Children's Safe Drinking Water

P&G CSDW unveils new website and new Facebook page with “1 Like = 1 Day” of Clean Water

2012-01-25T04:47:06-08:00

Today we’re relaunching the website for the P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program (LINK) and launching a new CSDW Facebook page (LINK).

For every “Like” of the new CSDW Facebook page (LINK), P&G will donate 1 day of clean drinking water in the developing world through the P&G water purification packets. This “1 Like = 1 Day” campaign is one part of our efforts to continue to grow CSDW so that we can save one life every hour by 2020 by providing 1 billion days of clean drinking water every year. You can help by clicking on the ‘Like’ and sharing with your friends. If you are a P&G employee and you choose to share information about CSDW with your friends or to post a comment about CSDW in social media, please remember to state that you’re a P&G employee so that you are compliant with P&G’s social media policy (socialmediapolicy.pg.com)

In addition, from the new Facebook page, you can share the magic of the P&G water purification packets with your friends. You’ll find lots of new videos and pictures from the field on the new CSDW Facebook page.

The new CSDW website (LINK) is a great way to see the program in action. There are new videos and photos and easy links to my blog and twitter account so you can follow CSDW efforts as they happen. You can sign-up to get the new CSDW newsletter from the new website.

The new CSDW website also includes ways to get involved with the program. We're often asked by individuals and schools how they can help so we've created a fund raising toolkit, which gives tips and ideas about how to hold a fund raiser for CSDW. It’s designed for all ages—kids through adult—and should tell you everything you need to know to help raise money and spread the word. Here's the direct link to the "How you can help" part of the site. (LINK) And, don't forget that P&G employee donations to CSDW can be matched up to $5000 per year.

Thanks for joining in the program and helping make a difference.

New CSDW Partner SOTENI and AIDS Barefoot Doctors in Kenya

2012-01-12T09:57:05-08:00

Today I’m in a familiar place in Siaya District near Kisumu Kenya. Our P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water (CSDW) Program has been working in this area since 2003 and I’ve visited our various partners in the area many times. However, today I’m with one of our newest CSDW partners, SOTENI, which happens to be led by Cincinnati-based Dr Victoria Wulsin and Randie Marsh.

Dr Wulsin started working in Kenya prior to the HIV/AIDS pandemic when she was in medical school. She returned in 1995 working for USAID as their HIV/AIDS Regional Advisor, and she started SOTENI in 2003 to help provide treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS in four areas of Kenya. SOTENI has a local Kenyan board with representation from each of the areas that they serve and, while based in Cincinnati, Dr Wulsin is deeply involved in Kenya including serving as the Chancellor of Mt Kenya University. Professor Evans Kerosi of Mt Kenya University is traveling with us today to observe the work with the P&G water purification packets. We’re also accompanied by Edward Wanyonyi, one of SOTENI’s central staff based in Nairobi, and Kalvin, the overall coordinator for this area and a member of the community.

We’re in the village of Ugunja but village is a bit misleading since this is a large rural area where SOTENI is providing care. They primarily reach into the community with AIDS barefoot doctors. In this area they have six “doctors” and today we’re traveling with George and Paul as well as their supervisor Churchill. The “doctors” are paid staff and members of the community with a high school education and good English skills. They go through rigorous training so that they’re equipped to provide assistance to the community. They’ve had quite a bit of success in reducing the stigma against HIV/AIDS which is essential to effectively prevent the spread of the virus.

Today, I’ve asked to visit with some of the beneficiaries of the SOTENI effort to provide clean drinking water. We’re in the area where George is the AIDS barefoot doctor. He takes us to the home of 33 year old Paulene Akwiri. She is HIV positive and has been on antiretroviral drugs since 2004. She has four children and her mother-in-law is also HIV positive and lives in the same homestead. This is a very poor community without electricity and unlike most homes in Kenya they do not even have a radio.

With assistance of SOTENI, Paulene has an income generation activity of raising goats. They live in mud houses with tin roofs. Paulene has a better water supply than most of her neighbors because she lives relatively close to a borehole and uses this as her water source.

After Paulene shows us how she uses the P&G water purification packets to treat her water, she explains that people like her that have HIV/AIDS need purified water to prevent opportunistic infections. She knows that she’s at greater risk of these infections because of her lowered immunity due to the virus. From our open conversation about her HIV status, it’s clear that SOTENI’s AIDS barefoot doctors have been effective in reducing stigma against status.

Many of the families in this area do not have access to a protected water source, and I ask to see some of the people living in those areas. We go deeper into the rural area and visit with Rose Akoth who collects her water from an open spring. This type of water source, with dirty and highly contaminated water, is the type for which the P&G packets are ideal.

After seeing where she collects her water, I’m not surprised when Rose tells me that her family has suffered frequently from waterborne diseases prior to receiving the packets. She receives the packets every month when she attends the SOTENI HIV/AIDS support group. She tells us that she drinks the treated water every day. She suffered from typhoid fever not long before receiving the packets and is very appreciative to be able to have safe water for her family.

She confides that she doesn’t know what she’d do if she no longer had access to the packets. They’ve made a big difference in her life. She knows that she’s supposed to boil water but charcoal is too expensive for her. She confides that people with HIV/AIDS like her are more susceptible to infections and that it’s particularly important for them to have clean water.

