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Do not Spit: PM Modi Appeals in Man ki Baat “Spitting Kills” Mobile App helps spread the message!
New Delhi, April 27, 2020. While India is fighting the Coronavirus war, spitting in public has been banned. The Virus remains active in spit for one to three days and thus spitting in public places by corona infected person can spread infection. Sambandh Health Foundation, Gurugram on Monday launched a Mobile App ‘Spitting Kills’.
In his first Mann ki Baat address of Lockdown 2.0, the Prime Minister called for a ban on spitting in public places. He said that spitting here, there and everywhere was part of the bad habits which challenged both cleanliness and health. We were always aware of this problem but it was just not going away from our society. Now the time has come to eradicate this bad habit, forever. This will not only increase the level of basic hygiene, it will also help curb the spread of corona virus.
Sambandh Health Foundation (SHF), Gurugram has built a ‘Spitting Kills’ Mobile Appto spread this message and is working with NSS, hospitals and various associations for this. The Ministry of Home Affairs has in their National Directive dated 15th April 2020, under the Disaster Management Act 2005, asked all District Heads, Municipal Corporations to ban sale of alcohol, tobacco, gutka and prohibit spitting in public places. The ‘Spitting Kills’ App helps spread awareness through social media that spitting isunhygienic, unhealthy and spreads infection.
Dr Shiv Choudhary, HoD Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery (CTVS) at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi and a Voice of Tobacco Victims (VoTV) Council member, said, “Not-for-profit organizations coming up with such ‘Spitting Kills’ Mobile Apps will spread the message quickly, especially, when mobile and internet is where people are focusing while in lockdown. It is not only for corona, but spitting in public places can spread other contagious diseases such as tuberculosis.”
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in its appeal to general public had asked the public to refrain from consuming smokeless tobacco products along with paan masala and areca nut (supari) and spitting in public places, as these products increase the production of saliva followed by a very strong urge to spit.
Arvind Mathur, Trustee and CFO of Sambandh Health Foundation said, “The App
‘Spitting Kills’ will reach the masses and help in spreading the Prime Minister’s message of no spitting in public places. Currently, we have rolled out this App through National Service Scheme (NSS) volunteers of 400 colleges in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.”
The App shows a brief video on spitting and asks few questions, which if answered correctly gives the user a participation certificate. The goal is to help spread the Government’s message through the NSS volunteers. This will help in Country’s vision of a Corona-free India.
During the COVID-19pandemic, many states such as Maharashtra, Odisha, Bihar, Rajasthan, Karnataka have banned sale of tobacco. Spitting has been made an offence and fines & imprisonment have been levied, if caught spitting in public.
This ‘Spitting Kills’ movement is supported by the Alamelu Charitable Foundation (Tata Trusts), Epson, Sri Venkateswara Institute of Cancer Care & Advanced Research, Narayana Hrudayalaya, Bengaluru, Chandrapur Cancer Care Foundation, Blue Star Foundation, Caring Friends, Narayana Superspeciality Hospital, Howrah and Voice of Tobacco Victims doctors across the country.
