Chennai : In the week following Children’s Day celebrations in India, Sanofi India Limited joined hands with PVR Nest (the social program and registered foundation of India’s largest film entertainment company PVR Limited) for its ‘Healthy children, happy children’ initiative to launch India’s largest student-led campaign on children’s health.

The largest in its outreach and scope so far, the program titled CineArt ‘Healthy children, happy children’will bring together leading Indian pediatricians, with NGOs and artists in the field of creative learning, to mentor 2, 00,000 school children from 200 schools (an equal mix between Public/Privately held schools and NGO/ Community schools) in 4 cities—Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai, on critical aspects of children’s health.

Schools provide the most ideal platform to raise awareness, train teachers and students, and through them-parents and community members, on important issues pertaining to health–disease prevention and health awareness. By utilizing non-authoritarian and creative techniques in schools using art and cinema, the program endeavors to make children’s health education real, innovative and participatory.

600 health workshops using experiential learning methodologies like puppetry, theatre, storytelling and capacity building exercises, will be tapped to sensitize children on relevant health topics like hygiene, environment, play and exercise, disability and discrimination, vaccination, ergonomics, among others.

Speaking at the launch event in Chennai, Dr. Stephan Barth, Country Head – Sanofi Pasteur India, Sri Lanka & Nepal stated, “Over the years, Sanofi has provided medication and healthcare tools to address numerous fundamental childhood health issues, from routine to life-threatening. Through our new ‘Healthy children, happy children’ initiative, we aim to diversify and adapt our healthcare offer to young Indian patients, with innovative products, services and awareness initiatives. We are delighted to partner with PVR Nest for a first-of-its-kind interface between pediatricians, NGOs and artistes for this innovative, year-long school awareness program on health. We are looking forward to seeing children-in-action during the school health workshops, and also, during the making of original ‘Healthy children, happy children’ health films and publication.”

One of the significant outcomes of this year-long creative and collaborative educational programme on child health will be the formation of around 200 ‘Healthy children, happy children’ School Clubs. The clubs will have an outreach within schools, as well as to parents and communities outside, to sustain health education and awareness. Another key achievement of the program is the film making process wherein eminent film makers will be training selected students from shortlisted schools, to make original health films. These would be proudly screened by PVR cinemas across the country to reach millions of movie goers with key messages on children’s health.

The launch event at Chennai was attended by leading Chennai pediatricians, many of the 50 participating school founders & students and graced by Mr. Balaji Kumar, eminent artist, photographer, visual designer, writer, director and producer as the Chief Guest. Mr. Ashwin Kakumanu, an eminent actor was the Special Guest of honor. The speakers also included Dr. K Pandian, Assistant Professor- Paediatrics and Paediatric Neurology, Institute of Child Health Chennai, and Founder Member-Paediatric Neurology Chapter of IAP.

The program opened with an original children’s theatre production on health, and also saw the launch of a special campaign film featuring children, to drive home the message of health.

Talking about this initiative, Deepa Menon, Vice President- Corporate Social Responsibility, PVR Nest said “At PVR Nest, we are continuously looking at addressing core issues that affect the communities that we live in and thus uphold our commitment towards urban sustainability. We are extremely happy to partner with Sanofi India to create education and action on the very important issue of Children’s health.We look forward to developing a sustained partnership with India’s leading pediatricians, schools and experts who are participating in this program.As a film exhibition company, we will provide the best possible outreach to the original films the students will make during this campaign, through our presence in 37 cities country wide”.

Source : Krishna