Our last stop is even further into rural Siaya. We meet Douglas Onyango who shows us the shallow spring where 200 people in this community gather water. He tells me that after rains or during the morning and evening when people gather their water, it becomes very dirty. Like other people with HIV/AIDS in this area, he’s had access to the purification packets for about six months. His wife, Maria, shows us how they use the packets to make their water healthy.

It’s clear that Maria is an expert in the process and she tells me that she really appreciates having clean water for her family that includes nine children. Douglas tells us that they wouldn’t be able to afford to purchase the packets and appreciate the donation from P&G and Soteni. And, while they’ve had access to other purification products in the past through the health clinic where they receive their antiretroviral drugs, they feel that the P&G packets are the best because of the taste of the treated water and because it’s the only one they trust to purify the water since they can see it work.

I’ve seen just a sample today of the more than 4,000 people who are being providing clean drinking water through the SOTENI project. Over two years, SOTENI will provide more than 700,000 P&G water purification packets in order to provide more than 7 million liters of clean water. It’s clear that many of the people in this area are very vulnerable and the P&G packets are an appropriate technology to treat their water. I’ve been impressed with the AIDS barefoot doctors outreach and how it’s been effective in reducing the stigma of HIV/AIDS and now in effectively teaching people how to treat their drinking water to reduce opportunistic infections and keep them healthy.

Providing the 4th Billionth liter of Clean Water with CSDW in Thailand

2011-12-19T07:03:44-08:00

It’s very hard for me to believe that today we’re providing the 4 billionth liter of clean drinking water through the P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water (CSDW) Program. It seems like only yesterday that we began this journey. But in reality, it started 10 years ago. For three years, P&G provide the water purification packets as a for-profit effort and we provided a total of 30 million liters of clean water. In 2004, in order to expand the effort, we created the not-for-profit P&G CSDW Program as a signature program of P&G’s pro-social investments and we’ve been growing ever since by partnering with on-the-ground humanitarian groups that can reach people who are most vulnerable and have a critical need for safe water.

It took us from 2004 to 2008 to provide the first billionth liter of clean water by providing 100 million water purification packets. At the 2007 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), as we were nearing that first billionth liter milestone, we committed to provide a cumulative 2 billion liters of clean drinking water by 2012. Then, almost unbelievably, we increased our commitment by 1 billion additional liters of clean drinking water at the next two CGI annual meetings for a total commitment of 4 billion liters. Frankly, we were really sticking our necks out to deliver this huge amount of impact. But, I had confidence that our model of working with external partners and finding the situations where the water purification packets are most needed would result in impressive growth to meet our goal of 4 billion liters.

I’m in Thailand where they’ve experienced the worst floods in 50 years. More than 500 people have perished from the floods and a staggering 3 million people have been displaced from their homes. We started a CSDW program in Thailand earlier this year in collaboration with the Princess Pa Foundation and the Thai Red Cross. In recognition of P&G’s 25 year presence in Thailand, we committed to provide 25 million liters of clean drinking water over a couple of years.

Boy, were we in the right place at the right time. When we launched our program in June, there was already a need for our work in the south of Thailand because of flooding. Then the flooding started in the north based on a series of typhoons accompanying the monsoon season. This caused the massive floodwaters that traveled over a few months down to Bangkok and has caused flooding that has lasted more than 2 months.

My P&G colleague, Kannika Jausuraisin, has led our efforts with CSDW in Thailand and has done a wonderful job. On a previous visit, I helped Kannika as we trained Princess Pa and Thai Red Cross volunteers on proper use of the P&G water purification packets. As the flood waters entered Bangkok, Kannika and her team provided the water purification packets in ways that we’ve never done before.

First, our own P&G employees had a need for the purification packets. I met Nipon Asavakulpanus, one of our sales employees who joined P&G four years ago. He’s one of the employees who’ve been using the P&G water purifier packets for his family. Nipon goes by the nickname “A” and he told me that when the flood waters first entered Bangkok the municipal water supply became contaminated. The water from his faucet was yellow and smelled of sewage. So, having a way to purify his water was very useful, particularly as bottled water supplies became very limited and impossible to find in the stores. P&G provided as much bottled water as they could to our employees, but there was quickly a national shortage as the bottling operations for the bottle water suppliers became contaminated.

“A” told me that the experience of the floods has made him even more proud to work for P&G. He said he joined P&G because of our purpose to improve lives, but he never expected that he’d be one of those whose life would be impacted in this way. He told me that he loves working for P&G and is so grateful that the P&G CSDW Program is now in Thailand. He said the timing of bringing CSDW to Thailand was amazing given the flood.

Kannika and I visit several of the large media outlets in Bangkok. They’ve been important partners in helping build awareness of the CSDW Program and proper use of the packets. Many of the employees of these media outlets have been impacted by the floods, so we make donations of the packets to them for their use and go on several of the television stations to conduct demonstrations.

Finally, in another first, P&G is working with 4 of our retail customers, Tesco, 7-11, Tops, and The Mall to act as distribution centers for the packets. The Princess Pa Foundation will train people and the stores in the flood areas will act as the distribution center for 2 million water purifier packets.

