Emeka Ibemere
‘Water, Water, Everywhere!
But there is none to drink’; is a common phrase to express scarcity of
drinkable water in the world, including Nigeria.
Report indicates that Nigeria has drinkable
water shortage and this is a bad one for a country with population of 150
million people. But it seems there are hope that the problem is been solved.
How?
Nigeria has been listed as
one of the several countries that benefited from Procter & Gamble’s
(P&G) 7 billion liters of clean drinking water delivered through the
company’s global non-profit Children’s Safe Drinking Water (CSDW) programme.
P&G runs the Children’s Safe Drinking Water (CSDW)
programme in collaboration with Population Services International (PSI), CARE,
Save the Children, World Vision, the U.S. government, and others.
Since the
inception of the programme in Nigeria it has helped in saving lives and solving
the water problem in the country. Elsewhere in several other African countries including
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, South Sudan,
Tanzania, and Uganda and in several other countries, the programme has provided
adequate water supply in this countries.
Daily Newswatch
gathered that the programme has yielded great results since its commencement
nine years ago.
“During the
last 9 years, working with a wide range of more than 140 partners, the P&G
Children’s Safe Drinking Water programme has provided clean drinking water in
more than 75 countries. More than 7 billion liters of purified drinking water
have been provided which have helped avert more than 293 million days of
illness and helped save an estimated 39,000 lives.”, P&G reports said.
It was further
gathered that the P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water programme has also
provided water purification packets for emergency relief in many major natural
disasters in the last 9 years, including: the Southeast Asia tsunami;
hurricanes in the Caribbean and Philippians; floods in the Philippines,
Bangladesh, Myanmar, India, Cambodia, Thailand, and Pakistan; earthquakes in
Pakistan, China, Haiti, Chile, and Indonesia; cholera outbreaks in much of
Africa; and the West Africa/Sahel famine.
“P&G is proud to reach this milestone of delivering 7 billion liters
of clean water to children and families. Together with our partners, we are
providing a simple to use, but life-changing solution,” said Allison Tummon
Kamphuis, P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water Leader.
“As we advance the program toward
our goal of saving one life every hour, we are motivated to help many more
children and families get the clean water they need, whether in a rural
village, a nutrition are program, or during natural disasters.”
The programme, according to the report is part of Clinton Global
Initiative (CGI) commitment to save one life every hour by the year 2020.
Recently, the P&G CSDW delivered its 7 billionth liter of clean
drinking water to a family in Brazil. The 7 billionth liter donation marks the
expansion of CSDW into Brazil with implementation partner ChildFund
The 7 billionth liters was said to have provided to Claudia and
Gilberto Pereira Barbosa and their four children near the community of Araçuai
in the Jequitinhonha Valley region with local partner ChildFund. Living in the
dry, dusty rural south-eastern region of Brazil, the family has been drinking
from a contaminated river nearby for years - their only water source.
Commendations have continued to trail P&G’s CSDW delivery of
its landmark 7 billionth liter of safe clean water across the globe.
“The most basic thing is clean water and through their CGI Commitment to
Action P&G has now provided a liter of clean water for every person on the
planet which is an astonishing thing,” said President Bill Clinton. When
witnessing the transformation of contaminated drinking water treated by the
P&G packets he added, “This is one of the simplest, quickest things we can
do to save the lives of children under five years old”,
“This new program is one example of why ChildFund values its
partnership with P&G,” says Anne Lynam Goddard, president and CEO of
ChildFund International. “Clean water means a disruption of poverty. Thanks to
our partnership with P&G, not only are we changing lives in Brazil but in
many countries around the world from drought affected areas of Kenya to areas
impacted by natural disasters in Indonesia and Mozambique.”
Every day, safe drinking water is a problem for more than 1 billion
people all over the world. According to UNICEF, more than 1,600 children die
every day from diseases caused by drinking dirty water – more than malaria and
HIV/AIDS combined. P&G has invested more than 10 years and millions of dollars in
providing clean drinking water with its award-winning P&G Purifier of
Water technology. The 4 grams of powder inside each water purification
packet turn 10 liters of dirty, potentially deadly water into clean and
drinkable water in minutes.
In November
2012, The Economist recognized it as one of the world’s most impactful
innovations. Also got the Award for Corporate
Excellence from U.S. Department of State – for efforts to improve lives in
Nigeria and Pakistan same year. The US Patent and
Trademark office bestowed inaugural Patents for Humanity Award in April 2013
among others.
CSDW is
one of many P&G programs focused on using innovation and action to make
every day better for people and the planet. Because of P&G’s global scale,
we have both the opportunity and obligation to address the environmental and
social issues that impact the communities where we live and work. P&G is
focused on both environmental and social efforts including: conservation of
resources; using renewable resources; creating worth from waste; providing the
comforts of home; and improving health and hygiene.
The P&G Children's Safe Drinking Water Program (CSDW) is a
non-profit initiative sponsored by Procter & Gamble, the world’s largest
consumer good company and manufacturer of global, iconic and trusted brands
like Vicks, Pantene, Gillette, Tide, Duracell, Oral B, Whisper, Head &
Shoulders, Olay and SK-II among several others. The CSDW initiative has
provided 7 billion liters of clean drinking water to people in need since 2004.
CSDW has partnered with a diverse network of over 140 organizations to help
distribute water purification sachets in developing countries. To learn more
about the P&G CSDW Program, and see how the water purification sachets work.
It also has a ChildFund initiative programme.
The ChildFund International is a global
child development and protection agency serving more than 18.1 million children
and family members in 30 countries. For 75 years, the organization has helped
the world's deprived children survive and thrive to reach their full potential
and become leaders of enduring change. As a member of ChildFund Alliance, they
create supportive environments in which children can flourish.
The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) was established in 2005 by President
Bill Clinton. The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), an initiative of the Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, convenes global leaders to create and
implement solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. CGI Annual
Meetings have brought together more than 150 heads of state, 20 Nobel Prize
laureates, and hundreds of leading CEOs, heads of foundations and NGOs, major
philanthropists, and members of the media.
To date, members of the CGI community have made more than 2,800
Commitments to Action, which are already improving the lives of more than 430
million people in over 180 countries. When fully funded and implemented, these
commitments will be valued at $103 billion. CGI also convenes CGI America, a meeting focused on collaborative
solutions to economic recovery in the United States, and CGI University (CGI
U), which brings together undergraduate and graduate students to address
pressing challenges in their communities and around the world.
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