Malaria and Dengue are some of the largest contributors to India’s mortality rate of children under the age of 5. Almost 50% of these deaths are from tribal settlements that fall under lower economic groups. Their homes do not have proper windows and doors and are often unprotected from mosquitoes. Furthermore, their homes are built around water sources and breeding grounds which are unclean. All this leaves them exposed to life-threatening diseases.

Maxx Flash, a mosquito repellent brand wanted to help and provide an effective way for young mothers to protect their newborns.

The objective was to get mothers to adopt the habit of using mosquito repellent to protect their babies without changing their traditions.

Maxx Flash is one of the only brands in the mosquito-repellent segment that offers consumers an innovative and non-toxic product range. To help families living in tribal settlements, we tapped into their existing behaviour. Mothers across India believe that applying a ‘Kala Teeka’ or a ‘Bindu’ (kohl dot) to their newborns will protect them from diseases, deaths and evil spirits.

Instead of challenging an age-old tradition, we reinvented it to create a mosquito-repelling formula. We took the traditional formulation of soot and fused it with eucalyptus and citronella oil extracts to create ‘Arogya Bindu’ which protects the children from life-threatening mosquito-borne diseases.

Arogya Bindu is 100% safe for the baby’s sensitive skin and protects the baby for up to 4 hours. It is made with ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) approved natural ingredients.

We spoke to young mothers across tribal regions of Maharashtra and Gujarat to understand their challenges with the mosquito menace.

Adoption – Illiteracy along with cultural biases stop mothers from trying and trusting new products. They are always cautious when it comes to trying new products on their babies. Purchases here work on word-of-mouth recommendations.

Accessibility – Medical and health facilities are sparse and the nearest store offering mosquito repellents and nets is located up to 10 km away.

Arogya Bindu is built on a cultural ritual practised by mothers to protect their newborns. We wanted to drive adoption by being respectful of her beliefs.

Using ASHA workers to distribute Arogya Bindu, we made sure that the solution reached the mothers directly. The ASHA worker’s credibility further helped us drive adoption in the village.

While the product is designed to help protect the baby, it talks to the mother.  We understood her bias towards the ‘Kala Teeka’ superstition and wanted to design a product that was respectful of her traditions but aided in the protection of the baby.

Arogya Bindu uses the traditional chemical-free formulation of kajal (kohl) but brings in the efficacy with ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) approved natural mosquito-repellants, making it 100% baby safe.

Research and development started in August 2022, as malaria and dengue cases were on the rise.

After understanding the consumer’s barriers, we started developing the product in October 2022.

The child-safe formulation was developed in December 2022, after which trials and tests were done.

Distribution of the product with ASHA workers started from March 2023 onwards.

Arogya Bindu reached almost 50,000 mothers across two states at a minimal cost of $0.21 per family.

We reached close to 57% of new mothers in tribal areas of Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Since its implementation, Popharan, Ketkhadi and Bawda districts saw a steep reduction in cases in the month of March. These regions now no longer fall under hot spots for mosquito-borne diseases which are tracked by the local authorities to control breeding grounds.

Adoption of Arogya Bindu increased amongst the mothers within 2 weeks. More than 50000 hesitant mothers now have started using Arogya Bindu after observing the benefits it provides to the already-using mothers and neighbours. More mothers are now reaching out to ASHA workers to try the product for themselves.

Seeing the product's efficacy, the village heads from Popharan and local healthcare workers (ASHA workers) from Ketkhadi and Bawda have further encouraged the use of Arogya Bindu. This has helped build a stronger recall and salience for Maxx Flash in the region.