The collaboration aims to help approximately 2.7 million women in India to improve nutrition and hygiene in their families by 2021.
The partners will employ a mobile programme called Mobile Doctarni created by lifebuoy to deliver time sensitive health and hygiene information to women and children in hard-to-reach areas.
25 September 2019: The Power of Nutrition, an independent charitable foundation, and Lifebuoy, Unilever’s hygiene soap brand, have announced a partnership to reduce child stunting and improve nutrition in India. Noting that approximately 50% of malnutrition is linked to poor water, sanitation and hygiene, the collaboration aims to help approximately 2.7 million women in India to improve nutrition and hygiene in their families by 2021. The partners will employ a mobile programme called Mobile Doctarni created by lifebuoy to deliver time sensitive health and hygiene information to women and children in hard-to-reach areas.
The partnership, which supports the Government of India’s initiative to address under-nutrition in the country, was launched at the Concordia Annual Summit, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, US. The partners aim to create a model programme that could be replicated in other parts of the world.
Speaking on the partnership, Anila Gopal, Global Social Mission Director at Unilever said that “Unilever are committed to using the company’s scale, knowledge and resources to help accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals. Lifebuoy’s latest partnership – with the Power of Nutrition – is a great example of how collaborations between business and NGOs can make tangible impact on people’s lives.”
Martin Short, CEO at The Power of Nutrition, noted that, “Investing in hygiene and nutrition has the power to unlock huge social and economic changes, especially in countries with a high burden of stunting. Our partnership with Unilever and Lifebuoy unlocks committed public sector resources and enables us to multiply this funding, thereby maximizing the total investment in hygiene and nutrition.”
The World Bank and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) are the implementing partners of the Power of Nutrition, which was established to reduce stunting in children under five and address under-funding for nutrition. Unilever Lifebuoy aims to help one billion people around the world improve their hygiene behavior by 2020. It launched a handwashing campaign in 2010 towards this goal. [SDG Knowledge Hub Sources] [Lifebuoy] [Power of Nutrition]