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Unilever pledges enhanced access to toilets [Ghana News Agency]
[October 01, 2014]

Unilever pledges enhanced access to toilets [Ghana News Agency]


(Ghana News Agency Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Accra, Sept. 30, GNA - The management ofUnilever has announced a commitment to help 25 million people gain improvedaccess to toilets by 2020, as part of its Sustainable Living Plan, a blueprintfor sustainable growth.



A statement issued in Accra and signed by MrGaberial Opoku-Asare, the Corporate Affairs Manager, Unilever Ghana, said aspart of their activities, the company would contribute to the goal of helpingone billion people to improve their health and well-being by 2020.

It said management had also set alongsideexisting goals on providing access to safe and affordable drinking water, andeducation on the importance of hand-washing with soap.


It said an estimated 2.5 billion people,over one third of the worlds population, lives without access to adequatesanitation, of these, over one billion continued to defecate in the open.

The statement said the situation had aserious impact on peoples health, nutrition, education, on gender equality andsustainable economic development.

"It is a global tragedy that a childdies of diseases related to poor sanitation every two minutes and it could beprevented," it added.

Mr Paul Polman, the Chief Executive Officer,Unilever, said business could and must be part of the solution in addressingglobal challenges that affect the world.

"That is why we introduced the UnileverSustainable Living Plan to positively contribute to the societies where weoperate. With our portfolio of health and hygiene brands, our understanding ofconsumers needs and our global reach, we are uniquely placed to help improvepeoples lives," he added.

This target would be delivered by Unileverstoilet cleaning brand, Domestos and the Unilever Foundation, by scaling up existingpartnership programmes.

It said Domestos and the Unilever Foundationwere working with UNICEF to change sanitation behaviours and empowercommunities to become free of open defecation.

The statement said Domestos had was alsopartnered with social enterprise eKutir, to deliver market-based models thatenable entrepreneurs to set up local sanitation businesses in rural areas.

It also runs school programmes withlocally-based Non-governmental organisations, which improve school facilitiesand educate the next generation of children on the importance of sanitation andhygiene.

So far, the partnership with UNICEF hasalready reached over one million people with sanitation behaviour changeinterventions, and this will result in these individuals living in opendefecation-free communities.

Domestos is working with other leadingorganisations including DFID, Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor, LondonSchool of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, WaterAid, Water Supply and SanitationCollaborative Council and World Toilet Organization among others.

Mr Jean-Laurent Ingles, Senior VicePresident for Household Care, Uniliver said Our commitment is the natural nextstep for Domestos.

Domestos aims to kill germs for good thats why were working to provide access to clean and safe toilets for peopleworldwide. Our commitment is about more than Corporate Social Responsibility.

It said Unilever believed that universalaccess to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene was essential to helping lift peopleout of poverty and advocated for a standalone goal on Water and Sanitation inthe post-2015 Development Agenda.

Without access to clean, safe toilets,affordable drinking water, and the adoption of basic hygiene practices such ashand-washing with soap, too many people around the world will continue to diefrom preventable diseases such as diarrhoea.

GNA   // (c) 2014 Ghana News Agency (GNA) Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).

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