P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program Celebrates 10 Billion Liter Milestone

Procter & Gamble (P&G), the makers of popular brands such as Pampers, Always and Ariel, announced today that its non-profit Children’s Safe Drinking Water (CSDW) Program has delivered its 10 billionth liter of clean drinking water. The program, which started in 2004, works with more than 150 partners and organizations to provide clean drinking water to those who lack access to clean water.

P&G is celebrating this milestone with its NGO, government and private sector partners in 20 countries including Nigeria, Brazil, UK, Germany, South Africa, Jakarta, Myanmar and Singapore.  “Access to clean water is still one of the greatest challenges our world is still facing. Nearly 1,000 children die every day from diseases caused by drinking unsafe water,” notes Temitope Iluyemi, Associate Director for Global Government Relations P&G Sub Sahara Africa.

The Children’s Safe Drinking Water (CSDW) Program was launched by P&G in 2004 in Haiti and Uganda to help address the critical need for clean drinking water. The program has since provided clean water in over 75 developing countries around the world including Nigeria, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya amongst other countries. In Nigeria alone, P&G has been able to provide approximately 175 million liters of clean water over the last 10 years.

“The idea of 10 billion liters can be hard to comprehend, but when you meet the people whose lives have been changed by clean drinking water you understand just how important it is that we continue to invest in the future of Nigerians  through this program and brands like Always, Ariel and Pampers.” Iluyemi concluded.

Non-Governmental Organization, Society for Family Health, is P&G’s distributor partner for the program in Nigeria, and the organization is involved in building supply chain capacity and creating behavior change communications about the importance of safe drinking water.  P&G is also working with NGOs like Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND) to provide clean water, proper sanitation and hygiene in primary schools. Through the CSDW Program, P&G is supporting Action Against Hunger (ACF International) to integrate clean water into their nutrition programs with the goal of reducing sickness and death resulting from contaminated drinking water and complimenting efforts to improve child nutrition which can have a lifelong impact on overall growth and development.

The Children’s Safe Drinking Water (CSDW) Program has impacted thousands of disadvantaged communities around the world. In Nigeria, the initiative has delivered clean drinking water to communities including high risk areas in the Niger Delta and driven emergency relief efforts in the northern region.