Reckitt, through its Dettol brand, has partnered Wellbeing Foundation Africa (WBFA) for hygiene education in schools, communities, and healthcare facilities.
The partners will be using the Dettol Hygiene Quest Curriculum, a collaboration which also coincides with 2022 Global Handwashing Day campaign.
The public presentation and launch was held in Lagos State.
In attendance were representatives from Federal Ministry of Health, State Basic Education Fund, leaders from both organisations, stakeholders in health and education sectors from Lagos, Kwara states and Federal Capital Territory.
The curriculum aims to educate, empower and inspire six million school children to practise healthy hygiene habits, to achieve a 20 per cent increase in hand washing, reduce diarrhoea by 10 per cent and achieve a 10 per cent decline in absenteeism by 2025.
In the pilot programme among public schools in 20 councils within Lagos State, the curriculum reached over 85,000 school children, and results from impact assessment showed a 34 per cent increase in knowledge of proper handwashing, and a seven per cent reduction in diarrhoea among participants.
Over the next 12 months, Dettol Nigeria in partnership with the WBFA, will be accelerating the Hygiene Quest’s program in the FCT, Abuja, Lagos and Kwara State with the aim to educate and aid behaviour change in children’s hygiene habits and reduce the incidence of illness and sick days from school. This in turn will have a profound, generational, impact on health, education, and development.
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Head of External Communications and Partnerships, at Reckitt Sub-Saharan Africa, Cassandra Uzo-Ogbugh, on behalf of the General Manager, Akbar Ali Shah, expressed the company’s optimism for the partnership.
“At Reckitt, we are driven to protect, heal and nurture in the relentless pursuit of a cleaner and healthier world.
‘’Reckitt’s commitment to Nigeria has been and continues to support efforts that promote the health and well-being of Nigerians.
‘’This partnership will not only aid Reckitt’s goal of reaching six million Nigerian children by 2025 with behavioural changing education, it will also provide a new avenue for decreasing child mortality rate caused by hygiene related issues”, she said.
“We believe that Wellbeing Foundation Africa’s track record and goals on WASH in Nigeria make them a strategic partner with a shared vision to educate on, and prevent transmission of hygiene related diseases”.
Wellbeing’s National Programme Lead, Dr. Franco Apiyanteide, on behalf of the Founder-President,Toyin, Ojora Saraki, said: “Since inception in 2004, Wellbeing Foundation Africa has shown leadership in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and this is exemplified by one of our legacy programmes, Personal, Social, and Health Education (PSHE), and WASH Education started in 2018, which engaged at the duel levels of community based interventions and WASH in Schools”.
“Wellbeing Foundation Africa (WBA) has incorporated Hygiene Quest into our flagship Mamacare Antenatal and Postnatal Education programme’’., she said.
‘’This will give Hygiene Quest a broader outreach through Mamacare community and health Facility networks, with the overall objective of accelerating the program to meet its ambition of reaching 6 million Nigerians by 2025.”
Other stakeholders who were present at the official unveiling of the project include Royal Fathers, His Royal Majesty, Oba Ghalib Adeniyi, and representatives of Ministry of Health, Lagos State Waste Management Agency, Lagos State Water Regulatory Commission, National Association of Nurses and Midwives, Lagos State Primary Healthcare Board, amongst many others, who delivered goodwill messages pledging their support and collaboration to Reckitt and Wellbeing Foundation Africa on the Hygiene Quest Program.