Odisha (India)
Hand hygiene in Odisha is at a very early stage of development. Although the Government of Odisha and Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies have promoted and allocated funding for hand hygiene after the outbreak of COVID-19, it did not spur broader development of the sector nor buy-in by the communities. The low scores – 0.12 and 0.02 on the HHAFT Tracker and Assessment’s 4-point scale, respectively, indicate that the state of Odisha has a limited enabling environment, hampering its ability to achieve significant HH gains at this time.
Note that the HHAFT was designed for assessing national enabling environments, and so may not accurately capture sub-national results.
Tracker
| Milestone | 2023 |
|---|---|
| Prepare for Action | 0.60 |
| Analyse the Situation / Assess the Need | 0.00 |
| Prioritise Actions | 0.00 |
| Execute Plans | 0.00 |
| Monitor, Evaluate and Course Correct | 0.00 |
| Average | 0.12 |
There are no policies, standards, or targets for basic HH at the state level (although national standards exist), and no mandate to create one as it is not seen as a priority at this time. There is also no clear understanding of HH situation and needs because an analysis has not been completed due to a lack of an established M&E framework. This lack of prioritizing HH, and the limited awareness and/or demand for it to be prioritized, are significant barriers to sectoral progress.
Assessment
| Parameter | 2023 |
|---|---|
| Governance | 0.10 |
| Financing | 0.00 |
| Data and Information | 0.00 |
| Capacity Development | 0.00 |
| Innovation | 0.00 |
| Average | 0.02 |
There are some HH initiatives, but these are department or organization specific; there is no lead Ministry or coordination mechanism for HH currently. It is understandable that without either a national- or state-level policy created in consultation with all stakeholders there has been little to no progress for most parameters. However, Odisha has identified the sectors, settings, and stakeholders necessary to achieve long-term HH access and behaviour change but convening and engaging the stakeholders as well as developing/strategizing a financing mechanism is yet to begin. These are vital for operationalizing and sustaining HH behaviour in the State of Odisha. Without a financing strategy, it may be difficult to get stakeholders to the table to develop a policy.
