A city-based non-governmental organisation United Way Mumbai (UWM) in collaboration with the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has launched a campaign to promote COVID-19-appropriate behaviour and address vaccine hesitancy amongst Mumbaikars.
The NGO has selected 12 municipal wards based on the active case tally. These wards include D ward (Malabar Hills and Grant Road), R Central (Borivli), R South (Kandivli), T ward (Mulund), S ward (Bhandup and Powai), P South ward (Goregaon), P North ward (Malad), N ward (Ghatkopar), K west (Andheri west), K east (Andheri east), H west (Bandra and Khar) and F North (Sion and Antop Hill).
In each ward, 100 societies will be selected and, from each society, two in-house volunteers will be deployed, who will train and influence more people regarding COVID-19-appropriate behaviour.
Ajay Govale, UWM vice president on community impact, has said that each of the volunteers will be trained by the NGO before they start their work in the society. "The training session will be conducted online. In each session, 40 to 50 volunteers from 20 to 25 societies will be trained. Also due to the pandemic, we have chosen to include in-house volunteers instead of deploying our own volunteers," said Govale.
He added that the volunteers will address issues on the newly introduced vaccines and highlight key points related to home isolation and the latest trend of the spread. "We are not going to address the ones who have made up their minds, but we are going to address those who are confused. Because a lot of people are still hesitant about taking the doses and what to do and not to do if they are infected," he said. Govale maintained that, presently, they have written to municipal ward officers and many of them have expressed their cooperation so far.
"We have received their requests that they want to help us in the process. We will be discussing the issue in detail with them soon and only after understanding everything, we may take things forward," said a senior civic official.
