Dettol Banega Swasth India Observes Global Handwashing Day 2026 on October 15 Under Theme 'Be a Handwashing Hero'

Key facts

• Global Handwashing Day is observed annually on October 15, and the 2026 theme is 'Be a Handwashing Hero'.
• Dettol Banega Swasth India (DBSI), Reckitt's flagship health and hygiene programme, has reached over 30 million children across about 1 million schools in India and supports more than 43 billion handwashing occasions annually among school-going children.
• An independent third-party evaluation found that between 2016 and 2026, school absenteeism linked to poor hygiene declined from 36% to 19.7%, a 45.2% reduction.
• Correct handwashing behaviour among students rose from 36% in 2017 to 95.4% in 2026, while engagement with digital hygiene learning tools grew from 5% of students in 2016 to nearly 80%.
• The evaluation found 95.1% of children understand the link between handwashing and disease prevention, participating children are 5.2 times more likely to wash hands at critical moments, and students are 4.3 times more likely to practise handwashing at home.
• The programme's Hygiene Building as a Learning Aid (H-BaLA) model transforms school infrastructure such as walls, corridors, classrooms and handwashing stations into hygiene learning cues.
• These learning innovations helped improve knowledge retention from 50% to 90%.
• The Dettol Hygiene Loyalty Card, designed for children aged 6-14 years, was launched earlier in 2026 at the World Economic Forum in Davos and uses gamified learning, rewards and challenges to encourage hygiene practices.
• Dettol Banega Swasth India has been running for over 13 years, working with governments, educators, development partners and communities on preventive health through behaviour change.