- A group of seven women-motorcyclists will ride 1591 km from Gurugram to Nandurbar and Amravati, Maharashtra to support Reach Each Child initiative
- Reach Each Child initiative aims to save lives of children under five years, support pregnant women and mothers and spread awareness about the importance of good hygiene and nutrition
14 Feb 2021, Gurugram/New Delhi: With continued focus to bridge the gap in nutritional deficiencyDettol Banega Swasth India (BSI) under Reach Each Child initiative today launched a mission-oriented, Love for Kids women’s Motorcycle Rally. The ‘Love for Kids women’s Motorcycle Rally’ was flagged off from the camp office of Yash Garg, Deputy Commissioner, Gurugram. Celebrating the success of saving the lives of more than 16,000 children in the last two years, a group of high spirited seven women biking enthusiasts today started their rally from Gurugram, Haryana to the districts of Nandurbar and Amravati (Maharashtra). The flag off event was also attended by Mr. Gaurav Jain, SVP, RB Health South Asia, Mr. Ravi Bhatnagar, Director External Affairs & Partnerships, AMESA, Mohammed Asif, Executive Director, Plan India, among other dignitaries.
The Love for Kids women’s Motorcycle Rally aims to engage and empower while saluting the courageous spirit, undying love of the women of Amravati and Nandurbar districts in Maharashtra. These women have been relentlessly fighting against the economic, socio-cultural challenges to defeat malnutrition and raise happy and healthy children. Reach Each Child initiative is being implemented by with Plan International (India Chapter), also known as Plan India. Also, Banega Swasth India with Plan India has extended their support to frontline workers and medical practitioners amid the raging spread of COVID-19 in the districts of Amravati and Nandurbar, Maharashtra.
Commenting on the partnership initiative, Mr. Gaurav Jain, SVP, Reckitt Benckiser Health South Asia said,“Children are our future and malnutrition is an unwanted deadly virus that is weakening their growth. With Reach Each Child initiative we aim to protect, heal and nurture them. The initiative is very close to our hearts and we aim to create awareness for improving their nutritional profile. This rally is celebration of the undying spirit of the women in the districts of Nandurbar and Amravati who have been continuously fighting the battle for their children. We thank the women bikers who have joined hands in our program to spread cheer and create awareness. I am certain than it will bring multifold awareness among the mothers and will empower them and bridge the urban and rural divide.”
Extending his appreciation and gratitude towards the support of Reckitt Benckiser for the cause, Mohammed Asif, Executive Director, Plan India, said, “Reach Each Child program has shown the light on the imperative of collaborative actions by governments, corporates and civil society to successfully tackle the challenge of undernourishment in rural communities. The learnings and outcomes from this program should be widely disseminated so that other development actors are able to replicate. We are thankful to RB for the partnership and for ensuring timely access to life-saving and preventive measures to ramp up nutrition and public health outcomes in underserved communities.
With support from Reach Each Child, the mothers of Amravati and Nandurbar (Maharashtra) have been able to save their children’s lives; they are practicing good hygiene, ensuring diet diversity and accessing services from public health services for their children and families.
Reach Each Child (REC), 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. Over the next 5 years, REC aims to reach 2 million mothers of the undernourished children across nine states.