Marking World ORS Day, ORSL in partnership with PSI India, reaffirmed its commitment to improving childhood diarrhoea prevention and management through its flagship public health initiative, ‘Diarrhoea Se Darr Nahi’.
Marking World ORS Day, Makers of ORSL, a leading Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS) brand based on the World Health Organization (WHO) formula, in partnership with Population Services International India (PSI India), reaffirmed its commitment to raising awareness on prevention and management of childhood diarrhoea through its flagship public health initiative, ‘Diarrhoea Se Darr Nahi’. This initiative isaligned to the company’s Healthy Lives Mission social impact strategy with its focus on healthy people, healthy planet, and healthy products.
In India, diarrhoea continues to be one of the leading causes of preventable illness and mortality among children under five. While ORS remains global standard in diarrhoeal management, gaps in awareness, seeking timely treatment, and access continue to impede uptake in many vulnerable communities. To support the Government’s ‘Stop Diarrhoea’ Campaign, ‘Diarrhoea Se Darr Nahi’ initiative launched by ORSL along with its NGO partner, PSI India, is targeting 16 high-burden districts across Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, with an ambition to reach nearly 5 million children under five years of age over two plus years.
Since launch, ‘Diarrhoea Se Darr Nahi’ has created significant impact-
- Driven meaningful behaviour change amongst 23 million+ individuals and 2.5 million children under 5 years through front line health workers, household visits and mid-media & mass media. Additionally,5000+ community leaders and members were engaged through structured orientation programmes, including Mahila Arogya Samitis in Uttar Pradesh and Aajeevika Self-Help Groups in Bihar
- Strengthened frontline healthcare workers capacity by training 34,000+ ASHAs, ANMs and AWWs and establishing sustainable community-level mechanisms to promote timely detection, prevention and treatment. 1000+ doctors and nurses have also been trained on paediatric diarrhoea management protocols around prescription of WHO-recommended ORS and Zinc tablets.
- Improved access to life-saving ORS and Zinc tablets across identified districts in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The initiative has supported setting up 4970 ORS-Zinc corners at government and private health facilities as well as orienting 550+ chemists as trusted community touchpoints for diarrhoea prevention.
In recognition of its contribution to public health outcomes and alignment with government priorities, the National Health Mission, Uttar Pradesh, has endorsed this initiative at both state and district levels.
Reflecting on the programme’s journey and impact, Prashant Shinde, Business Unit Head – Self Care, Kenvue India, said, ““Improving child health outcomes impacted by diarrhoea requires sustained action including improved access to WHO recommended ORS solutions as well as empowering families with knowledge and access, strengthening frontline healthcare systems and driving informed health behaviours. Through ‘Diarrhoea Se Darr Nahi’ initiative, we are proud of the impact we have created so far to support the Government’s efforts along with PSI India, to ensure that caregivers not only understand the importance of ORS and Zinc but are also equipped to act quickly during incidents of diarrhoea. On World ORS Day, we reaffirm our commitment to supporting India’s efforts to reduce preventable childhood illness and mortality by building lasting awareness, strengthening community health systems, and improving access to lifesaving interventions where they are needed most.”
As part of World ORS Day celebrations, ‘Stop Diarrhoea Awareness Van’ was officially flagged off in Lucknow in presence of senior government officials from Directorate and National Health Mission including Dr A K Singh, Joint Director, RCH, Dr Ajay Gupta, Additional Director,, Dr N B Singh, Chief Medical Officer, Lucknow and Dr Milind Vardhan, GM, Child Health, Dr B N Yadav, ACMO, Lucknow alongside other representatives from the Department of Health and Family Welfare and other health officials.
To further strengthen awareness on early diarrhoea management and role of ORS, a month-long community outreach and advocacy campaign is planned across program districts in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Some of the community focussed activities include Prachar Vahans and E-rickshaws to educate underserved communities, street plays, public signature campaigns, engagement with public and private sector stakeholders, and chemist orientation programmes to strengthen community-level awareness and counselling.
Mukesh Kumar Sharma, Executive Director, PSI India, added “We are truly humbled by the recognition from Dr Pinki Jowel (IAS), MD, NHM – UP towards our efforts for the STOP Diarrhoea campaign under our Diarrhoea Se Darr Nahi public health initiative. During implementation, we identified that collaborating with school children, Mahila Arogya Samiti members significantly enhanced and deepened awareness around diarrhoea prevention and management. In the first year, we reached over 2.5 million children under five for diarrhoea care through the caregivers, ASHAs, and other service providers. We are excited to continue this important responsibility, as we believe no child should die from such preventable disease. We are ready to further support the government by expanding our efforts to other regions in the states and across India.”
As India intensifies efforts to reduce preventable childhood illness and mortality from diarrhoea, ‘Diarrhoea Se Darr Nahi’ demonstrates the role of strategic partnerships between government, civil society and the private sector in accelerating awareness and strengthening community health systems to drive positive change on-ground.
