The
Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing with Soap
Handwashing
with soap may be an old idea, but it is far
from universally practiced. Combining the expertise and resources
of the soap industry with the facilities and resources of
governments to promote handwashing with soap is one obvious
solution. Whilst governments and development agencies want
to combat disease and poverty, industry is interested in expanding
its market.
Handwashing
plays an important part in the efforts to reach the Millennium
Development Goals related both to: (1) health improvements,
and (2) access and effective use of water supply and sanitation
services, two of the five major goals agreed to by UN member
countries at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in
Johannesburg in September 2002.
The World
Bank, the Water
and Sanitation Program, the London
School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the Academy
for Educational Development and the private sector, in
collaboration with USAID,
UNICEF,
and the Bank-Netherlands
Water Partnership have developed a global initiative aimed
at promoting the use of handwashing with soap in developing
countries. Partnerships have been established in Ghana,
Nepal,
Peru,
and Senegal.
At the global level, advocacy
events are organized to promote the handwashing cause.
The objectives
of the initiative are:
To reduce
the incidence of diarrhoeal diseases in poor communities through
Public-Private
Partnerships (PPPs) promoting handwashing with soap.
To implement
large scale handwashing interventions and use lessons
to promote the approach at global level.
The idea
is to get private industry and the public sector to work together
with other partners to develop programs to promote handwashing.
The non-branded programs are open to all interested parties,
both public and private, targeting those most at risk (mothers,
children, the poor) across the whole population. Based on
detailed consumer studies, these programs reach out to target
audiences through mass media, direct consumer contact and
government channels of communication. The programs also gather
knowledge through detailed monitoring
and evaluation.
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original Concept Paper |
