'Partnership to protect under 5-yr old children from illness'

A partnership to protect children under five years and prevent premature deaths among them was launched here.
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and Lifebuoy -- Unilever's health soap brand -- have launched this partnership.
The three-year partnership would leverage Unilever's expertise in behaviour change and marketing capability as well as its financial support, a release said today.
It would also draw on Gavi's health system strengthening investments and Vaccine Alliance networks to deliver behaviour change interventions as well as promote the benefits of vaccination, hand washing with soap and good hygiene in India.
By promoting hand washing with soap and immunisation together, the partnership aims to improve and save many young lives in India, Unilever said in the release.

"Every year, infectious diseases such as diarrhoea and pneumonia deny 1.4 million children the chance to celebrate their fifth birthday... Many of these deaths can be prevented through the simple act of hand washing with soap," Unilever CEO Paul Polman said.

By taking a holistic approach, promoting both hand washing with soap and immunisations, the partnership would help save further lives and work towards achieving the sustainable development goals, he added.
Lifebuoy runs one of the largest hygiene promotion programmes that aims to change the hand washing behaviours of a billion people by 2020.
"Unilever's financial contribution will be matched by the Government of Netherlands, as part of the Gavi Matching Fund mechanism, which will double the resources put toward the partnership, in turn driving greater impact on the lives of children and their families," the release said.