Reckitt’s Diarrhoea Net Zero Campaign Is Helping Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi In Combating The Disease

The Diarrhoea Net Zero programme was introduced in Uttar Pradesh last year, with the aim of impacting 10 million people across the state and address 26 per cent of the burden of diarrhoea, in the next three years.

The programme emphasises on cleanliness and personal hygiene. The NDTV team visited Varanasi to gauge the progress of the Diarrhoea Net Zero Initiative. A hand wash booth can be seen where people are informed about the importance of handwashing and maintaining personal hygiene.

The initiative aims to target the rural population and hence understands the local mediums for conveying the messages. Thousands of street plays (Nukkad Natak) are conducted across all the 25 districts of Uttar Pradesh to effectively communicate strategies for Diarrhoea management among children.

The programme also empowers a cadre of 20,000 'Gulabi Didi Volunteers' who are trained in Diarrhoea management and tasked with delivering positive messages to the communities.

These 'Gulabi Didi Volunteers' go home to home to spread the message and also provide Dettol Diarrhoea Net Zero kits to the communities. This kit consists of soap, sanitisers, zinc, ORS and educational material written in hindi to make it easy to comprehend.