Procter and Gamble (P&G) announced 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.
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