Because of our efforts in responding to the floods, P&G has been asked to attend a special ceremony with one of the most popular Princesses of Thailand who is the patron of the Princess Pa Foundation. She’s regarded as one of Royals who is closest to the public because of her tireless efforts to help the people – and she’s really stepped up during the floods. Kannika asks me to make the symbolic donation of our efforts to the Princess. I joke that I’m not very good with my curtsey, and Kannika answers that I’ll be given many chances to practice. Indeed, for almost an hour the royal protocol staff makes us rehearse the ceremony. I have to bow three times, bend on one knee, present the symbolic gift on a gold platter, back-up with more bows, then scurry to her side for pictures that requires a low bow to the ground while somehow manipulating my legs to the side and behind me. Wow, I should have taken yoga more seriously.

I remember all the steps correctly when it finally comes time to do it for real. Okay, maybe I wasn’t the most graceful with the legs behind me while bowing to the ground thing. I learned why this Princess is the Princess of the people. She’s very gracious and gives me a royal smile for my attempts and then addresses me in English. I’m a bit astonished when she then extends her hand for a handshake instead of the traditional greeting of putting your hands together like you’re praying. Kannika tells me that this is very unusual and we’re not surprised when it makes the national news later.

While I’m fascinated by the pageantry, I realize that I’ve been given a great honor of representing P&G at this event. The royalty have a very special place in the heart of the Thai people and most people will never have the opportunity that I’ve been given today.

While the pomp and circumstance has been fun, I’m most excited about our visit to the flood areas to see the impact of the CSDW program and our partnership. I’m not sure what I expected when thinking about the floods, but maybe a few areas with very high water. What I see is that huge areas have been inundated with a few feet of water. In some areas it’s up to 6 feet, but mostly it’s 1 to 3 feet deep but over miles, and miles and miles.

As we drive to the community we’ll visit today, we see that the elevated highways have become a safe haven for automobiles and in some cases for people’s temporary housing. All the shoulders of the highway are now full unless they’re flooded with water.

After driving for a couple of hours and seeing water everywhere, we work our way through some police blockades to a small community. We put on some rubber boots (luckily the Thai boots are able to stretch 3 sizes if you really cram your big feet into them) and walk through the water to a waiting boat.

Our host is Kamolthip Boonsup and we’re asked to call her “Khun-Thip”. She lives in the community of Watkiasae in the province of Ayuttaya, one of the hardest hit areas north of Bangkok. This community is in a low-lying area that was predominately rice paddies prior to the flood.

We spend almost an hour by boat going over the flooded rice paddies. The shore birds that used to feed in the irrigation canals are now having a field day with massive areas to feed. Khun-Thip tells me that 160 households in this area lost their home. She’d already been a volunteer with the Princess Pa Foundation and when the flood hit she contacted the central office to let them know that this area needed help. Khun-Thip is now the leader of the relief efforts here and her responsibilities include bringing food to the community and water, including the PUR packets.

We visit Khun-Thip’s house that is still partially flooded with water after more than two months. When the flood first hit, they had to go to the upper floors of the house and hope that it didn’t keep rising above the roof. Luckily, it stopped after flooding the first floor of her home.

We visit with several of the households including Khun-Thip’s extended family of about a dozen people. Khun-Thip leads them through a demonstration with the P&G water purification packets to reinforce proper use before we provide more packets. We ask one of the young mothers to help with the second demonstration.

Paweena Khoporn grabs a bucket full of water from right off the front porch of the house. She carefully repeats the same steps of using the packets that she observed from Khun-Thip while several of the children watch.

Paweena and her husband Yospeng are both 31 years old and they have a 6 year old daughter named Chnakarn. We choose them as the recipients of the 4th billionth liter of clean water. They’re thankful to have the packets because, as Yospeng explains, clean drinking water is one of the biggest needs of this community following the floods.

Transportation is also a challenge now since you can only move from house to house using something that floats. The market for boats has expanded greatly but we also see people using big pieces of Styrofoam as make-shift boats, surfboards, and canoes.

Yospeng is a rice farmer and Paweena collects scrap to sell. But with the high water, they can’t work. They expect that it will be more than 3 months before they can get back to work.

They’ve never seen anything like this flood and neither have any of the community members. Officially, it’s the worst flood in 50 years but the elderly people tell us that they’ve never seen a flood that is so vast and persistent. Unfortunately, with global climate change and the fact that Thailand is in a low lying area and acts as a drainage basin for this part of the world, it seems likely that they’ll have more of these types of floods in the future. And, CSDW and our partners will be there to help.

We’re about to run out of day light and it’s not safe to cross over the big body of water at nighttime so we say our good-byes to Praveen and her family after drinking some clean water. I’m struck by the positive spirit and happiness of everyone that we’ve met today. Kannika has also noticed this and as we travel back she comments that the Thai people have a warmness and positive spirit that provides them with immunity against these bad times. I’ve certainly been impressed.

In case you want to check it out, I recorded a short video about the 4th billionth liter and the growth of the CSDW Program in Asia (VIDEO LINK). I also created a little photo montage of the visit (Download Thailand CSDW Flood Response).

