The first-ever global health conference on social marketing (SM) and social franchising (SF) on Thursday recommended the creation of a national action plan to scale up potential of SM and SF in the country and formation of a South-East Asian Forum to synergise the best global practices.
Presenting the recommendations, made after brainstorming sessions involving senior government officials from India and abroad, on its concluding day, HLL chairman and managing director M Ayyappan said a South-East Asian association on SM and SF will be formed within the next two months after finalising the formalities. The partnering nations of this coalition would be Bangladesh, Bhutan, Korea, Indonesia, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Timor-Leste.
Recommendations of the national action plan will be submitted to the Union Government while formulating national health sector programmes and policies.
Ayyappan said social marketing will be included in public health modules to achieve the goal of universal health coverage. A consensus among practitioners and policymakers to take the concept of SM and SF beyond family planning and contraceptive marketing was one of the major outcomes of the conference.
The meet, attended by nearly 400 delegates from India and 24 other countries, also called for a regional action plan understanding regional needs, donor perspective, supply and demand side. It will also include creation of a working group, measures for capacity-building and efforts to broaden the basket of products.
Addressing the valedictory session, C K Mishra, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, called upon the stakeholders to help the government find out the gaps in the field and formulate long-lasting policies based on the suggestions from them. Talking on behalf of the leading development institutions, UNFPA country representative Frederika Meijer said the task under the Family Planning-2020 programme was to reach 125 million more women in India.
She said the social organisations were committed to work with the government and the private sector in the area of SM and SF. The three-day event was organised by HLFPPT, a not-for-profit trust.