After video on lepto, Mumbai civic body to release more on diseases on Facebook, Twitter

After releasing a two-minute documentary on leptospirosis on Twitter, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) plans to ramp up its awareness drive by releasing such videos on dengue, malaria, hypertension, diabetes, etc, on social media.

Until now, the civic body’s awareness programme during the monsoon included posters at its ward offices, hospitals and markets, and interactive sessions in schools.

Considering smartphone penetration in Mumbai, the BMC wants to reach out to as many people as possible to drive home a healthy message, via social media.

The BMC had released a two-minute documentary on leptospirosis through its Twitter handle @DisasterMgmtMum, which has more than 35,000 followers. The video has been viewed 753 times.

The decision to spread awareness on ailments comes in the wake of a survey on top ailments in Mumbai. The survey was conducted between October 2015 to September 2017 and interviewed 72.6 lakh people. It showed that while BMC dispensaries as well as peripheral and tertiary-care hospitals reported 4.04 lakh cases of diabetes, the figure for hypertension was 3.55 lakh

“In the view of the morbidity study that revealed diabetes and hypertension are most affecting citizens, the BMC will soon release awareness videos similar to one we had released for leptospirosis, to reach out to the maximum number of people,” said Idzes Kundan, additional municipal commissioner, in charge of the health department.

Kundan said, “We are also coming up with similar documentaries on dengue and malaria.”

“Social media has enormous reach and it is commendable that the BMC is using it. Almost everyone in the city is using some applications, be it Facebook or Twitter,” said Dhaval Desai, vice-president, Observer Research Foundation (Mumbai).

Notwithstanding the civic body’s alleged apathy towards monsoon preparedness, on June 9 when parts of South Mumbai were waterlogged, it kept posting updates on Twitter about route diversions and weather.

Another Twitter handle of the BMC, @MCGMswm, has been creating awareness about cleanliness and discarding plastic. It has 3,943 followers.

The BMC, via this account, tries to solve people’s queries over waste management.