Thanks to P&G Thailand, the Princess Pa Foundation, the Thai Red Cross, and the Princess for hosting my visit. It’s been an amazing experience and a good way to celebrate the 4 billion liter milestone. Now, we have our sites on growing the program that so we can provide 2 billion liters of clean water every year – in order to save one life every hour. It will take us several years to grow the program to this level and thank you for being part of our journey.

Reaching Deep into Filipino Communities with World Vision: An Amazing Experience

2011-12-09T04:51:30-08:00

I travel to many remote places in helping provide clean water through the P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program. Today is one of the most remote visits that I’ve ever made. It took two days to reach the Philippines from my hometown in the US. Then it took a full day of travel from Manila to the island of Siargao in Mindinao. And, this morning, we were up at sunrise to start our travel to the island of Maribojoc. Today, I’m traveling with Keith Kall of World Vision US and Billie Abata, Joy Mariscal, and Joel Pielago of World Vision Philippines.

It’s about an hour ride in a small catamaran to Maribojoc. But because it’s low tide, we walk the last mile carrying the water purification packets and buckets needed to prepare clean water. I’ve been told that the traditional name for foreigners in Filipino is “dayuhang mana nakop” or “foreign invader”. As I walk onto shore, I hope that I’m not being viewed as a foreign invader.

I can tell from the smiles that we’re very welcome. Filipinos and Americans have a great bond of friendship that formed during War World II and it’s felt to this day in the relationship between the two countries and their people. Speaking of armed conflict, the mayor of this area insisted on sending an armed guard with us today because we’re in areas that have seen some conflict. It’s low risk but nevertheless we’re grateful that Jonas is providing a bit of security for us.

As we dry our feet and put our shoes on to walk to the water sources, I ask about the last time there was a visit like ours. This leads to a long discussion that I don’t understand. Eventually they reach a consensus that the last visit by someone doing development work like us, was a visit either seven or nine years ago by the Australia Agency for International Development (AUSAID). It’s clear this is not on the main circuit for development efforts. When I think about the supply chain that has taken the packets from our plant in Pakistan to this remote village, it’s pretty impressive. It helps that a couple of small boats can bring enough of the packets to last an entire year for this community because the packets are light weight, stable, and easy to transport.

I lead the first demonstration of the water purification packets today to reinforce the correct procedures with the new volunteers. The Barangay Health Workers here are wearing uniforms to highlight their status in the community. We gather the contaminated water from the shallow well and show them how to make it healthy. Today the water from the shallow well is pretty clear but they tell us that it’s frequently dirty.

When I ask if anyone ever gets sick from the well water, I notice one of the Barangay Health Workers giggling nervously into her handkerchief. MariJane Compra is a young mother with two children and she had waterborne illness for the last several days and today is the first day that she’s been feeling well. She’s been standing close to me during the demonstration and very interested in our work. In fact, I picked her to do the second demonstration before I knew this. While we always have a pre-trained person lead the first demonstration, we randomly pick a local person in the crowd to lead a second demonstration. This reinforces the correct procedure, gives people confidence that it’s easy for them to do themselves, and provides just the right amount of activity before the water from the first demonstration is ready to drink.

After drinking the treated water and while we walk to our next stop, MariJane tells me that today has been an amazing experience for her. She’s been very worried that her children will succumb to illness from drinking their water. The purified water is very nice to drink and has a good taste. She tells me she’s very happy and I tell her that I am too!

At our next stop, we take some pictures with some adorable twins, Reyford and Reymark. These adorable 9 year old boys have earned the nicknames of “Popoy “and “Kiking”. There’s an explanation for the nicknames but it’s sort of like rhyming cockney and the meaning of these nicknames gets lost in translation.

The mother of the twins is 46 year old Aurelia Daban. We sit down for a chat about life on her island while the World Vision staff led a demonstration for more people in the village. Aurelia tells me that almost all the men on the island fish for a living. The women plant some cassava and harvest bananas. And there’s a small school that sits over the water with a teacher from the mainland who has commuted every week for the last three years. And, of course, the Catholic Church is an important part of the community. Aurelia has lived in this community of 260 households for her entire life. She’s raised 9 children including the twins and now has a little grandchild nicknamed “RR”.

I’m also pleased to meet Aurelia’s husband, Romy, and we pose for a picture to remember our time together and celebrate the start of our efforts helping this community. Then I sit down with Aurelia and the twins to record a short video summarizing our visit to Maribojoc (VIDEO).

Before we leave, we learn first-hand one of the advantages of living in a fishing community. We’re treated to a feast of boiled crabs topped off with fresh mango for dessert. It’s a fantastic meal and we’re very thankful to the fisherman and their wives.

We have to wait an hour before the tide comes in sufficient for the boat to make the channel back to the larger island of Siargao. Keith, Billie, and I enjoy the time with the children. But, school is about to start so we soon have to shoo the kids away to make sure they don’t miss their lessons.

Our last community to visit is Abad Santos. This is the remotest part of the bigger island of Siargao and not surprisingly has some of the worst water access. In this community of 118 households and 583 people, there are several shallow wells in the middle of town. But these are so obviously contaminated that people only use this water for washing or bathing.

The community has to walk down and up very steep and slippery paths to reach nearby springs or creeks to gather their drinking water. Not surprisingly, people frequently slip and fall while carrying their heavy burdens of water.

