New Delhi: Year 2023, NDTV-Dettol Banega Swasth India campaign marked an important landmark as it turned 10. Starting with the ‘Swachh Express’, a bus in the year 2014, covering 30 cities across India and 75 villages to create awareness about toilets and embed knowledge of good hygiene, now covers 100 per cent aspirational districts of the country. Into its 10th year the NDTV-Dettol campaign has emerged as one of the longest running public health campaigns, championing the cause of health and hygiene across India. As 2023 draws to a close the spotlight is on the future, where the aim of the campaign is ‘One World Hygiene – Fostering global unity for a healthier tomorrow’. Here are the top highlights of this year for the campaign.
Best Of 2023: Top Highlights For Banega Swasth India
1. A Pathway From Hygiene To Wellness: Reckitt’s Coffee Table Book Focusing On India’s Journey Towards Universal Hygiene
In January this year during the Jaipur Literature Festival 2023, Reckitt launched a coffee table book focussing on India’s journey towards universal hygiene. It also highlighted Dettol Banega Swasth India program’s efforts throughout the years to nurture health and hygiene behaviours by reaching out to 24 million school kids in India. The book has been curated by Outlook and Reckitt with the focus on one main agenda – hygiene and health are inseparable. It also covers valuable lessons from prominent experts like Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, South-East Asia, World Health Organization; Dr Randeep Guleria, Chairman – Institute of Internal Medicine and Respiratory & Sleep Medicine and Director – Medical Education, Medanta; Dr Soumya Swaminathan, Former Chief Scientist, WHO to name a few.
2. Reckitt’s Zero Malaria Mission In Uttar Pradesh
Keeping up with India’s goal to eliminate Malaria by 2030, Reckitt in the year 2023 also launched Mission Zero Malaria in Uttar Pradesh with the agenda to enhance health awareness and inspire adoption of desired behaviour change within the community, health system, and government bodies of the region.
3. Hygiene Music Album In Tamil To Impart Knowledge On Health & Hygiene
The soul of India lies in its art, culture, music, dance, festivals and customs. Tapping into the rich culture of folk music in India and build a deeper connect between health and hygiene in a fun way, in the year 2023, Dettol Banega Swasth India through Hindu Tamil Thisai initiative launched folk music for a Swasth India – a hygiene music album for the first time in Tamil. The aim was to spread the message of basic hygiene practices that one should follow through melodious folk songs on subjects like the significance of handwashing, maintaining good hygiene at home, school and neighborhood.
The initiative was backed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Tamil Nadu.
Also Read: Reckitt Unveils India’s Second Climate Resilient School During Banega Swasth India Season 10 Launch
4. Dettol’s DIY Hygiene Workbooks To Educate Children In India About Hygiene And Embed Good Habits
What started in 2014 with the launch of the Dettol School Hygiene Education Program, in just 2,500 schools, today has reached out to 24 million children across 840,000 schools and 500,000 Madrasas. The children covered by the initiative are exposed to an ecosystem where the knowledge of hygiene is cemented with cultural nudges that promote and sustain positive hygiene practices and behaviours.
Continuing the tradition of creativity, in the year 2023 under this programme, Dettol launched DIY Hygiene Workbooks for Grade 1 to Grade 3 with an aim to build the critical life skills that are needed for tomorrow. The foundation of these books is the fact that good health and hygiene sets the road for physical, mental well-being and ensure we are moving ahead to achieve the goal of building a Swasth India. These books contain:
- Activities and exercises around hygiene that are fun and informative
- Children will learn about taking care of their overall health
- There are drawing and colouring activities on safety, cleanliness and health
Overall, the aim is to inculcate good habits in children by informing them ‘how to’ perform their basic daily tasks and promote good behaviour, which includes things like – handwashing, bathing, brushing, cleaning of surfaces, first-aid for an injury and covering mouth and nose when sneezing or coughing. Along with good hygiene practices, these workbooks educate children on how unhygienic behaviour can spread viruses, germs and bacteria and cause diseases
5. Dettol Banega Swasth India ‘Swasthya Mantra’ Video Podcast Launched
‘Hygiene’ is the foundation of a healthy and happy life. With this as the thought, the campaign launched the first ever public health and hygiene podcast – Swasthya Mantra under the aegis of its overarching movement – Banega Swasth India. Former Cricketer Suresh Raina launched the video podcast on the occasion of World Hand Hygiene Day on May 5. The podcast was rolled out on major platforms like Spotify, Apple and YouTube with one agenda to bring attention to basic hygiene practices and reach more and more people in the country.
6. On World Environment Day, India’s First Climate Resilient School Launched By Dettol In Uttarakhand
On the occasion of World Environment Day, country’s first Climate Resilient School was launched in Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand. A Climate Resilient model school is basically an institution that focusses on introducing climate-friendly technologies as part of the school infrastructure. The school infrastructure is made in such a way that it becomes energy and water- efficient. Some of the things included in such schools are:
- Rainwater harvesting system
- Grey water recycling
- Foot operated/drip hand-washing stations
- Solar energy providing uninterrupted electricity
- Provision of lighting in classrooms as per the standardised recommended level
- Retrofitting buildings with climate-friendly cooling or heating techniques
- Waste segregation, management and creation of zero waste campus
- Bio-Urinals
- Significant increase of green cover in the school premises
- Climate friendly school bag, pencil, pen, pencil box and other consumables
- Zero plastic zone
- Green building or Net Zero Carbon certification of the Climate Resilient schools by recognised Certification agencies
The aim of the programme is to cover schools in all 13 districts of Uttarakhand.
