Dettol BSI women bike rally held for empowering the spirit of Hygiene & Nutrition across five states

New Delhi: Rejoicing the attainment of Reach Each Child campaign, for effectively saving lives of more than 16,000 children in last two years, a group of high spirited seven women bikers have successfully culminated their 1591 kms bike rally covering five states in six days. The objective of the bike Rally was to salute, engage and empower the courageous spirit, undying love of women of Nandurbar and Amravati districts in Maharashtra. With support from Reach Each Child, the mothers of these cities have been able to save their children by practicing good hygiene, ensuring diet diversity and accessing public health services. Reach Each Child initiative is being implemented by Plan International (India Chapter), also known as Plan India.

The #LoveForKidsbike rally was flagged off from Gurugram. Throughout, the rally received overwhelming response from the various local government and administrations of Gurugram, Gwalior, Indore, Nandurbar& Amravati (Maharashtra).The extraordinary effort and outcome of Reach Each Child and Banega Swasth India campaigns were recognized by the city administrators and they promised their support to the campaign. The rally reached 52 health-workers, 14 district-authorities, 3 MP-MLA-Vice Chancellor, 80 mothers and 53 children conveying the message of hygiene and nutrition. The dignitaries and chief guests were presented, annual project report, SROI Report and a potted plant as memento to the event.

On successful organisation of the event Mr. Ravi Bhatnagar, Director External Affairs and Partnerships- Health AMESA, Reckitt Benckiser said, “Banega Swasth India has always played an exceptional role in strengthening the awareness of hygiene and nutrition. The bike rally is one of such unique endeavors, which conveys a never-dying intent in the fight against the problem of children malnutrition. I am expecting that over the next 5 years, the initiative aims to reach another 2 million mothers of the undernourished children across nine states.”

Reach Each Child campaign

Reach Each Child (REC), is an innovative digital and artificial intelligence-based project under the umbrella of Dettol Banega Swasth India, intervenes in the first 1000 days of the child’s life and has been able to create a substantial impact in Amravati and Nandurbar districts in Maharashtra. REC has been initiated in 2018 with the aim to improve the nutritional status by reducing stunting by 40% in children under 5 and keeping childhood wasting rates below 5%. Through its innovative voucher scheme, that covers expenses of wage loss-treatment-transportation of Severe Acute Malnourished and High-Risk Pregnant Woman, REC been able to save more than 16,000 lives in the last 2 years. During 2020-21, about 39,800 mothers are reached through a home visit, mother group meetings (204 mother groups and 204 pregnant women’s groups). Over the next 5 years, REC aims to reach 2 million mothers of the undernourished children across nine states.