The Barangay leader, Captain Gerito, is happy to take us to the springs. It’s very steep and the late afternoon has become stifling with humidity and there’s no breeze to provide relief. Keith and I are soon completely drenched in our own perspiration. The first spring is beside a creek and the water looks like milk. The second water source is clear but we’re told that during the dry season it will also be dirty.

I’m starting to feel a little queasy. I try to pretend the symptoms don’t exist and grab the 50 pounds of water from one of the local teenagers and haul it back to the village. But before I complete the journey, I know that I’m not going to be able to avoid my issue. I made a very stupid mistake back on Maribojoc and drank the contaminated water. We keep out a glass of the starting water to show people the difference between the dirty and clean water. In fact, I warned Keith and Billie to not drink the contaminated water. Then Keith said I was looking a little pale from the heat and that I should drink some water. So, I drank from the dirty water glass that was in my hand at the time! It was only a sip before I recognized my mistake. But I know that even a sip of this water could have millions of bacteria and viruses.

Sure enough, my mistake from about 6 hours ago is coming back to visit me. The community is great and locates one of the nicer houses that has a toilet and gives me some privacy while I spend a few minutes. Well, it can happen to anyone. I’m certainly not happy to have this experience, but it a strong reminder of why we’re providing safe drinking water. It’s humiliating and it hurts. I’m lucky that I have medicines if needed, I’ve developed a strong immune system over the years of traveling to the developing world, and the community quickly provided me access to a toilet. So, I’m only having a small taste of what it must be like to live in this community and have to drink contaminated water.

In the center of town, it doesn’t take long before we have quite a crowd to watch the demonstration of the purification packets. Captain Gerito is very engaged and endorses our efforts. He tells us that there is usually a wave of sickness that overcomes the village during the start of the rainy season when the water gets very dirty and during the dry season when they run out of rain water and have to return to using the springs. He’s very grateful that P&G and World Vision will be providing the packets to his community.

Luckily, I made it through the day and we don’t need to cut our visit short. Keith and Billie tell me that they’re absolutely exhausted from the long day so I don’t feel like I’ve held anyone up. So, we say good-bye to the community of Abad Santos and head back to our hotel.

It will take me a couple of days travel to leave the Philippines as there’s not regular plane service to the island. So, we’ll take a long ferry to start catching the flights back home. In thinking back over my time in the Philippines, I think about MariJane on the island of Maribojoc this morning. She told me that it was an amazing experience when we visited her. I absolutely agree. My time in the Philippines has been an amazing experience, and I’m very grateful to World Vision Philippines for the work they’re doing to reach the most vulnerable people in very remote places where clean drinking water will make a big difference in improving and likely saving lives.

Start of a New P&G CSDW Program in the Philippines with World Vision

2011-12-08T07:19:16-08:00

I’m in the Philippines to start a new program to provide clean drinking water as part of a collaboration between the P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water (CSDW) Program and World Vision. We’re working near the largest Filipino island of Mindanao in the region of Surigao. Some of the areas in Mindanao are not safe for us to travel because of armed conflict. In fact, we changed our plans in the last few days because of new hostilities. As an alternative to our original plan, we’ve traveled to the island of Siargao as our base for the next few days.

The Philippines are an archipelago of more than 7,107 islands so it seems appropriate that we’d be island hopping during our visit. World Vision works with the local government and local community based organizations (CBOs) as part of their developmental efforts. By working through local trusted individuals and through a long-term presence in communities, World Vision develops the trust that is needed to provide new interventions like the P&G water purification packets.

P&G through partial support from the Pantene Healthy Hair for Healthy Water program will provide more than 17 million days of clean drinking water during the next year through this program – that’s 34 million liters of clean water for more than 25,000 of the most vulnerable people living in remote areas with only contaminated water sources.

I’m traveling with Keith Kall from World Vision USA and the local team of Jun Gordones, Billie Abata, Joy Mariscal, and Joel Pielago. Yesterday, we met Hernando, the leader of the local fisherman’s CBO called the Malinao Fisher Folks Association. (MFFA) Most people in this area either farm (cassavas and bananas) or fish. When the weather is bad or the fish aren’t biting, then extreme poverty sets in very quickly. The MFFA is a vital part of helping out in these tough times, and they’ve agreed to be the arms for our distribution deep into the needy communities.

We walk through the community that the Association serves and see that people here have dug very shallow wells. Many of the homes have latrines but in this densely populated area, there’s little doubt that sewage from the latrines enters the shallow wells. We demonstrate how the P&G water purification packets work to Neiri Birol and her family.

Neiri shares her shallow well with the neighboring house and between the two houses there are 15 children. They drink a lot of water and try to keep up with boiling water but it takes too long for them to always have boiled water for all the family.

In another home, Karen Runya tells us that the water purification packets are much easier to use than boiling water. She says that even with boiling, there’s a lot of diarrhea illness in the rainy season. We’re just at the beginning of the rainy season now in this part of the Philippines and so Karen and her family are very grateful to receive the donation from P&G and World Vision.

Karen’s daughter Sheila can’t get enough of the good tasting clean water. She’s clearly very thirsty which isn’t surprising in this very humid and hot tropical climate. I’m already drenched with sweat and enjoy drinking a lot of the water every time that we do a demonstration.

