lakh beneficiaries in 49 districts across the states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra," the Foundation said in a statement.

Vaccine hesitancy in specific pockets of the country continues to be an issue due to fear, misconceptions, myths, and rumours. Addressing this issue is complex and context-specific, it said.

In tribal populations (over 104 million people), this necessitates a unique and customized approach to counter complex challenges of difficult terrain, limited health facilities and social discrimination that create disparity in their health status.

The objective of the campaign was to generate awareness of COVID-19 and COVID Appropriate Behaviour (CAB), reduce vaccine hesitancy and improve epidemic preparedness by involving community influencers, faith leaders, tribal healers and others.

Besides, the campaign focused on building awareness of tuberculosis (TB), identifying people with presumptive TB and linking them with public services for screening, diagnosis and treatment.