ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

Cash prizes and certificates will be awarded to the winners of a contest being held in India to promote hand hygiene.

The competition, being staged by the India Sanitation Coalition in collaboration with UNICEF India, aims to reward and recognise the country's hand washing pioneers.

Competition organisers seek to promote those product innovations and business solutions that focus on the setting up of hand washing with soap stations. Entries are being invited from industry, academic institutions, government offices, society organisations, students and general innovators.

The contest will feature categories in both product innovation and process innovation. Winners of the first category will be able to demonstrate hygienic products that are easy to manufacture, low in cost, easy to maintain, user-friendly and that have a low environment footprint. Winning products should also be capable of being scaled up quickly, preferably using an existing resource base.

Winners of the process innovation category will need to demonstrate a sustainable soap infrastructure management system. Such systems should be effective, low in cost, easy to implement and capable of being quickly scaled up.

Besides cash prizes and certificates, winners will also be given the chance of showcasing their innovations at UNICEF India and ISC- FICCI. Last date for submission of entries is March 6.

According to UNICEF around three billion people globally have no access to hand-washing facilities at home. And almost half of all schools globally plus 32 per cent of healthcare institutions currently lack the wherewithal for hand washing with soap.