Lifeboy Swasthya Chetna Programme

The Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetna programme was initiated in 2002 as a rural health and hygiene initiative in India.

In partnership with local government bodies, the Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetna programme is designed to spread awareness about the importance of washing hands with soap. It also promotes general hygiene in rural areas that are difficult to reach through usual marketing campaigns such as television, press or in-store advertising and promotions.

The campaign has three communication tasks:

·         To establish the presence of germs, even on clean hands, through the use of a 'glow germ demo kit' that has been developed by Unilever for use in Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetna. The simple and powerful tool coveys that visibly clean is not necessarily clean, as germs are not visible..

·         To establish the consequences of these hidden germs, which when ingested, can cause stomach infections and diarrhoea, or be transferred to eyes causing painful eye infections, or infecting wounds.

·         To establish how current practice is not enough to fight these germs by using the glow germ demo kit to demonstrate that washing with water is not enough, and that it is necessary to wash hands with soap for germ protection.

Engagement

Lifebuoy teams visit each village several times, engaging all segments of the community and ensuring the formation of local 'self-help communities' that can sustain the message.

School children were made excellent ambassadors of communication. Additionally, these visits also include a meeting with the Panchayat (village elders).

Covering 130 million people in 30,000 villages since 2002, the Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetna programme has made its mark as the single largest private hygiene education project in the world