Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP) announced the launch of IAP-TV, world’s first private health education network to promote maternal and child health. IAP-TV is a closed television network that will be installed in the waiting room of all IAP member pediatricians in the country, dedicated to educate mothers, children and other family members on best practices for good maternal and child health.

IAP-TV is an initiative of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP). IAP is India's leading academy of professional health care practitioners entrusted with the health of women and children. This private network will involve placement of TV sets in the waiting rooms of all 25,000 IAP member pediatricians across the country.

This is an Ad free network that will not run any standard advertising. However, given the need for sustainability, revenues will be generated by inviting a select group of brands to partner with the network in terms of brand solutions or sponsored content. IAP TV content strategy will be around supporting health, hygiene, immunization, nutrition and addressing superstitions for mother and child. In addition to which women’s empowerment, financial inclusion and key societal matters will be a focus.

Speaking on the launch of IAP- TV, Dr Pramod Jog, National IAP President, said, “IAP’s mission is to improve health and wellness of children. Towards this we have had several initiatives like IAP-ImmunizeIndia and are proud to announce this new one – IAP TV. This program will educate 150 million women and around 100 million mothers-in-law and husbands on best health practices over 5 years. This is a transformative program and is the world’s largest maternal education programme of its kind.”

Shaina NC, National Spokesperson BJP and Treasurer, BJP Maharashtra and Chief Guest at the launch event said, "The issue of maternal nutrition and stunting in children are critical issues facing the country even as the country races forwards. The launch of IAP TV brings together the medical community represented by the Indian Academy of Paediatrics and other stakeholders. It is a significant step to provide clear, standardised health and nutrition education to mothers and children. I commend the IAP for this initiative".

The closed television network will show prenatal and neonatal care videos, nutrition videos and other content focused on enhancing the health and well-being of mothers and children, and specifically to prevent child malnutrition, stunting and related maternal malnutrition. The content will be short form and would be both educating and entertaining in nature. The programs are engineered to retain attention and build involvement with the audience. There will be a mix of live action and animation so that children also watch and learn.

Content will initially be provided in 2 languages (Hindi, English) and will later be available in additional 7 languages. The doctors will be given the option of choosing the languages they want depending on the composition of their practice.

Pediatricians in India hold around 250 million patient consultations annually, translating to 35+ million unique women. Each mother visits these doctors an average of 6 times in the year and spends around 30 minutes to 45 minutes on each visit in the waiting room.

This creates an excellent platform and opportunity to reach out to and educate mothers and accompanying family members on best practices for good maternal and child health. It is also known that the recall and effectiveness is significantly higher when content is shown to people in the form of videos.

This led to the idea of creating a parent and caregiver focused education platform – IAP-TV.

The Indian Academy of Pediatrics was established in 1963, at Mumbai with a little more than 150 pediatricians as its members. IAP currently has more than 25,000 members across 26 States and 303 district and city level branches.