Dettol celebrates health and hygiene by donating handwash centers and borehole on Global Handwashing Day 2016

Every year millions of children in developing countries die from infection and illnesses, such as Diarrhoea (source: UNICEF). These deaths can be prevented with a simple act of washing hands regularly with a good soap.


The Global Handwashing Day is an annual global advocacy day dedicated to increasing awareness and building the handwashing habit.

Considered as the gold standard in germ protection, Dettol has been committed towards spreading the awareness around hand hygiene amongst children across the globe.

Dettol, one of Nigeria’s leading brands, led the 2016 Global Handwashing Day by launching a nationwide campaign themed “Small Acts, Big Impact”,which aims to reach out to millions of people and educate them about the importance of handwashing. The campaign is simultaneously running in over 19 countries and envisions to create the big impact of saving millions of lives.

In celebration of the 2016 Global Handwashing Day, Dettol organized a Handwashing event where they donated Handwashing sites and a Borehole to United Christian Nursery & Primary school Apapa, Lagos. Previously, the school had no running water for the children to wash their hands and this could easily be a cause for infection.The event was in partnership with the Association of Community Pharmacists, Apapa Zone, and had a huge turnaround of children from different schools in the Apapa LGA.

Speaking at the event, the Managing Director, RB West Africa, Rahul Murgai stated that ‘in RB, our global vision is to provide the world with innovative solutionsand products for healthier lives and happier homes. Dettol has been the trusted champion for good health and hygiene for over 50 years in Nigeria. We believe that it’s important to inculcate good habits at an early age. A simple act of washing your hands with soap can prevent illness and diarrhoea related deaths if we truly want to achieve the millennium development goal of a Clean and Healthy Nigeria. The Global Handwashing Day gives us the opportunity to leverage a larger eco system and an awareness platform to achieve this objective”

Speaking further at the event, Marketing Director, RB West Africa, Aliza Leferink said “thedonation of the Dettol Handwash site and Borehole to the school was to enable the school children and teachers cultivate proper handwashing habits that would ultimately reduce the risk of infections.Promoted on a wide enough scale, handwashing with soap can be thought of as a ‘do-it-yourself’ solution against preventable illnesses because it is easy, effective, and affordable”.

Also present at the event, was the Education Secretary, Apapa Local Government Education Authority, HonorableDosumuOlabanji, the Zonal Coordinator, Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria, Apapa Zone, and Mrs. Chituo Agulannawho thanked Dettol for taking the lead in coming forward to educate children and donating the Handwash centers in Apapa.

 Dettol in Nigeria has consistently endeavored to create mass awareness among mothers and children. In the last 6 years, they have reached out to over 6 million Nigerian children and mothers through their School Hygiene Program and various other initiatives inpartnership with the Ministry of Health, Nigerian Medical Association and Save the Children to create a Healthy Nigeria and reduce Diarrhoea related deaths.

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