"You spend only 10 rupees for soap, but in case of illness, you end up spending 1,000 rupees," says one participant in India.
That's just one example of the impact a new program is having on the country, where 9 in every 1,000 children die from pneumonia and diarrheal diseases, thanks in part to the efforts of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, in partnership with Unilever Lifebuoy.
The program, called Safal Shuruaat (' Successful Beginnings'), was launched in India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, and has since reached 3.7 million people, per a press release.
The idea is to shift the gendered perception that caring for children is the responsibility of the mother, as 81% of women and 75% of men in India agree that caring for children is the responsibility of the mother.
As a result, health messages related to hygiene and vaccination are typically aimed at mothers, but this ignores the powerful influence fathers can have on their child's health.
Safal Shuruaat reframes this narrative by promoting joint responsibility when it comes to specific health-related behaviors such as handwashing and vaccination, while simultaneously helping to remove gender-related barriers that could affect a child's health.
Participants in the first year of the
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