Unilever has partnered with the Earth Institute to bring handwashing with soap to the Millennium Villages, a project that works with nearly 500,000 people in rural villages, across 10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Photo: Lifebuoy Facebook page, a snapshot

The partnership signed today, on the fifth anniversary of Global Handwashing Day, is a part of Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan to help more than one billion people improve their health and well-being. The handwashing habit was inculcated successfully to 50 million people in Africa and South-Asia over the past two years through Unilever’s soap brand Lifebuoy.

Unilever asks people around the world to pledge on www.facebook.com/lifebuoy for the brand to help more children receive hygiene education and bring down risks of dying because of diarrhoea and pneumonia—two leading causes of under 5 deaths. In June, the company encouraged users to pledge for its Waterworks project.

Unilever’s research shows that soap usage before eating or preparing food and after using the toilet can reduce diarrhoeal risk by 45% and acute respiratory infections such as pneumonia, by 23%. The partnership will involve governments which will be obliged to integrate handwashing with soap into national health and education policy programs and ensure sufficient financial support.

Paul Polman, Unilever CEO said: “The big issues the world is facing require new approaches, new business models and new partnerships. Responsible businesses must take a more active leadership role. The MOU with the Earth Institute partnering Lifebuoy with the Millennium Villages Project is one such example where working together will enhance our expertise of addressing hygiene in deep rural Africa and enable us to develop more effective solutions to reduce child mortality.”