Our next home visit is with Helen Espejon who has an open well that is even more shallow than the last house. This well is only a few feet from the nearby latrine. They have limited land and so don’t have a lot of choice. The water is fairly clear at this point but Helen tells me that the water gets very dirty during the prolonged rains. She’s also happy to receive the water purification packets and we wait until the water is ready to drink so they can taste it. Helen says that the treated water tastes like expensive mineral water that they can buy from the shops.

An elder man walks up as we’re finishing and asks about the process. He’s very supportive and particularly impressed that there’s no need to boil water if you use the water purification packets. We also stop and talk with a local fisherman. He spear fishes to collect his catch both for his family and to sell at the local market.

After our initial visits, we need to pay our respects to the local mayor. Access to these communities is only possible with the permission of the local government, so we stop by to pay our respects and ask permission to visit the communities. The mayor shows me a map and is very helpful in telling me where there’s the greatest need for our work based on the lack of an existing water infrastructure. As we leave the mayor’s office, we ask for permission to visit the communities and tell him that we’d appreciate his endorsement and he grants it.

Based on the advice of the mayor and some reconnaissance by Joel, we pick the village of Magsaysay for our work this afternoon. A local man, Felix, is happy to give us a tour of the community. We walk through rice paddies on the way to the shallow wells. We have to walk around water buffalo or “kalabow” and down some slippery paths to make our way into the fields where the water sources are located.

I take a nice flop on my butt going down one of the hills but no damage that can’t be cleaned up with some soap and water. Speaking of soap and water, P&G Philippines has agreed to provide 75,000 bars of Safeguard soap to these vulnerable populations and World Vision will provide soap along with the water purification packets. It’s the first time that we’ve done this and if it goes well, we’d like to expand to other areas.

The communities in the Philippines are organized into units called a “Barangay”. In small rural villages, each village will be its own Barangay while in larger cities, there will be many Barangays. And each Barangay has an elected leader who is given the title of Captain and volunteer health workers called Barangay Health Workers. Captain Alex welcomes us to Magsaysay and invites us to show them the use of the water purification packets. I lead the demonstrations this morning in order to show the World Vision staff the proper steps. The World Vision staff reviewed our “trainer of trainer” video and written standard operating procedure prior to my visit, but it helps to see it live before leading a demonstration yourself. This afternoon it’s time for World Vision to lead the demonstration and they do a great job and I only contribute a few reminders of critical points.

When we finish the demonstration, Captain Alex tells us that there’s a big need for our work in this community. He says that people frequently suffer from diarrhea illness. I ask when the last time someone was seriously sick and they quickly are able to tell me the details of two young children who became so sick they had to go to the hospital. After staying in the hospital for 4-7 days and being treated for severe dehydration, the children were able to recover and return home.

Helene Antolin tells me that the P&G packets are a very good product because it’s easy to use, the water tastes great, and it’s much easier to use than boiling. She says that she has to spend more than an hour gathering firewood to boil water and so our donation will be a big benefit to her.

As we prepare to leave, I’m surprised when Captain Alex starts pleading us to bring more packets. We assure him that we’ll start the distribution tomorrow for the entire community of 1,500 people.

Today has been a good start to our CSDW Program in the Philippines. As we traveled with the World Vision team, we talked about the need to correctly target the most vulnerable communities that have a specific need for our purification packets. This essentially requires visiting the communities and walking to their water sources to determine the ones that collect from unprotected sources. World Vision has the capability and capacity to do this because of their reach into the most vulnerable communities.

Our next visit will be even more remote, to one of the less developed islands near Siargao.

Thank you, or as they say in the Philippines, “Salamat” for reading!

A Bold Step Back to the Future: P&G Steps Up to Put Name on Water Purification Packets and a New Video to Celebrate

2011-12-07T05:34:33-08:00

I’m thrilled to tell you that P&G has decided to put the name of the company on the water purification packets that are the basis for the P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water (CSDW) Program. While this change represents a big vote of confidence by P&G for the CSDW Program, the new packaging has been designed to retain a familiar look to the old packaging. As you can see below, the “PUR Purifier of Water” packets will change to “P&G Purifier of Water” and we’ve updated and improved the look of the packaging while still keeping it familiar.

We’ll make this transition over 6-12 months in most places, largely dependent on the registrations that will be needed with governments and the need to use up existing product inventories. Importantly, in countries where the packets are well-recognized, P&G will work with our partners to create an educational effort to ensure that people understand the change.

Also today, consumer products company Helen of Troy Ltd is announcing their intent to purchase the PUR Water Filtration business from P&G. The for-profit, US-based, PUR Water Filtration business has been separate from the not-for-profit global P&G CSDW Program since 2004. Despite the long years of separation, since we both used the “PUR” name, it’s been a source of confusion for many people who thought we might be providing PUR water pitchers or filters in the developing world. Like any large company, P&G decides to invest or acquire brands from time to time based on their strategic fit and scalability with our other businesses. So P&G leadership decided to sell the PUR Water Filtration business but specifically decided to keep the water packet technology that is the basis for the P&G CSDW Program because it is so integral to who we are as a company.

