Background: Over 60% of Indians wash their hands only with water and no soap at all*. This behaviour causes the spread of fatal diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, pneumonia and COVID-19.

Now imagine this unhealthy habit during the world’s largest human gathering: Kumbh Mela with 150 million pilgrims in a 45-day makeshift town. The town is equipped with 4,200 tents, 660 mass food courts and 150,000 portable toilets, creating the perfect conditions for a mass-scale infection.

*Source: India National Sample Survey, 2020

Idea: Changing 150 million people’s poor hygiene habits overnight is impossible. So we decided to create a social-hacking solution that takes advantage of what Indian people have naturally done for millennia.

Hackwashing is a wearable ink made of Lifebuoy formula, which turns into antibacterial soap on coming in contact with water. So just by stamping people’s hands, we ensured they also use germ-killing soap every time they rinse their hands with water. 

Results: 

Hackwashing helped to instantly transform an unsanitary habit into life-saving action and helped protect 150 million people with no samples or waste.

Due to this initiative, we achieved 30% fewer infections than the festival’s previous edition, according to the Health & Family Welfare Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh.