Vashi
(Navi Mumbai), June 12: The Fortis Foundation in association with the Navi Mumbai District Lions International, Fortis Hiranandani Hospital,
Vashi, Navi Mumbai Association of Paediatrics and Indian Association of
Occupational Health, Thane and Raigad branch have joined hands to launch an
impactful series of community campaign - Clean Hands To Save Life ™ that
endeavours at highlighting the need and importance of hand hygiene in
maintaining good health.
According to India’s public health
association statistics only 30 percent of Indian population wash their hands
before preparing food, 38 percent wash their hands before eating and just over
53 percent of the country’s population wash their hands after defecating.
Large sections of the country’s
population have the ‘misconception’ that they do not need to wash their hands
which apparently look clean and will not make them sick. Proper hand hygiene practice can keep deadly
diseases like typhoid, diarrhoea and hepatitis-A at bay.
Children being more susceptible to
these diseases need to be imparted the importance of hand hygiene.
The Clean Hands To Save Life ™ is a tailor made far-reaching, one of
its kind SIX STEPS OF HAND WASH campaign.
The Clean Hands To Save Life ™ campaign is an attempt to create a platform
to tutor students, teachers and the community as a whole.
The three-phase campaign will include
drives to train teachers and school kids, corporate employees along with a
public campaign which will be kick-started in its first phase from June 13,
2012.
Public
contact programmes will be held at Vashi railway station on June 14 and 15,
2012. The corporate contact programmes for creating an awareness of hand
hygiene among parents will be conducted across 100+ corporate entities from
June 15 to September 30, 2012.
The
awareness drive in the various schools across Navi Mumbai will be conducted
from June 18 to 21.
The
second phase of the Clean Hands To Save Life ™ campaign will focus on making a lasting impact of the campaign on the parents and the kids
by making an attempt to create a Guinness World Record™, by recording ‘the highest
number of school kids simultaneously participating in a hand hygiene session’. The
students will be from schools all over Navi Mumbai.
The
grand record breaking event will be held at Centre One Mall, Vashi on June 22
at noon. To witness this record breaking attempt will be B B Nayak, a multiple Guinness World Record™ and music maestro Shankar
Mahadevan among others.
In the third phase of the Clean Hands To Save Life ™ campaign, emphasis will be to sustain the campaign in each school with
25 refresher sessions through July 2012 to March 2013.
Seven brand ambassadors selected from
across the school and social spectrum will be the mainstay of the campaign.
These student brand ambassadors will be the torchbearers of the hand hygiene
campaign.
Speaking on the occasion Fortis Healthcare, Zonal Director, Mumbai, Mr.
Manpreet Sohal said, “Clean Hands To Save Life ™ campaign is a community
initiative of immense social impact. Partnering with likeminded social
organizations gives the campaign better reach and earnestness. The campaign has
been devised keeping in mind the need to create lasting impact in minds of students
and their parents.”
“We plan to cover over 50 schools
during the campaign and impact over 50,000 households. I am sure every parent
will now onwards take extreme care of their kids hand hygiene and help them
stay away from dreaded diseases like Hepatitis-A, Typhoid and Diarrhea,” Mr.
Sohal added.
Stated Lion Pratap
Mudaliar | District Activity
Chairperson, Navi Mumbai District Lions International, “We are
happy to partner in the Clean Hands To Save Life ™ campaign with the aim
of creating a far-reaching impact on the kids, the teachers, parents and the masses”
.
Fortis Foundation and Four
Points by Sheraton, Vashi are the key sponsors of this unique
hand hygiene campaign.
The media
partners for the campaign include 92.7
BIG FM for radio, Orienta Cine
Advertising Pvt Ltd. for multiplex, Shree
Advertising for outdoor and Centre one
for mall and venue.
About Fortis Foundation
Since
2005, Fortis Healthcare through Fortis Foundation is committed towards
providing healthcare for the socially marginalised and deprived sections of the
society, creating awareness about health, environment and educational concerns.
Fortis Foundation not only makes sure that its programmes are efficient but
also ensures that they are sustainable and relevant to those meant to benefit
from them.