After the success of their first attempt to take part on the Global Handwashing Day last year, Unilever is now on their second year promoting proper handwashing among the Filipino children to eliminate the cause of diarrhea and respiratory ailments due to dirty hands. Based on reports every year 3.5 million kids worldwide lose their lives due to these preventable diseases which we all know one of the reasons is having dirty hands. Now with Vaseline and in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing (PPPHW), Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Knowledge Channel, and the Philippine Public Health Association they will continue promoting and educating every Filipino child the proper way of cleaning their hands.
Global Handwashing Day is now on its fifth year, and with Vaseline they will be targeting more than 500 thousand Filipino children to be reached with this campaign. Last year they successfully reached 350 thousand Filipino children being educated on the proper way of handwashing with the help of their partners including DepEd. On October 13, 2 days before the actual Global Handwashing Day, Unilever under the team of Vaseline will go to the Paco Catholic School together with their volunteers, partners and the Manila City government.
Aside from the kick off on the Paco Catholic School on Oct 13, they will also go to more than 300 schools nationwide as they pledge on the handwashing commitment to ensure health and wellness among the Filipino children. They also launch the “I Pledge My Hand to Save a Life” website (www.pledgeyourhands.com) where they encourage everyone to take part of this advocacy and commit themselves in teaching another kid on proper and regular washing of hands with soap. At the Vaseline Facebook page (www.facebook.com/Vaseline), users can share with their families and friends photos and videos about handwashing.