Initial UK - Specialists in washroom, cleaning, facilities, and clinical waste services

Hygiene expert Initial starts global sanitation campaign

22/10/2008


VOORBURG, October 21, 2008 – Every 15 seconds a child dies from diarrhoea... 2.6 billion people around the world have no access to basic sanitation facilities. This is why sanitation and hand hygiene specialist Initial launches an international campaign to help raise awareness for the need of sanitation.

Initial starts its global sanitation campaign in UN’s International Year of Sanitation to support the UN’s drive to halve the number of people without access to basic sanitation by 2015. Furthermore, the company will support sanitation projects in Africa through the international organisation ‘Save the Children’.

A taboo topic

Divisional Managing Director Henry Chandler, who will be heading the campaign, comments: “Sanitation remains a taboo topic, yet it is a necessity in both the developing and the developed world. Diarrhoea is accountable for 17 percent of children deaths under five worldwide – that’s a shocking and shaming fact which many people in the developed world are unaware of.” Initial wants to mobilise business and public opinion, win people’s support, and help make a real difference to people’s lives in developing countries. Chandler: “The International Year of Sanitation is a fantastic UN initiative to which we, as a global hygiene specialist, are very proud to contribute.”

Helping developing and developed countries

Initial will support Save the Children projects in Africa to set up sanitation facilities at local community schools. The company’s involvement will not only be focused on developing countries. More than half of the population in developed countries also fail to wash their hands after using the toilet. Therefore Initial will create an educational programme for primary schools around the world to teach children about hand hygiene. Chandler: “We want as many employees as possible to become involved in this and help raise the profile of our campaign in their local communities.”

Website

The company has launched a global website - www.initialsanitation.com - which acts as the key communication vehicle during the campaign. Besides providing information on the sanitation issue and the importance of hand hygiene, it also shows details on the projects Initial is participating in and allows visitors to find out how they can contribute to sanitation projects.

Sanitation, vital to human health and economy

Following the International Year of Sanitation, Initial will continue its efforts to keep the global sanitation issue on the agenda. “We strongly believe that sanitation is not only vital to human health, but also generates economic benefits for the developing world. It contributes to dignity and social development, it helps the environment, e.g. water quality, and the improvement of sanitation is definitely achievable,” says Henry Chandler.

For further information please contact:
Jens Helstrup at Head Office in Poyle, London
Tel: 01753 766807
Email: Jens.Helstrup@initial.com

 
News RHS image