The delivery of the five billionth litre of clean drinking water by Procter
& Gamble will see over 26,000 lives saved and over 200 million days of
illnesses prevented in developing countries its P&G Purifier of Water
technology.
P&G’s Pur is
a water purification powder that decontaminates water by stirring it in and
straining the water through a cloth. Studies show Pur’s effectiveness in
cutting the incidence of diarrhoeal fatalities in the developing world.
Developed in the between 2000 and 2002, Pur packets have been used by P&G
partners to provide synergy in school programs and in broader sanitation and
hygiene efforts. The 5 billionth liter was delivered in Malawi, through a partnership
with the University of North Carolina.
“We have teamed
up with the P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program in a cross-campus
collaboration that is saving thousands of lives in Malawi by providing clean
drinking water,” said Myron Cohen, MD, Director of the Institute for Global
Health & Infectious Diseases at UNC. “This far-reaching collaboration is
providing service and research opportunities for our students and making a
powerful impact on the lives they touch through their work.”
The collaboration
has reached tens of thousands of women and children – women like Lusiya Daniel.
Each day, Lusiya collects water from a highly contaminated local well for
herself and her nine children. Through the program, she receives P&G
Packets at each clinic visit, and was the recipient of the 5 billionth litre of
clean water shared by P&G.
“I’m so happy
that I’ve been lucky to receive the 5 billionth clean liter,” Lusiya said, “and
had there been a radio I would have danced to express the happiness that I
have.”
This moment was
captured by a team of UNC student videographers, journalists and photographers
who traveled to Malawi with the organization Students of the World in an effort
to “shine a light on the world’s problem solvers.” Their footage tells Lusiya’s
story – the story of the 500 millionth packet used to transform dirty,
dangerous water into something clean and drinkable.
“Stories like
Lusiya’s reaffirm the importance of forming innovative partnerships to solve
complex problems,” said Greg Allgood, Director of the P&G Children’s Safe
Drinking Water Program. “P&G’s technology combined with the expertise of
UNC’s Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases created a powerful
solution that continues to help save lives and prevent the spread of diseases.”
The milestone
marks progress toward P&G’s commitment to scale up efforts to share clean
water and save one life every hour by 2020 by providing 2 billion liters of
clean water every year. This commitment was made at the Clinton Global
Initiative, which P&G will return to next week in order to share its
results to date and new initiatives.
About Procter
& Gamble and CSDW
P&G serves
approximately 4.6 billion people around the world with its brands. The Company
has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands,
including Pampers®, Tide®, Ariel®, Always®, Whisper®, Pantene®, Mach3®,
Bounty®, Dawn®, Fairy®, Gain®, Charmin®, Downy®, Lenor®, Iams®, Crest®,
Oral-B®, Duracell®, Olay®, Head & Shoulders®, Wella®, Gillette®, Braun®,
Fusion®, Ace®, Febreze®, Ambi Pur®, SK-II®, and Vicks®. The P&G community
includes operations in approximately 75 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and
in-depth information about P&G and its brands.
The P&G
Children's Safe Drinking Water Program (CSDW) is a non-profit initiative that has
provided 5 billion liters of clean drinking water to people in need since 2004.
CSDW has partnered with a diverse network of organizations to help distribute
water purification packets in developing countries. To learn more about the
P&G CSDW Program, and see how water purification packets work, please visit
www.csdw.org.
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