Milestone marks a liter for every person on the planet through Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program
Procter and Gamble (P&G) announced today that its non-profit Children’s
Safe Drinking Water Program (CSDW) provided its 7 billionth liter of
clean drinking water to a family in Brazil, as part of P&G’s Clinton
Global Initiative (CGI) commitment to save one life every hour by the
year 2020. The 7 billionth liter donation marks the expansion of CSDW
into Brazil with implementation partner ChildFund. Since its inception
in 2004, CSDW has worked with a global network of more than 140 advocacy
and implementation partners to help save an estimated 39,000 lives by
providing clean drinking water during emergencies and in sustained
community programs.
“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 seeing the transformation of contaminated drinking water treated by
the P&G packets he said: “This is one of the simplest, quickest things
we can do to save the lives of children under 5 years old.”
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 or HIV care
program, or during natural disasters.”
The 7 billionth liter was 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 for years from their only water source – a contaminated nearby
river.
“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.”
P&G released a
new video that demonstrates the water purification packets at work
around the world including community visits by President Clinton and
Chelsea Clinton in Rwanda and Myanmar – which are two of the 75
countries where P&G Purifier of Water has been distributed by CSDW
partners.
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. It removes more than 99.99999% of common
waterborne bacteria (including those that cause cholera), 99.99% of
common waterborne viruses (including those that cause Hepatitis A), and
99.9% of protozoa from contaminated water, helping to reduce diarrheal
disease incidence in the developing world by up to 90%.
In November 2012, The Economist recognized it as one of the
world’s most impactful innovations and the US Patent and Trademark
office bestowed an Inaugural Patents for Humanity Award in April 2013.
To celebrate the 7 billion liter milestone, P&G is seeking the public’s
support to provide even more clean drinking water through a social media
initiative. P&G will donate an additional liter of clean drinking water
every time social media users post the hashtag #7billionliters on
Facebook, Twitter or Instagram from April 15 through Earth Day on April
22. Through this program, clean water supporters around the world can
help P&G donate up to 1 million additional liters of clean drinking
water to those that need it most through the CSDW Program.
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.
About Procter & Gamble and Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program
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 litres 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, please visit www.csdw.org
About ChildFund
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, we have helped the world's deprived, excluded
and vulnerable children survive and thrive to reach their full potential
and become leaders of enduring change. As a member of ChildFund
Alliance, we create supportive environments in which children can
flourish. To
sponsor a child in need, visit the ChildFund website.
About the Clinton Global Initiative
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.
For more information, visit clintonglobalinitiative.org and
follow us on Twitter @ClintonGlobal and
Facebook at facebook.com/clintonglobalinitiative.
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