Unilvever Ghana launches child mortality campaign

Unilever Ghana Limited has launched a social mission campaign to ‘Help a Child Reach 5’ at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Accra.

In a bid to promote its ‘Help a Child Reach 5’ hand-washing campaign across Ghana, Unilever-owned Lifebuoy has launched a new variant of its popular soap.

The new Lemon Fresh variant promises to protect from 10 infection-causing germs thanks to its ‘activ naturol’ shield.

The campaign, which debuted in Accra last weekend, aims to reduce child mortality from preventable diseases through improved personal hygiene, according to a report published by Joy Online, and is now targeting mothers and health professionals.

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The Managing Director of Unilever, Ziobeieton Yeo said, “Through this social mission, we seek to help eradicate under-5 mortality by promoting basic hygiene behaviors among Ghanaians.”

According to him, “this initiative has been necessitated by the huge numbers of children under the age of 5 across the world, who die each year from diseases that can be prevented by merely making one lifestyle change; washing hands with soap under running water.”

The Deputy Minister of Health, Tina Mensah, has said that the ministry has set the goal to reduce neonatal mortality rate from 32 per 1,000 live births in 2011 to 21 per 1,000 live births by 2018.

Mensah said if Ghana was able to achieve this, it would have reduced neonatal mortality by 5% per annum.

In line with this, she said that the ministry would work with the Ghana Health Service and individual stakeholders to sensitise mothers and caregivers to preventable deaths from diseases including diarrhoea.

Mensah said if well practiced, hand washing with soap could prevent one million unnecessary child deaths and additionally contribute to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3, which is to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.