I’m extremely grateful to P&G leadership for this decision to not only keep the P&G CSDW Program but to put the name of our company on the water purification packets. When it comes down to it, it was a pretty simple decision because P&G’s purpose is to improve lives. Nothing demonstrates that better than the P&G CSDW Program and so, while it’s a bit corny, the water purification packets are little packets of P&G’s purpose!

I view this as a historical moment in P&G’s history and clearly in the history of P&G CSDW. P&G has a historian, Ed Rider, and soon after recommending this name change, I sat down with Ed to refresh myself on our history in using the P&G name. In the last 60 years, P&G has been known by most people through our brands like Tide, Pampers, Pantene, and Crest, and not by the name of our company. But, it wasn’t always the case. P&G is almost 175 years old and in the early years was known by our company name and not by brands. For example, in 1904 P&G introduced “P&G Naphtha Soap”, which became the largest selling laundry soap in the United States in the 1920’s. This was long before the introduction of Tide, our leading laundry detergent.

So, it’s a bit of back to the future in naming the packets “P&G”. This renewed focus on P&G is also consistent with our more recent sponsorship of the Olympics and our “Proud Sponsor of Moms” campaign.

P&G leadership has made a bold statement of their support of the CSDW Program. I look forward to working with our partners to make sure the transition is done well.

To help celebrate our name change, we’re launching a new video today to summarize P&G’s participation in the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI). We’re grateful to our many partners who agreed to be included in this video that captures the excitement behind our CSDW efforts and our goal to save one life every hour in the developing world. Check it out (LINK).

P&G CSDW Commits to Reach 2 Million People in Horn of Africa Famine and Honors USAID and Target at CGI2011

2011-09-22T10:49:51-07:00

P&G is participating in our 6th Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) this week. Each of the last five years, we’ve made big commitments to help scale-up our P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program and this year is no different. Last year P&G CEO, Bob McDonald, together with President Clinton, announced that P&G committed to, by 2020, save one life every hour in the developing world by providing 2 billion liters of clean water each year with our water purification packets. Since last year’s commitment, we’ve provided more than 1 BILLION liters of clean drinking water through our partnerships. This is more than double our previous best effort. We are on track to surpass the 4 billion liter milestone in 2012. This was achieved by helping build awareness of the global clean drinking water crisis by delivering more than 750 million media impressions, as well as by expanding our partnerships and entering 4 new countries with our CSDW program. We are also building a new manufacturing facility in Singapore that will open next year and will be dedicated to the production of P&G’s water purification packets, allowing us to reach our bold goal.

This year, we’re making a new commitment to help 2 million people impacted by the Horn of Africa famine by providing more than 300 million liters of clean drinking water with our water purification packets. This will prevent 10 million days of illness. P&G CEO Bob McDonald announced our new CSDW commitment on a panel on game-changing innovation with John Chambers of Cisco, Andrew Leveris of Dow, andTarja Halonen, President of Finland. Bob also explained how the CSDW program is an example of game-changing innovation both because of the amazing technology in the water purification packets and our innovative distribution strategy. In announcing our new commitment, Bob McDonald said:

“As P&G invests in a growing and vibrant business in sub-Saharan Africa, we have a responsibility to help improve the quality of life where we can. There is great need right now in the Horn of Africa, and we are here at CGI to commit to provide clean drinking water to 2 million people impacted by the famine.”

We also held an event at CGI attended by President Clinton who has said that Procter & Gamble’s effort to improve lives with the P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program is making a powerful global impact. President Clinton described our collaboration:

“At the Clinton Global Initiative, we have a wide variety of members from business, government, and the nonprofit world who are working together to address this critical issue. P&G is doing more than almost any other corporation to save kids' lives by providing clean drinking water."

Joining President Clinton at the P&G event was singer/songwriter and PSI Ambassador Mandy Moore. She spoke to those gathered about her work distributing our water purification packets in Africa and her belief in the significance of our commitment to help people in East Africa.

“As an ambassador for PSI, I’ve seen first-hand the power of the P&G and PSI partnership to provide clean drinking water where it’s needed most and truly save lives. The commitment P&G is making tonight is incredibly important. I’m proud to be a part of this work.”

P&G Vice Chair of Global Business Units, Dimitri Panayotopoulos, hosted our event for the 3rd consecutive year and, along with Bob McDonald, gave the P&G Sustainability Partner Award to two of our CSDW partners: The US Agency for International Development (USAID) and Target.

We have partnered with USAID since 2004 when we first announced our Safe Drinking Water Alliance to work together in 3 countries. We subsequently worked together to provide safe drinking water to help with Pakistan earthquake victims as well as in 5 African countries. More recently, we partnered to stockpile water purification packets in Latin America in an effort led by Abt Associates and Catholic Relief Services. I’m thrilled that during the last year, we’ve increased our efforts to a new level. USAID has helped the P&G Children's Safe Drinking Water Program provide more than 400 million liters of clean drinking water to help more than 2 million flood victims in Pakistan. Together, we’ve also provided more than 200 million liters of clean drinking water to help 1 million people living with HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria and Tanzania through USAID’s support of PSI, Abt, FHI360, Feed the Children, the UNC Medical School and others.

We were honored to have the Administrator of USAID, Dr. Rajiv Shah, accept the award on behalf of USAID. Dr. Shah is a visionary leader of USAID who has placed a priority on public private partnerships and on delivering measurable health impact. These are two items that are very close to my heart so it was great to meet Dr Shah and honor him.

