By Hannah Isibor

The Managing Director of Unilever Nigeria Plc, Thabo Mabe, brand owners of  Lifebuoy antiseptic  soap, said that only  3 percent of rural Nigerians out of 17 percent of global review of 11 countries wash hands after using the toilet.

The above statistics moved Lifebuoy  to begin the to give its consumers strategic tips on hand washing with soap, particularly with Lifebuoy as a means to combating hand picked bacteria causing diseases as a marketing tool.

The Managing Director disclosed this at the event to commemorate the 2013 world handwashing day at  the third edition of global handwashing day in Nigeria held at Adekunle Makoko Primary School Lagos  where he  said  that in Nigeria, this translates to loss of more than 120,000 children under the age of five, every year.

According to him, while majority of house hold in Nigeria do have access to soap, the number of people who regularly wash their hands at the right times is low. Across a global review of 11 countries, the average rate of hand washing after using the toilet is only 17% and this dips as low as 3% in rural Nigeria respectively.

He however added that over the past three years, lifebuoy has successfully changed the handwashing behavior of 120million people worldwide towards its goal to reach one billion people by 2015.

“With the propagation of handwashing, Unilever & lifebuoy aim to bring Global Handwashing Day to a wider audience and appropriate behavioural change part of every school curricula.

He further disclosed that “There is consistent evidence that handwashing with soap at critical times- before eating or preparing foods and after using the toilet- can reduce diarrhea risk by 45 percent and acute respiratory infections (ARIs), by  23 percent.

Hand washing with soap has been cited as one of the most cost-effective interventions to prevent diarrhea related diseases and deaths. While majority of households in Nigeria do have access to soap, the number of people regularly.