Unilever forges strong partnerships for nationwide sanitation campaign

MANILA, Philippines – Unilever Philippines is renewing its partnership with key organizations in the country to intensify its fight against unsafe water use and poor sanitation.

Unilever said it strengthened its partnerships with the Department of Education, Manila Water Foundation, and Knowledge Channel to increase the impact of its health and well-being advocacies that target to save one billion people worldwide.

“We all know that last month, the Millennium Development Goal was re-launched as the Sustainable Development Goals. These are the 17 goals that each and every one of us, as residents of this planet, must be able to identify with,” Liza Vengco,

Unilever Philippines’ sustainable business and communications manager said.

With its renewed partnership with the three organizations, the company said it expects to increase the impact of its initiatives by providing more Filipinos access to hand washing facilities and information on proper hand washing.

In the Philippines, Unilever said around 90 percent of households do not practice proper toilet sanitation, while one out of three people do not bother to wash their hands after using the toilet.

This, in turn, leads to various illnesses, particularly diarrheal diseases, which account for about 1.7 million deaths every year worldwide, the company said.

“We hope to lock them (Unilever) in as an annual partner because we are very happy that our visions are so much aligned with theirs. In terms of reach and how we execute the program, I am very positive that this will be a sustained partnership,” Manila Water Foundation executive director Carla Kim said.

Unilever Philippines is the local unit of the multinational manufacturing giant behind home and personal care as well as food and beverage products used by consumers globally.