While all of us are fighting the invisible enemy in our way, we must realise and acknowledge that it is disruptive for children, especially for those that depend on corporate initiatives and programmes for their growth and development. I’ve known about the Nestlé Healthy Kids Programme for some time now, it is a partnership between Nestlé India and seven universities. Nestlé’s #HealthyKids initiative has been committed to care, for a decade and in these times, they have kept up this commitment. 

The Healthy Kids Programme was launched in 2009 with a focus on raising awareness, among adolescents aged 10-17, about health, hygiene and nutrition. In 2014, Nestlé partnered with Magic Bus India Foundation to scale up the program with the same objective through the sports for development approach.

The approach focuses on using sports as a tool to educate the adolescents and encourages the idea of eating nutritious food and adopting a healthy and active lifestyle. However, with the nationwide lockdown for COVID-19, the programme has been tweaked to continue working on their mission and wade through the situation.

The ‘Each 1 Teach 10’campaign was carried out with the idea that one person records a video of the proper hand washing technique and sends it to ten others. What happens next is that, each of those ten community sent it to another ten, and the chain of messaging continued. It was a smart use of technology; wouldn’t you agree? 

It doesn’t end there! Visual messaging through posters, boards, books and videos were shared with children and community members, with an aim to curtail community outbreak. Nestlé’s team continued to purse their goals and mission. The team made special efforts to encourage their staff to continue the programme, virtually. Nestlé Healthy Kids Modules on health, nutrition and hygiene were uploaded on the ‘Magic Bus Academy’ a mobile based educational app. In addition, units on COVID preventive measures and safety guidelines were now a part of these sessions. 

In areas where lockdown was lifted, face-to-face sessions were conducted. Whereas, in containment and red zones, the programme ran virtually. Digital media like WhatsApp and tele calling was used extensively to send out messages regarding the subjects. Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan training was given to the staff to educate them on the preventive measures. 

What’s inspiring is their effort to draw markings in these communities and ensuring that everyone maintained social distancing. Results? Social distancing was practiced efficiently everywhere. Messages were sent on WhatsApp and phone calls were made to remind people of the importance of following the practice. 

The staff and volunteers offered support to assist in the application of online ration cards and also walked families through the process of downloading, registering and using the Arogya Setu app. The team also sent out messages on WhatsApp on the benefits of this app.

Personally, I loved the idea of the Door to Door Campaign that was carried out to demonstrate the hand washing and sanitization technique. What’s more interesting is that, the team followed community mapping and made sure none of the households were left out of the process. Every year, adults and the young come together and take part in various activities on this day. This year, however, it was celebrated virtually and proved to be a great success!

Assignments were given to the children on health, nutrition and waste management subjects with the intent of keeping them engaged and encourage learning despite their schools being shut. While doing so, they also emphasized the importance of physical and mental wellbeing. The efforts of the staff, volunteers and the entire team is highly commendable, where each of them is putting ‘another person’s interest above their own’. 

No one knows how long this pandemic is going to last or how soon we will find a vaccine or even when everything will go back to normal. But I believe it isn’t going to take forever for things to get better. That being said, I am certain that we as individuals of the community can and will do what's best for all of us. So just like the Nestlé Healthy Kids Programme, let's plan for the future, work on it and not feel stuck in the present. 

Until next time,

~ Heena

Washing milk and bread packets and groceries have become a routine now. With Coronavirus cases rising across the country, there is heightened anxiety and fear of catching the infection through surfaces of everyday objects. I am sure you must also be doing the same thing with whatever you bring home from outside. But at the same time, isn’t this an exhausting job to wash and sanitize all your daily use objects and food items using water, soap and sanitisers.

Wouldn’t it be easier if there was a quick-fix to this solution? The answer is yes, there is actually a convenient solution to address this problem. I just got myself a box-shaped sanitisation chamber that uses UV-C light to kill the coronavirus on the surfaces of everyday use items, be it your milk and bread packets, vegetables, fruits or other items like shoes, mask, gloves, mobile phone, etc. Whatever items you bring home, put them first in Orient UV Sanitech which uses a pre-set timer of 4 minutes to kill coronavirus with 360-degree UV germicidal irradiation so that the surfaces of all objects are uniformly sanitised. It uses no chemicals and leaves behind no residues.

As you must know that UV-C rays are harmful to human eyes and skin, therefore Orient UV Sanitech has been designed to operate in the safest manner. The UVC lamps start only when the lid is closed and also the metallic door prevents direct exposure to ensure user’s safety. Coming to the design, it’s a compact, lightweight and portable sanitisation box with a top-loading mechanism so that you can put the items for sanitisation inside it very easily.

I have been using the Orient UV Sanitech for a few days now and trust me, it’s highly convenient and safe to use. This literally gives me peace of mind knowing that I am not putting my family at risk of catching the coronavirus from contaminated objects. If you are interested in buying one, head to Flipkart and Amazon.

Head to the website to know more about UV Sanitech, and checkout this video to know how it works!

Stay Safe!