Imagine a day comes when we can say that the average life expectancy of every Indian is a healthy 80 years. Currently on an average an Indian life is for 71 years. But can we work to ensure that every Indian lives a healthy life to see a thousand moons. In Hindi it is called Sahasrya Poorna Chandrodayan and we can do it if we all step into the future together. If we as citizens, individuals, society and governments work together. Self care, good hygiene, access to good health care, a clean environment and societal support can enable this – Lakshya Sampoorn Swasthya Ka, where we work on enhancing our physical and mental well being.
India is today the most populous country in the world and the country with the maximum number of young people – this means most of us have a majority of our lives ahead of us – if we live to be 80 years old – that is 4000 weeks of life . Let’s make every second count. The earlier we begin the healthier we will be.
This is exactly what Banega Swasth India campaign focuses on. NDTV-Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014. As the campaign moves forward into the ninth year this time, we are focusing on creating a holistic healthy India for each and everyone. To begin this, NDTV-Dettol Banega Swasth India will be organising a 12-hour televised Telethon – Lakshya, Sampoorn Swasthya Ka, where we will be joined by experts, innovators, social health care workers, doctors and artists who will speak to us on how together we can build a healthier India.
Previous Seasons
In season 1, campaign’s Swachh bus travelled across 350 villages in 7 states, to educate people on the importance of sanitation, toilets and proper handwashing techniques. We raised Rs 280 crores to build and maintain toilets across India’s villages.
In season 2, the campaign introduced the ‘Swachhata Ki Paathshala’ with campaign ambassador Amitabh Bachchan and created a Hygiene Curriculum to encourage children to follow proper hygiene from a young age.
In season 3, with #Mere10Guz, the campaign focused on personal hygiene, and the idea of each individual being responsible for keeping their immediate surroundings clean.
In season 4, the campaign retained all our agenda from previous seasons at the core, in addition to focusing on clean, compost and waste segregation drives at individual and policy levels.
By season 5, the focus moved to air pollution. The campaign created a clean air agenda with the help of doctors and experts. Another pivot was the conversation around manual scavenging and the efforts to eradicate it.
In season 6, Swachh became Swasth because only a clean India, can be a healthy India. The focus in this season was on healthy mothers, healthy children, and nutrition for all. The campaign also curated and distributed a medically approved ‘Swasth Kit’ for mothers & infants during the critical 1,000 days.
In season 7, the campaign identified the three pillars of a healthy nation – health, sanitation & hygiene, and environment. In the immediate aftermath of the COVID outbreak, with regular handwashing declared the best bulwark against Coronavirus, the wheel came full circle on the conversations around hygienic practices that Banega Swachh India had started right from the first year.
In season 8, the campaign focussed on the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another, with the agenda of One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind as the COVID-19 pandemic has made it clear that for one person to be healthy, everybody needs to be healthy. Either we are all healthy, or we are not. Even a single person’s ill-health makes us all susceptible and at risk. The season 8 highlighted the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. It also focussed on many key areas like Leaving No One Behind; 75 years of health, hygiene & nutrition in India; The Nutrition Story Post COVID-19; Pandemic and its challenges; Hygiene and Germs; Self-Care; Mental Wellbeing; Adolescent Health & Gender Awareness; Science & Health; Environment & Health and Reckitt’s Commitment for a better future.
