Social Innovation: Lifebuoy Soap On A Global Mission to Save Children's Lives

Lifebuoy the world's oldest soap, produced by Unilever, once again celebrated "Global Handwashing Day," its social innovation health initiative on October 15 to try to save the 3.5 million children under the age of five who die annually from diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections. This "Day" encourages people to wash their hands with soap, as it is the most effective and inexpensive way to prevent these diseases and infections. However, despite its lifesaving potential, handwashing with soap is seldom practiced and difficult to promote. Yet, making this simple action an ingrained habit before eating and after using the toilet could save more lives than any single vaccine or medical intervention!, cutting deaths from diarrhoea by almost half and deaths from acute respiratory infections by one-quarter.

A big change in handwashing behaviour is needed to meet the Millennium Development Goal of reducing deaths among children under the age of five by two-thirds by 2015. Therefore, to help push this health challenge forward Lifebuoy developed a Facebook application where people can pledge to wash their hands before eating. Lifebuoy co-founded Global Handwashing Day with the UN in 2008 to create an international, recognised day dedicated to raising awareness of the importance of handwashing with soap to reduce disease. Lifebuoy, along with the UN and the other partners involved aims to reach one million children with this life-saving message.

Since this program was launched, Lifebuoy has reached millions of children with hygiene education. It includes major schemes in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Vietnam and Bangladesh. In Africa, a social innovation campaign took place leading up to 15 October using mobile phones to make pledges. Plus, people could make handprints on special walls to show their commitment. Last year millions of children in more than 100 countries heard the message through various fun activities, which included two Guinness World Record attempts in Bangladesh and Kenya for the most number of people washing their hands at the same time.

Dr Myriam Sidibe, Lifebuoy's global social mission director and public health expert says, "Educating people on why handwashing matters and how to make it a habit is essential if we are to achieve Millennium Development Goal 4. There is still a long way to go but we are making progress." Lifebuoy is the world's best-selling anti-bacterial soap brand, sold in 55 developing and emerging countries around the world. It is probably the best place product behind this social innovation health campaign to build a global culture of healthy hygiene habits for children for life.

Finally, I leave you with this heartening piece of research - "Global Handwashing Day" focuses on children because apart from suffering disproportionately from diarrhoea and respiratory diseases and deaths; children are that part of society who are the most energetic, enthusiastic and open to new ideas. Children are powerful agents for changing behaviours.

Photo Credit: Lifebuoy/Unilever's Main Website