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By Gabriel Olawale

The Managing Director of RB (Reckitt Benckiser) in West Africa, Rahul Murgai has urged Nigerians to imbibe the habit of handwashing with soap and water to prevent illness and arrest diarrhoea related deaths among children.

Speaking during the donation of 12 hand washing sites at Morroco Military Primary School Yaba in Lagos state  to commemorate 2017 Global Handwashing Day, Murgai said the World Health Organization, WHO, identified diarrhoea  as the second leading cause of death in children less than five years old and responsible for killing around 525,000 children every year.

“At RB, our global vision is to provide the world with innovative solutions and products for healthier lives and happier homes. Dettol has been the trusted champion for good health and hygiene for over 50 years in Nigeria, and we believe that it’s important to inculcate good habits such as proper handwashing at  early age.

“A simple act of washing your hands with soap can prevent illness and arrest diarrhoea related deaths. Over the past 7 years, we have provided over 32 handwashing sites and  educated over 7 million children, parents and teachers, about the importance of hand washing through our School Hygiene Programme, which is a mass consumer education programme to educate about proper handwashing habits.

While demonstrating proper way of handwashing, Murgai said that the theme for this year, “Letter for Life”, was to charge everyone and children in particular to write a letter to their love once and make them aware that on a daily basis they can make contact with different kind of germs but with simply handwashing with soap frequently they will remain protected.

Corroborating his view, Marketing Director, RB West Africa, Aliza Leferink noted that RB through its brand ‘Dettol’ has been at the forefront of providing health and hygiene messages via its products and initiatives in Nigeria.

With the theme, we wanted a unique way to get children interested in washing their hands, as well as also get them to spread the message of handwashing, from one child to another.

“With these activities, we are creating awareness about the seriousness of the cause and also educating people on how they can prevent these deaths by the simple act of handwashing.