Poor sanitation & hygiene are huge issues
Poor sanitation and the lack of good hygiene practices are still the root causes of millions of preventable deaths. Every year, diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections claim the lives of over 3.5 million children under five. 1 billion people worldwide are without access to clean water and 80% of diseases in the developing world are water-borne.
Tooth decay is the world's most common disease and can lead to more serious health conditions as well as affecting people’s self-esteem and confidence.
Why does education matter?
Making good-quality products such as soap and toothpaste available to consumers is a crucial starting point. Our Lifebuoy soap is on sale in around 45 countries across Asia and Africa, countries where many people live on less than US$1 per day and basic hygiene is vital to good health. Yet products alone are not enough if people do not use them in the right way at the right time. Studies show that people often know they should brush twice a day or wash their hands with soap after going to the toilet. Yet they have not translated this knowledge into a new habit.
What is our role?
Understanding what triggers improved habits lies at the heart of making sustainable improvements to hygiene. We can make a unique contribution through our understanding of what motivates consumer behaviour change. We have used this insight to devise programmes to drive sustained behaviour, working with governments and NGOs. This in turn can help us grow our business as consumers buy more of our products to protect their health every day.
Our approach
Our approach is to:
- make effective products that improve health, hygiene and well-being
- change habits through behaviour change programmes
- work with partners to develop joint campaigns and achieve broader reach.
As part of our Sustainable Living Plan, we announced a target to help more than a billion people to improve their hygiene habits and bring safe drinking water to 500 million people. Read more about our targets.
How will we measure our success?
We have defined a metric to measure our progress. This is the number of people reached on a cumulative basis by an intervention which, based on past studies, can be expected to result in sustained, positive behaviour change.
Partnerships
Our partnerships help us to communicate health and hygiene messages effectively, to as wide an audience as possible. We will continue to reach people through strategic partnerships with local and global organisations that help us develop approaches and monitor our progress.
Our future challenges
The United Nations has declared that access to safe and clean drinking water is a human right essential to the full enjoyment of life.
We have already set ourselves an ambitious target to reach 500 million people with our Pureit in-home water purifier. We believe our technology has the potential to bring safe, affordable drinking water to millions more people in the developing world. We will be making the achievement of this goal a high business priority.