Nigeria has been listed as one of the several countries that benefited from Procter & Gamble’s (P&G) 7 billion litres of clean drinking water delivered through the company’s global non-profit Children’s Safe Drinking Water (CSDW) programme. According a statement signed and released by Lisa Popyk of P&G Global Sustainability Communications from the global headquarters of global fast moving consumer goods giant in Cincinnati, United States, Procter and Gamble (P&G) through its CSDW has delivered over 7 billion litres of clean drinking water to families in about 75 countries across the world since its establishment nine years ago.
P&G runs the Children’s Safe Drinking Water (CSDW) programme in collaboration with Population Services International (PSI), CARE, Save the Children, World Vision, the U.S. government, and others. The programme continues to save lives in Nigeria and several other African states including Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda and in several other countries.
The programme has yielded great results since its commencement nine years ago. According to the statement, “During the last 9 years, working with a wide range of more than 140 partners, the P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water programme has provided clean drinking water in more than 75 countries. More than 7 billion litres of purified drinking water have been provided which have helped avert more than 293 million days of illness and helped save an estimated 39,000 lives.”
Working with many partners across the world, the P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water programme has also provided water purification packets for emergency relief in many major natural disasters in the last 9 years, including: the Southeast Asia tsunami; hurricanes in the Caribbean and Philippians; floods in the Philippines, Bangladesh, Myanmar, India, Cambodia, Thailand, and Pakistan; earthquakes in Pakistan, China, Haiti, Chile, and Indonesia; cholera outbreaks in much of Africa; and the West Africa/Sahel famine.
“P&G is proud to reach this milestone of delivering 7 billion litres of clean water to children and families. Together with our partners, we are providing a simple to use, but life-changing solution,” said Allison Tummon Kamphuis, P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water Leader. “As we advance the program toward our goal of saving one life every hour, we are motivated to help many more children and families get the clean water they need, whether in a rural village, a nutrition are program, or during natural disasters.”
The programme is part of Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) commitment to save one life every hour by the year 2020. Just recently, the P&G CSDW delivered its 7 billionth litre of clean drinking water to a family in Brazil. The 7 billionth litre donation marks the expansion of CSDW into Brazil with implementation partner ChildFund
The 7 billionth litre was provided to Claudia and Gilberto Pereira Barbosa and their four children near the community of Araçuai in the Jequitinhonha Valley region with local partner ChildFund. Living in the dry, dusty rural south-eastern region of Brazil, the family has been drinking from a contaminated river nearby for years – their only water source.
Commendations have continued to trail P&G’s CSDW delivery of its landmark 7 billionth liter of safe clean water across the globe. “The most basic thing is clean water and through their CGI Commitment to Action P&G has now provided a litre of clean water for every person on the planet which is an astonishing thing” said President Bill Clinton. When witnessing the transformation of contaminated drinking water treated by the P&G packets he added, “This is one of the simplest, quickest things we can do to save the lives of children under 5 years old.”
“This new program is one example of why ChildFund values its partnership with P&G,” says Anne Lynam Goddard, president and CEO of ChildFund International. “Clean water means a disruption of poverty. Thanks to our partnership with P&G, not only are we changing lives in Brazil but in many countries around the world from drought affected areas of Kenya to areas impacted by natural disasters in Indonesia and Mozambique.”
Every day, safe drinking water is a problem for more than 1 billion people all over the world. According to UNICEF, more than 1,600 children die every day from diseases caused by drinking dirty water – more than malaria and HIV/AIDS combined.
P&G has invested more than 10 years and millions of dollars in providing clean drinking water with its award-winning P&G Purifier of Water technology. The 4 grams of powder inside each water purification packet turn 10 liters of dirty, potentially deadly water into clean and drinkable water in minutes.
In November 2012, The Economist recognized it as one of the world’s most impactful innovations. Also got the Award for Corporate Excellence from U.S. Department of State – for efforts to improve lives in Nigeria and Pakistan same year. The US Patent and Trademark office bestowed inaugural Patents for Humanity Award in April 2013 among others.
CSDW is one of many P&G programs focused on using innovation and action to make every day better for people and the planet. Because of P&G’s global scale, we have both the opportunity and obligation to address the environmental and social issues that impact the communities where we live and work. P&G is focused on both environmental and social efforts including: conservation of resources; using renewable resources; creating worth from waste; providing the comforts of home; and improving health and hygiene.