New Delhi: “In the ninth season of NDTV-Dettol Banega Swasth India campaign, we had chosen a goal of Lakshya Sampoorn Swasthya Ka, the goal which was related to the overall development of the country, the goal of #HealthForAll, with an aim to provide healthcare facilities and treatment for everyone and ensure a holistic healthy life for all the individuals. It wasn’t an easy task, but we tried reaching out to everyone,” said Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan as he kickstarted the Season 9 finale on Independence Day.
Watch: People Who Keep Us Healthy And Work For Health For All: Amitabh Bachchan’s Ode To Doctors
The NDTV – Dettol campaign have been working towards a clean and healthy India since the year 2014 through the Banega Swasth India campaign. It is one of the longest-running public health campaigns which has been helmed by the Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan since the beginning. The ninth season of the campaign focused on one thought – Lakshya Sampoorn Swasthya Ka, where the aim was to involve citizens, individuals, society and governments together so that the country can work on enhancing overall physical and mental well-being. To celebrate the culmination of season 9, the campaign celebrates the heroes from the healthcare sector, who have selflessly dedicated themselves to the service of others.
Talking further about the goals of the campaign during the finale, Mr Bachchan said,
Through the Banega Swasth India Campaign, we have tried to reach out to everyone – those who are poor, those who have no means, those who cannot afford to spend a lot of money on their health, and those who are living in far flung areas.
Watch: We Hope This Small Revolution Will Go A Long Way: Amitabh Bachchan On 9 Years Of Banega Swasth India
Highlighting how India together defeated COVID-19 and the lessons learned, Mr Bachchan further added,
We defeated COVID-19 two years ago successfully, let us now take a lead in fighting other diseases like Diarrhoea, infectious diseases like Tuberculosis, Cancer. There is a cure for all kinds of diseases. But, we have to remember, this work cannot be done alone.
Saluting the heroes – our healthcare workers, Mr Bachchan said,
We are able to fight diseases because of our great doctors, who selflessly put their everything in the service of people. During COVID times, these doctors went far and wide to work, today as we end Season 9 of Banega Swasth India, we honor the ones who helped save lives of many in the country. Today on the show we pay tribute to some of these doctors, who have also been honored with Padma Awards.
Setting the tone for season 10 of the campaign, Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan signed off with a message, he said,
We as a country have recognized the challenges, to achieve the goal of Health For All and have overcome many of the barriers. We hope that this small revolution started by Banega Swasth India campaign over the years will go a long way.
Watch: ‘Cost Of Treatment Creates Fear In Majority Of Indians’, Says Oncologist Dr Ravi Kannan
Journey Of Banega Swasth India Campaign
In Season 1, the campaign introduced Swachh bus that travelled across 350 villages in 7 states, to educate people on the importance of sanitation, toilets and proper handwashing techniques. During this season, the campaign successfully 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, Banega Swasth India campaign introduced the phenomena of #Mere10Guz that 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 the agenda from previous seasons at the core, in addition to focusing on clean, compost and waste segregation drives at individual and policy levels.
Also Read: ‘Hygiene Plays A Crucial Role In Neonatal Care’, Says Neonatologist, Dr Neelam Kler
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, the transition from Swachh to Swasth took place 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 and infants during the critical 1,000 days.
In Season 7, the campaign identified the three pillars of a healthy nation – health, sanitation and 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. To underline the importance of hygiene, the same year, NDTV-Dettol Banega Swasth India held 12-hour telethon with the theme – Swasth Bharat, Sampann Bharat.
In Season 8, the campaign focused 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. The season 8 also 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.
In Season 9 the conversation shifted to the need to ensure Health For All, a message that season 10 will carry forward as the 2030 deadline to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets approach and some significant gaps still remain to be bridged.
Read: Highlights: NDTV-Dettol Banega Swasth India Season 9 Finale With Amitabh Bachchan
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.
