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Chemical Industry/Health Organizations Partnership Provides Safe Drinking Water to Ethiopian Schools

Posted on: Thursday, 30 November 2006, 12:00 CST

ARLINGTON, Va., Nov. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Thousands of school children in Ethiopia will soon be given a necessity much of the world takes for granted, clean drinking water. The American Chemistry Council's (ACC) Chlorine Chemistry Division, Procter & Gamble and two leading non- governmental organizations -- Save The Children U.S. and Population Services International (PSI) -- are partnering to deliver PUR(R) Purifier of Water, P&G's water purification product, to schools in Ethiopia, where poor water conditions lead to thousands of childhood deaths each year.

According to the World Health Organization, only 58% of the population in sub-Saharan Africa has access to safe water supplies, and UNICEF reports more than half the world's schools do not have safe water, hygiene, and sanitation. Ethiopia is one of the six countries that together contribute 50% of all preventable mortality among children less than five years old worldwide. Diarrhea in particular causes about a quarter of these easily preventable child deaths in Ethiopia with children suffering an average of 5 episodes of diarrhea each year.

PUR Purifier of Water, developed by P&G in collaboration with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) produces high-quality drinking water from otherwise unsafe sources. It both disinfects through chlorination, a long-proven method, and it contains flocculants (chemicals that cause dirt and other impurities to precipitate from water) to clean water where simple chlorination is not sufficient. PUR reduced diarrheal illness by an average of 50% in studies conducted by the CDC and Johns Hopkins University.

"Save the Children U.S. welcomes this partnership with ACC, P&G and PSI because so many of the children in the Ethiopian schools we support desperately need safe drinking water," said Margaret Schuler, Deputy Country Director for Save the Children USA in Ethiopia. "We'll reach more than 3000 children in the first phase of the program and we hope to expand quickly next year to reach thousands more."

Based in Washington, DC, PSI promotes products, services and healthy behavior that enable low-income and vulnerable people to lead healthier lives. PSI is providing training in the schools and will promote sustainable provision of PUR through a social marketing program. "Teaming with the private sector and working through schools provides an opportunity for us to achieve significant health impact while creating a sustained intervention," said Daniel Crapper, PSI's country representative in Ethiopia.

Greg Allgood, PhD, Director, Children's Safe Drinking Water at Procter & Gamble, explained that P&G is providing long-term provision of the PUR product at cost as well as sourcing technical support for the program. "Through these new partnerships, we're helping thousands of school children and we're expanding our safe drinking water efforts to a new country, Ethiopia, where we have the potential to help millions of people."

Jack N. Gerard, President and CEO of the American Chemistry Council added, "ACC is proud to be part of this lifesaving initiative. Clean drinking water is one of the most important gifts of modern chemistry to present and future generations. The Chlorine Chemistry division of ACC has had a longstanding commitment to providing clean drinking water throughout the world and we look forward to a long relationship with our new partners to save vulnerable young lives."

To date, more than one million PUR packets have been distributed in Ethiopia, treating more than 11 million liters of water. In addition to the in-school program, next year children will receive two sachets each week to take home and will receive training about safe drinking water and hygiene. Outside of the schools, by special arrangement, packets will only cost 6 cents each to promote use by residents. "In this way, safe drinking water will be sustainable and benefit the community at large," said Allgood.

http://www.americanchemistry.com/newsroom

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) represents the leading companies engaged in the business of chemistry. ACC members apply the science of chemistry to make innovative products and services that make people's lives better, healthier and safer. ACC is committed to improved environmental, health and safety performance through Responsible Care(R), common sense advocacy designed to address major public policy issues, and health and environmental research and product testing. The business of chemistry is a $558 billion enterprise and a key element of the nation's economy. It is one of the nation's largest exporters, accounting for ten cents out of every dollar in U.S. exports. Chemistry companies are among the largest investors in research and development. Safety and security have always been primary concerns of ACC members, and they have intensified their efforts, working closely with government agencies to improve security and to defend against any threat to the nation's critical infrastructure.

About P&G

Three billion times a day, P&G brands touch the lives of people around the world. The company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands. The P&G community consists of over 135,000 employees working in over 80 countries worldwide. Through its global corporate cause -- Live, Learn and Thrive, focused on children in need -- P&G provides technical, marketing, and research/development capabilities in relation to its new in- home water purification technology. The PUR Purifier of Water technology was developed in cooperation with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and has been shown to significantly reduce diarrheal illness in the developing world. For more information about PUR Purifier of Water, please visit http://www.pghsi.com/.

About Save the Children U.S.

Save the Children is the leading independent organization creating real and lasting change for children in need in the US and around the world. It is a member of the International Save the Children Alliance comprising 28 national Save the Children organizations working in more than 100 countries to ensure the well-being of children. http://www.savethechildren.org/

About Population Services International (PSI)

PSI is a non-profit organization that applies commercial tools to a social mission in order to achieve measurable health impact. Since 1970, PSI has improved the health and saved the lives of millions of poor and vulnerable people in measurable ways. Through health programs in 65 countries on 5 continents, PSI distributes affordable, accessible and attractive health products and services, and motivates other types of healthy behavior, in HIV/AIDS, family planning, malaria, safe water and nutrition. In 2005, PSI's safe water programs prevented an estimated 12 million episodes of diarrhea and the deaths of 36,000 children. http://www.psi.org/.

American Chemistry Council

CONTACT: Tiffany Harrington of the American Chemistry Council,+1-703-741-5583, tiffany_harrington@americanchemistry.com; or Greg Allgood ofP&G, +1-513-602-7719, allgood.gs@pg.com

Web site: http://www.americanchemistry.com/http://www.pghsi.com/http://www.savethechildren.org/http://www.psi.org/

Source: PRNewswire

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