Getting Hands Clean Where it Matters Most – Hand Hygiene Product Innovation for the Poor Bear Valley Ventures is investigating how to radically improve hand hygiene habits in India, through product innovation. Clean Hands Inc (CHI) develops products for the urban poor that can be used by households with substandard or no sanitation.
Bear Valley Ventures, a grantee of USAID’s Development Innovation Ventures (DIV) program, is investigating how to radically improve hand hygiene habits in India, through product innovation. Bear Valley and partners created Clean Hands Inc (link is external) (CHI) to develop new products for the urban poor that can be used by households with substandard or no sanitation and constrained access to water. With support from DIV, they have launched their pilot.
Where did the inspiration for your approach come from?
The evidence that improved hand hygiene can have a positive impact on health is clear and there’s increasing interest globally in promoting handwashing with soap. But in the settings we are interested in – urban slums – there are many practical reasons why soap may not always be the best solution. Reasons like water being a valued resource people don’t want to waste and soaps lack of portability when people go to the toilet outside the home.
Approach
This project is funded under the USAID DIV scheme.Project description on USAID DIV website
Answer questions about the project
Walter Gibson
walter@3ccollective.com
Filter / Tags
Behaviour changeHealth and hygieneSpecific to one or several countriesOtherOtherUnited States governmentUrban informal settlements (slums)PractitionersPrivate sector, including social enterprises
Related Countries
IndiaUnited Kingdom
Project location
