The COVID-19 pandemic is an urgent crisis in India. Handwashing is a key defence against coronavirus, but 98 million Indians still live without a source of clean water.

To tackle spread of the disease, we have run a campaign using digital images/posters, audio messages and video in six Indian languages and English, disseminated through text messages, WhatsApp, community radio, local TV channels and loudspeakers in communities.

Our response to COVID-19 in India

More than a billion people call India home. This vast population is spread across deserts and deltas, green valleys and rocky mountains, remote villages and mega-cities. Reaching everyone with clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene is a huge challenge.

That hasn’t stopped us making real progress. We have reached millions of people with these three essentials – enabling communities to unlock their potential to break free from the cycle of poverty and to change lives for good.

But while many thrive in the world’s second fastest-growing economy, millions are being left behind.

Nearly half the population currently has no choice but to go to the toilet in rivers and fields, beside train tracks or down alleyways. Every day, at least 166 children under five die because of diarrhoea caused by dirty water and poor sanitation. It is particularly tough to get toilets and water to people living in India’s rapidly expanding slums.

Together, we can make clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene a normal part of everyday life for everyone in India.

We give people the knowledge and confidence to demand their rights. We support the Government to integrate water, toilets and hygiene into health, nutrition and disaster strategies, building systems that last.

And we make sure services meet the specific needs of women, children and disabled people so that no one is left behind.