7. Reckitt Expands Dettol Diarrhoea Net Zero To Cover 25 Districts Of Uttar Pradesh With An Aim to Save 100,000 Lives By Engaging Communities
With the goal of preventing diarrhoea-related deaths among under-5 children and save 100,000 lives, Reckitt expanded its reach of its ongoing programme Diarrhoea Net Zero to cover 25 districts of Uttar Pradesh. This one-of-a-kind program is based on the WHO 7-point plan and focuses on raising community awareness and education on prevention, promotion and treatment of diarrhoea.
The initiative goes beyond conventional awareness campaigns and adopts a blend of unique activities that resonate with the communities in Uttar Pradesh. Some of the examples of activities include setting up canopies to demonstrate how to make ORS (Oral Rehydration Solution) and promote its use for hydration by sampling ORS, distributing ORS and Zinc during the monsoon season, when children are most vulnerable to Diarrhoea, and supporting government initiatives like “Dastak” and intensified Diarrhoea control fortnight. What’s interesting is that fact that this initiative has also helped empower a cadre of 20,000 “Gulabi Didi Volunteers” who are trained in Diarrhoea management and tasked with delivering positive messages to the communities. Moreover, thousands of “nukkad nataks” (street plays) are conducted across the 25 districts to effectively communicate strategies for Diarrhoea management among children.
8. The Second Edition of India’s Biggest Hygiene Olympiad That Reached Over 30 Million Children
One of the biggest highlights for Banega Swasth India campaign was the announcement of second edition of Dettol Hygiene Olympiad, which is also considered to be India’s biggest Hygiene Olympiad. It is basically an examination that brings out the areas needing attention so that proper orientation can be given in areas lacking proficiency. This also helps assess the gap in hygiene literacy in India and promotes pro-hygiene behavior among school students.
Through this year’s Olympiad, the campaign reached out to 30 million children across 28 states and 8 union territories in India.
9. One Of India’s Longest Running Public Health Campaign – Banega Swasth India Turned 10 And Launched A New Season With Campaign Ambassador Ayushmann Khurrana
Year 2023, has been a decade of dedication, a decade of transformation for Banega Swasth India. What started in the year 2014, in the month of October launched season 10 of the campaign with a new campaign ambassador – Ayushmann Khurrana. Talking about embarking on the new journey of transformation for the campaign, Ayushmann Khurrana said,
In the tenth year of the campaign, the agenda is ‘One World Hygiene — Fostering global unity for a healthier tomorrow. We have achieved many goals in the last nine years. Worked on hygiene, set up cleanness in schools, took an oath to keep ten yards of our surrounding clean, moved from cleanliness to health. In between came a challenge like COVID, which had completely stopped the whole world. But Banega Swasth India campaign kept on going strong. We honoured the doctors who were busy saving people’s lives during the pandemic. In the run up to 100 years of independence, we decided that we would not leave anyone behind. We talked about one earth, one family, one health. I am proud to say that the benefit of all the hard work done over these years has reached 2 crore and 40 lakh children. This is not a small number.”
10. ‘Self-Care Kit’ Launched With The Aim To Reduce Anaemia, Malnutrition & Infectious Disease Among Women 7 Children
Self-care significantly impacts the mental, physical, and emotional well-being of mothers and children. It is not just their nutritional aspect that needs to be taken care of, but factors such as diet diversity, physical activity, and personal care and hygiene are equally essential for their overall well-being, all which are less available to the women and children of the rural and tribal communities of India. With the aim to improve self-care practices among mothers and children under five years of age, Reckitt and PLAN India this year came up with a ‘Self-Care’ programme and unveiled a ‘Self-Care Kit’ during the launch of Season 10 of the campaign on October 2.
The kit that has been curated by Reckitt and PLAN India, aims to reduce the prevalence of Anaemia, malnutrition and infectious diseases among women and children across the country.
The kit has supplements like iron, vitamin C and folic acid tablets for antenatal care and to reduce the risk of low birth weight, and Anaemia among women. It also includes Dettol sanitiser, liquid soap and bar soap, to promote hygiene practices and hence reduce the risk of spreading infections. Moreover, the kit contains gloves to protect hands from blood and body fluids, including respiratory secretions among women and children.
For children, the kit has strips of zinc supplements and Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS) sachet, to make sure they are well hydrated and rejuvenated. The Self Care kit also has a baby blanket, a thermometer, a pulse oximeter to monitor oxygen in a child’s blood and keep a check on the temperature, like in case of Diarrhoea.
Hygiene is the beginning of a happier and healthier world – with this agenda in mind in 2014, under the aegis of its overarching movement, Dettol Banega Swasth India, Reckitt launched the transformative Dettol School Hygiene Education Program. What started in 2014 with the launch of the initiative in just 2,500 schools, today has reached out to 24 million children across 840,000 schools and 500,000 Madrasas. The children covered by the initiative are being raised in an ecosystem where the knowledge of hygiene is cemented with cultural nudges that promote and sustain positive hygiene practices and behaviours. Overall school absenteeism reduced to 23 per cent, from a baseline of 36 per cent.
Not just that, over the years, the campaign through its programmes has not only covered school children but also supported the marginalised communities in India – Rajasthan’s Kalbelia tribe & Gujarat’s Siddi Tribe and spread the message of hygiene by tapping the rich culture of India by launching hygiene music album in Tamil and Rajasthani. Not just that, the campaign has been part of the festival of festivals – The Hornbill festival that transcends cultural boundaries in a spectacular showcase of Naga traditions blended with innovative initiatives.
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – theLGBTQ population,indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the currentCOVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water,SanitationandHygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fightmalnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health,adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues likeair pollution,waste management,plastic ban,manual scavengingand sanitation workers andmenstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India wheretoiletsare used andopen defecation free (ODF)status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched byPrime Minister Narendra Modiin 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
