Lifebuoy Launches Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetna

today announced the launch of LIFEBUOY SWASTHYA CHETNA, the first single largest rural health and hygiene educational program. Lifebuoy will make multiple repeat contacts in nearly 15,000 villages in 8 states across rural India. The campaign aims to educate children and the community about the threat of unseen germs and basic hygiene practices. Lifebuoy has already successfully conducted pilot studies in Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa and Bihar. This campaign teaches people about maintaining good health through practice of basic hygienic habits including the handwash habit.

Announcing the Swasthya Chetna Movement, Mr. Ashok Ganapathy, Marketing Manager - Mass Market Business, Hindustan Lever Limited said, “This program has been developed around the insight that people believe “visible clean is safe clean”. Swasthya Chetna aims to establish the existence of “invisible germs” and the associated risk of infection. Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetna is a movement aimed at creating awareness about hygiene practices including handwashing, among the rural community. We believe that this campaign will change the underlying behavior and attitude of the village folk towards health and hygiene.”

Mr. Ganapathy added, “ In India especially, diarrhoea is the second largest cause of death among children below the age of 5. A study conducted by WHO reflects that deaths due to diarrhoea may be reduced by as much as 42.1% if villagers are induced to wash their hands with soap before partaking meals the campaign therefore endeavors to inculcate good health and hygiene practices highlighting the importance of regular habit of handwash.

Phases of the Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetna campaign

The Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetna campaign has been divided into various phases. In the initial phase the Health Development Facilitator (HDF) and his assistant will initiate contact and interact with students and the influencers of the community like the Sarpanch, medical practitioners, Panchayat members, etc. A number of tools like a pictorial story in a flip chart format, the Glo-germ demonstration and a quiz with attractive prizes to reinforce the message will be used to make the module interactive and gain involvement from school children.

Glo-Germ demonstration

The Glo-Germ demonstration is a unique tool to make unseen germs visible and emphasize the need to use soap to wash hands and kill germs. Through this interaction children will be sensitized about germs, their harmful effects on health and simple methods to observe personal hygiene.

This interaction will then be replicated with the rest of the community and the key messages on hygiene and health will be reinforced through subsequent contacts, thus preparing the community to sustain and internalize the messages. In subsequent interactions the village children with the help of the Health Development Facilitator (HDF) will expose parents to the health and hygiene communication. The purpose is to present the activity as the villagers’ self initiative, wherein the Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetna HDF will be a facilitator and an influential personality from the village the chief guest. This will bring about an ownership of the program from the village community.

Reinforcing the importance of health in rural India

“The objective of this program is to bring about a change in the underlying behaviours and attitudes of the village folk and in our experience one visit will not be sufficient for the same. There is a need for a sustained communication which keeps reinforcing the health message and hence we have devised multiple visits by the Health Development Facilitators (HDF) to each village.” Mr. Ganapathy added.

By the end of these multiple interactions, it is envisaged that the villages will have understood and internalized the importance of handwashing among observing other hygiene practices. Since health awareness is an ongoing process, the initiatives of the village residents will evolve the program and keep ‘Swasthya Chetna’ alive.

This campaign will be supervised and coordinated by Ogilvy & Mather’s Rural Outreach division. Health Development Officers (HDOs) from the target regions have already been appointed.

About Lifebuoy:

Lifebuoy is among HLL’s power brands, which the company is focussing on, selected on the basis of their absolute size, brand strength, brand relevance, competitive advantage and potential for growth. The new Lifebuoy range now includes Lifebuoy Active Red (125gm, 100 gm and 60 gm) and Lifebuoy Active Orange (100gm). Lifebuoy Active Orange offers the consumer a differentiated health perfume while offering the health benefit of Lifebuoy. At the upper end of the market, Lifebuoy offers specific health benefits through Lifebuoy International (Plus and Gold). Lifebuoy International Plus offers protection against germs which cause body odour, while Lifebuoy International Gold helps protect against germs which cause skin blemishes.

In 2001, HLL’s soaps & detergents turnover was Rs.4295 crores, which is approximately 39% of the company’s net turnover of Rs.10972 crores. HLL has been significantly increasing investment behind its power brands, in innovation, quality improvement and marketing. These have been backed by major sales initiatives. In rural India, the focus is to further extend reach, which has resulted in direct coverage of about 46% of the rural population as of now. In urban markets, the objective is to improve customer service. Dedicated sales teams have been formed to service key accounts and wholesalers in larger towns and cities. A cell has been set up to attend to the modern trade, comprising chain stores.