Rb And Save The Children Launch Ground-breaking Partnership To Reduce Child Deaths From Diarrhoea In Nigeria

By Philip Peck

25 March: The global partnership between RB and Save the Children today launched a unique and ground-breaking programme to help eradicate child deaths from diarrhoea.

The partnership unveiled two innovative new hygiene and sanitation products by RB (formerly known as Reckitt Benckiser) alongside Save the Children's sustainable Stop Diarrhoea programme in Nigeria, India and Pakistan – aimed at preventing, controlling and treating the unnecessary killer.

The combination of RB's expertise in product development and research, and Save the Children's experience of delivering life-saving work will help save thousands of young lives a year. Funded by RB, the Stop Diarrhoea programme, will for the first time fully implement the World Health Organisation and UNICEF 7-point plan to ensure comprehensive diarrhoea control.

Each year 567,000[2] children under-five die needlessly from diarrhoea around the world, equivalent to 64 children every hour. In Nigeria 96,000 children alone die every year due to the illness and one in eight children do not live to see their fifth birthday. The problem is most acute in Oyo State followed by Lagos State, where the number of children with diarrhoea has reached 315,000 per year. In an ambitious drive to help end this, Save the Children and RB have committed to working with the Nigerian government and other partners to implement the 7 Point Plan.

To improve hand washing and community sanitation, RB and 19 of their suppliers (who volunteered their time) have developed two unique products that are completely new to market.

The products are an affordable germ protection bar that can be used by families for cleaning and washing hands (including children from the age of one). Two years in the making, the second is a 'game-changing' toilet powder to make the use of pit latrines more hygienic. The powder keeps flies away, reduces both faecal matter and the transmission of germs. The benefits of the toilet powder should encourage communities to make better use of the more hygienic pit latrines, as opposed to defecating in public areas.

For the first time, RB will not be making a profit from these products and the revenue will be reinvested into the Stop Diarrhoea programme and fighting diarrhoea. They will also be produced locally, encouraging entrepreneurship, in addition to reducing the overall carbon footprint and transport costs associated with their manufacture.

The two unique products are major breakthroughs in science and technology to target specific issues and save lives. Both products have been created to be affordable for consumers who have not traditionally been able to afford personal and home hygiene products.

Toilet Powder:
· The fragranced powder has highly absorptive qualities and also has a well-balanced combination of micro-organisms that accelerate the natural and continuous degradation of faeces reducing the need to regularly empty pit latrines and making them more hygienic. Initial tests show significant volume reduction after only one week's usage

· Highly biodegradable the powder has been developed combining natural raw material from food production waste, such as rice husk and coconut peat.

· The citrus fragrance reduces the unpleasant odours which also results in a reduction of flies and pests which use the toilets as a food source, spreading disease

Affordable Germ Protection Bar:
· Has been developed as a product to be used by families to wash themselves, their children, (safe from children from the age of 1 year)

· Requires less water so effective even when reduced access to water

· Contains ingredients that help in moisturising the skin and reduces the transmission of disease-causing germs

Rakesh Kapoor, Chief Executive of RB, said: “RB has a purpose to make a difference by creating innovative solutions for healthier lives and happier homes. We believe that businesses like ours have a responsibility of delivering value to the society beyond the returns to the shareholders. We have used our core R&D business to develop products to help stop children dying from diarrhoea, this is the first time RB has developed and tested products specifically for consumers at the bottom of the pyramid”.

“By 2025, more than half of the world's population will have joined the consuming classes, driving annual consumption in emerging markets to $30 trillion. RB is playing an important role in introducing these new consumers to the economy through the development of innovative products for consumers at the bottom of the pyramid, who represent some of the most discerning customers in the world. RB is one of the few global FMCG players investing in innovation at this level.”

Rahul Murgai, General Manager of RB Nigeria,said: “RB is delighted to work with Save the Children on this ground-breaking programme in Nigeria. By drawing on each other's expertise the partnership can successfully work with the Nigerian government to ensure a commitment of resources to child health interventions, especially diarrhoea. “

Justin Forsyth, Chief Executive of Save the Children, said: “This ground breaking innovative partnership between Save the Children and RB will harness the research and expertise of RB with Save the Children's on the ground experience to stop children dying of diarrhoea. It will pioneer how the private sector and NGOs can accelerate change for children”

The products will be piloted in Pakistan and Nigeria with plans to roll them out into India by the end of the year.

The products have been developed through a model of 'open innovation' bringing together some of the world's leading chemical scientists, enzyme specialists, fragrance experts and academics from around world, including BASF, Novozymes, Tagasako and University of Nairobi. This open and collaborative approach to innovation represents another first for RB in the development of the two new products.

Ben Foot, Country Director ofSave the Children Nigeria, said: “Save the Children and RB's partnership will combine the skills of both parties to help prevent Nigerian children from dying from an illness which claims 96, 000 lives each year in the country. Through implementing behaviour change towards healthy hygiene practices, the partnership can successfully target the devastating Nigerian death rate and allow more children to live to see their fifth birthday.”