Global Handwashing Day celebrated by 150 municipal school students on 15 October

3.7 Million. That is a HUGE number indeed. 

No,it is not the bank balance of a millionaire OR the budget of a company or institute BUT is sadly the number of children aged from one month to 4 years who DIED globally in 2013, due to bad hygiene practices.

Students wash their hands with soap

 Imagine, millions of lives can have been saved by adopting small sanitation and cleanliness measures. In developing countries, child mortality rates related to respiratory and diarrheal diseases can be reduced by introducing simple behavioural changes. This simple and seemingly trivial action "HWWS- Hand washing with soap" can reduce the rate of mortality from these diseases by almost 50 per cent.

With the goal of spreading awareness about the importance of this low cost and easy intervention in mind, WHO (World Health Organisation) designated October 15th as the Global Hand Washing Day in 2008. For the last 9 years, different organisations worldwide have been celebrating it by planning unique programs. 

How did we at CACR celebrate? - View this 30-second video to get the gist

NGO Citizens Association for Child Rights(CACR), organised an activity based programme at Nityanand Municipal School, Andheri East , Mumbai.

Students participate in Q&A

I am very happy to share that more than 150 children participated very enthusiastically in The Global Hand Washing day celebrations and communicated their hand wash messages via painting bed sheets and singing the hand wash songs popularised by Sachin Tendulkar. 


There was a discussion followed by a Q and A session with UNICEF consultant Bharathy and Former Deputy Education officer Manasi Apte. Soaps and pamphlets with the correct hand washing steps and the importance of making washing of hands with soap a habit were provided to all the participating children. 

CACR has been implementing the hand wash behaviour change program in 11 MCGM schools with 683 students for the past 2 months. This project is a behavioural change program aimed at students from class 3 to 8.
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Students painting their handwash messages on a bedsheet

Bharathy Tahiliani, State consultant UNICEF India said "The 12-week programme, is implemented for the first time in Urban India. We are providing close guidance to CACR to put in place behaviour change activities so children can adopt appropriate hygiene and sanitation behaviour for a lifetime" 

CACR Founder Director Mr Nitin Wadhwani shared that "NGO CACR has initiated this important programme in 5 locations from Andheri to Bandra and it also comprises of a 3 Star Assessment of School Infrastructure on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene based on Swachh Bharat Swachh Vidyalaya (Clean India Mission) guidelines"

A Marathi newspaper Janashakti carried the details of the OCT 15 event as seen below 

Global Handwashing Day event published in a Marathi Daily

PPH website featured CACR

The Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing, which is a coalition of international stakeholders who work explicitly to promote handwashing with soap and recognise hygiene as a pillar of international development and public health featured CACR on its website 

As Seen HERE on the RHS image 

I sincerely hope to keep the GHD momentum going by scaling up this project to more schools and new locations. But I need your good wishes and volunteers to make this happen. If this project interests you then volunteers with us  http://www.ngocacr.com/be-a-volunteer/ 

Hope you join us to make lives healthy. 

By +Richa Singh  loves to work in the public health space and  is the Projects Director with CACR, a section 8 nonprofit working in public schools in Mumbai from past 3 years.

Edited by +Vidya Vaidya , Artist & Director, CACR

Project Hand Wash – Clean Hands Movement

 

CACR- Project HandWash 

Every day you wake hoping for a better today. There is a sprint in your step; there is a gleam in your eye; there is freshness in your soul. All these fantasies crash when you get out of your apartment and start walking. You realise that the possibility of enjoying the blue sky is zero, zilch, nil. Because every step is like being in a video game where an unknown enemy in the form of potholes, bodily fluids, faeces, garbage, spits, is in front of you.

So, it is great to have a Prime Minister who considers cleanliness an important part of the country’s policy portfolio. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan has helped to create awareness about hygiene and sanitation and small initiatives have been started by individuals, groups and corporations as part of this programme.

One such initiative started is by the NGO CACR (Citizen Association for Child Rights), ‘Project Hand Wash’ under the UNICEF guidelines. It was started in August by its Director Nitin Wadhwani, and Project Head Dr. Richa Singh. It is a 12 session program of 45 to 60 mins with one session per week.

CACR - Project Hand Wash

As a pilot project started in 14 BMC schools between Bandra and Andheri, it benefits approximately 545 students. As per the UNICEF guidelines the sessions have a mixture of theory and games to explain the hygienic and correct way of washing hands and other safe sanitation practices. Activities like the Hand wash song,  catch the ball game, storytelling, are used to explain bacteria and germs, their effect on our immune system and the ways to prevent their proliferation in our body.

CACR - Project Hand Wash

This programme is a step towards bringing about behavioural changes in the children’s hygiene and sanitation practices. By educating  students when to wash their hands, the correct way of washing hands, proper garbage disposal, safe sanitation practices, we hope to lessen the effects of common diseases like diarrhoea, viral flu, cold and cough on the immune system. These behavioural changes will help create awareness among others too, along the way.