Save the Children teams up with RB to cut child deaths from diarrhoea

Every minute of every day a child dies from an illness we know how prevent and treat – diarrhoea.

In the 21st century that just shouldn’t be happening. It’s high time we ended this appalling loss of life.

Today, in Delhi, Save the Children launched a ground-breaking partnership with our global partner RB (formerly Reckitt Benckiser) to help do exactly that.

Stop Diarrhoea

Save the Children and RB have committed to work with the governments of India, Nigeria and Pakistan – countries where death and prevalence rates of diarrhoea are among the highest in the world – and other partners to launch a unique and sustainable Stop Diarrhoea programme.

Together, we’ll implement in full the World Health Organization and UNICEF seven-point plan for preventing, treating and controlling diarrhoea.

This programme has the potential to make a huge difference to the lives of children and families in these countries.

Change

“This ground-breaking 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,” said Save the Children Chief Executive, Justin Forsyth.

“It will pioneer how the private and voluntary sectors can accelerate change for children.”

Innovation

At a press conference in Delhi today, RB unveiled two innovative hygiene and sanitation products aimed at preventing, controlling and treating this killer disease.

One is a low-cost, multi-purpose antibacterial soap that families can use for washing hands, clothes and surfaces, and for bathing – saving them from having to by separate products.

The second is a toilet powder created to reduce the spread of infection by accelerating the degradation of faeces and repelling insects.

Nice price

Both products will be affordable to people who don’t have the money to buy other similar hygiene products.

By helping improve hygiene, these new RB products have the potential to help reduce the number of children dying from diarrhoea.

In a first for RB, the company is not seeking to make a profit from these products. Revenue will be reinvested in the Stop Diarrhoea programme and in fighting diarrhoea.