CHENNAI: The Chennai city has won the Best State Capital Award in Innovation and Best Practices on Saturday for the city corporation’s innovative concept of ‘Health Ambassadors’. This award is given by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs under the Swachh Bharat Mission scheme. Deputy Commissioner of Health Dr Manish Narnaware received the award on behalf of the corporation at New Delhi.
Officials sources told TNIE the Union Ministry observed the various concepts adopted by the civic bodies across the country to propagate best health practices and liked Chennai Corporation’s ‘Health Ambassador’ concept.
“More than five lakh students were selected from the city schools and made Health Ambassadors by the corporation. They were given training under respective principals to spread awareness on best health practices such as awareness on vector-borne diseases and how one can keep themselves safe,” an official said.
The officials said the students were given a Chennai Corporation ID card, with name, class and school name, with their passport size photos. “The concept was to spread awareness to eradicate dengue, malaria, and chikungunya,” he added.
Their job was also to ensure a behaviour change among people on sanitation through communication on various issues like open-defecation, prevention of manual scavenging, hygiene practices, proper use and maintenance of toilet facilities, and solid waste management.
“All the students were asked to visit their neighbourhoods in the 200 wards. Apart from the Best City Award for innovative practices, Chennai also received the Swachh City Award for featuring in the list of top 50 cleanest cities in the country for the second consecutive year. “Last year, we secured the 45the rank and this year, it was 43rd. We will come up with more measures to reach the number 1 spot,” the official said.