Enhancing Health and Hygiene Awareness at Hornbill Festival: Durex The Birds and Bees Talk Programme Leaves Lasting Impact

New Delhi: The Hornbill Festival, renowned as the ‘Festival of Festivals,’ transcends cultural boundaries in a spectacular showcase of Naga traditions blended with innovative initiatives. Durex’s The Birds and Bees Talk (TBBT), in collaboration with Plan India, continues its role as the official Health Partner for the festival, focusing on sexual health, risk behavior, gender equality, and diversity. Targeting over four million youths across six North Eastern states, the TBBT program marked its transformative journey in 2022, reaching over 71 million individuals and reinforcing its commitment to health awareness, education, and empowerment within Nagaland’s vibrant communities.

Program Highlights:

At the Hornbill Festival, TBBT creatively engaged attendees through various initiatives such as ‘face paintings with tattoos,’ a ‘360 video booth,’ and the interactive ‘Run To Learn’ game center. A standout feature was the art installation titled “5 Ethos of Growing Up,” emphasizing ‘Inclusion, Protection, Consent, Equity, and Awareness.’

“5 Ethos of Growing Up” sculpture highlights the five pillars of ‘Inclusion, Protection, Consent, Equity, and Awareness’

TBBT actively participated in a Graffiti Competition, encouraging artistic expression among young adults. Additionally, a painting competition themed “Express the vibrant colors of adolescence” celebrated creativity and provided a platform for talented artists to inspire the youth.

The Birds and Bees Talk programme also held ‘face paintings with tattoos’ in order to educate masses about the initiative

Participant participating in the painting competition on the theme “Express the vibrant colours of adolescence”

In a virtual marathon-style game, the ‘Run To Learn’ center educated participants on key principles—Inclusion, Awareness, Consent, Equity, and Protection. Exciting giveaways, including books and Bird and Bee-themed hair bands, were distributed to empower attendees with information on sexual health and diversity.

A user trying the ‘Run To Learn’ game at the Hornbill Festival

To broaden the initiative’s reach, Reckitt unveiled a rap album featuring North-Eastern artists G’nie, Sudarshan Rai, A Hosea, and Moko Koza. The rap songs focused on awareness, inclusion, equity, and consent, providing a unique and engaging way to educate the youth through music.

Moko Koza reminded people about the importance of ‘Consent’ through his melodious performance

Impact and Testimonials:

The collaboration with the Hornbill Festival aligns with Reckitt’s commitment to a cleaner and healthier world. Gaurav Jain, Senior Vice President, South Asia, Reckitt, emphasized the partnership’s significance, actively engaging with the vibrant youth in the North-East and contributing to a healthier and more sustainable future.

Acknowledging the partnership, Temjin Imna Along, Minister of Tourism and Higher Education, Nagaland, expressed eagerness for a long-lasting collaboration, envisioning a future that is both healthier and happier for the youth of Nagaland.

Director of Tourism, Nagaland, Keduosieu Metha, highlighted the collaboration’s alignment with the festival’s values, emphasizing principles such as consent, equity, protection, inclusion, and awareness. The partnership is expected to enrich the festival’s purpose and foster a more unified and socially conscious community spirit.

In closing, Mohammed Asif, Executive Director, Plan India, expressed gratitude for the unwavering support of the Department of Tourism, Nagaland, as The Birds and Bees Talk enters its fourth year of empowering adolescents and young adults through holistic education, knowledge, and resources.

Conclusion:

The Birds and Bees Talk Programme (TBBT) at the festival raised awareness through various innovative programmes

Durex The Birds and Bees Talk made a lasting impact at the Hornbill Festival, contributing significantly to cultural enrichment and community development. The collaborative effort with the festival, coupled with innovative and engaging initiatives, underscores a commitment to holistic health education, fostering a healthier and more informed generation.

The Birds and Bees Talk programme stall at the Hornbill Festival

NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which in its Season 10 is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Ayushmann Khurrana. 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 – 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 a world post COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) 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, fight malnutrition, mental well-being, 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 like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.