Left to right: Declan Moore of National Geographic, Dr. Rajiv Shah of USAID, Dimitri Panayotopoulos of P&G, President Clinton, Kathee Tesija of Target; Jos Vandelaer of UNICEF and Jean-Pierre Noel of The Carrefour Group.

P&G and Target teamed up this year to increase awareness of the global clean drinking water crisis and to provide a way for Target customers (called “guests” by Target) to help address the crisis. Through the P&G Give Health brandSAVER in June, every P&G brandSAVER coupon redeemed by Target guests donated a day of clean drinking water in the developing world through CSDW. Target amplified this work through special mailings to draw attention to the program and by working with us on a special segment that appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Network. Needless to say, the effort was a success and resulted in a donation of more than 1 million days of clean drinking water.

Kathee Tesija, Executive Vice President for Merchandising, accepted the award on behalf of Target team members and we were thrilled to also be joined by Casey Carl, Senior Vice President, Merchandising, and Jose Barra, Vice President, Merchandising .

Also at CGI, Chris Hassall, Global External Relations Officer for P&G, hosted a CGI Topic dinner: “Doing Well and Doing Good: How to Partner to Save Lives While Driving Profitable Growth”. Chris updated about 100 of our partners and friends on our progress towards our CGI commitments.

Gina Drosos of P&G Beauty spoke about P&G Beauty Brand’s support of CSDW including Pantene, SKII, Venus, and Olay. Her group will start employee walks for water called “P&G Beauty & Grooming Carry Each Other 6 K Walk for Water”to raise awareness and donations for CSDW. Gina spoke passionately about the role of women in the global water crisis.

Shelly Lazarus, the Chair of Ogilvy, and Kathy Backzo, of the WASH Advocacy Initiative, unveiled a new campaign called “Women for Water. This campaign will help draw attention to the fact that the global water crisis has a great impact on women and that we can take action to address it. Senior representatives of Coca-Cola including Charlotte Oades, Global Director of Women’s Economic Empowerment, and Abby Rodgers, VP Sustainability Strategy, helped support this work and P&G has been glad to be a part of it with them.

The highlight of the P&G topic dinner evening was a panel moderated by Matthew Bishop of the Economist with two business school professors who are expert on this topic: Lisa Jones Christensen of the Kenan Flagler Busiess School at UNC-Chapel Hill and Linda Scott of Said Business school at Oxford University. Lisa spoke about her business case study on CSDW and Linda about her case study on the Pampers:UNICEF effort to combat maternal and neonatal tetanus. And, we were thrilled to unveil the latest Students of the World video prepared by a UNC-Chapel Hill team this summer. The short documentary shined a spotlight on the impact of the Pampers:UNICEF effort. Courtney Spence, leader of the SOW, was in attendance for the unveiling of the new video.

What a wonderful week! Thank you to our many partners of CSDW for making this week such a success for building awareness of the global water crisis and our actions to help address it.

P&G and Partners Respond to East Africa Famine

2011-08-24T06:03:34-07:00

P&G and Save the Children released the below media release in response to efforts to help address the drought and starvation in East Africa, which is currently considered the most critical humanitarian crisis in the world.

P&G PARTNERS WITH SAVE THE CHILDREN AND OTHERS TO PROVIDE
800,000 REFUGEES WITH CLEAN DRINKING WATER

Drought and famine victims on the Horn of Africa to receive clean water in 1.4 million dollar effort through P&G’s PURTM technology and partnership with Save the Children.

CINCINNATI, Aug. 18, 2011 – Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) and the international humanitarian organizations Save the Children, Population Services International (PSI), AmeriCares, Action Against Hunger, Global Medic, and others will provide more than 140 million liters of clean drinking water to victims of drought in East Africa. Since June, the region has suffered widespread famine, and 12 million people are in need of immediate relief.

Aid organizations are working on the ground to provide food and shelter, but without clean water, refugees fall victim to dehydration, infection and disease. More than 29,000 children have died across the region in the past three months.

“The drought and famine in East Africa deserve our attention and resources,” said Greg Allgood, Director of the P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program. “P&G and our partners will help hundreds of thousands of at-risk children and their families by providing clean water to break the cycle of starvation, dehydration and disease.”

The effort will provide PUR packets to more than 800,000 refugees without access to clean drinking water. These packets utilize a powder technology developed by P&G that removes contaminants from water while killing viruses and bacteria. The powder is manufactured in small sachets that can be used to treat jugs of local water. Each packet has the ability to purify 10 liters of contaminated water, creating enough clean water for one family for an entire day.

Using its operational abilities and in-country relationships, Save the Children will distribute the packets in the areas of greatest need.

“I am seeing first-hand the urgent need of children to access clean, safe drinking water in the camps. Young children, already weakened by malnutrition, are especially vulnerable to getting water-borne diseases from drinking dirty water, and these diseases can quickly become lifethreatening,” said Save the Children’s CEO and president-elect Carolyn Miles from the Dadaab camp in Kenya. “We are grateful to P&G for stepping in and providing this critical support.”

Initial efforts will focus on refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya, where PUR distribution programs and supply chains are already in existence. Other partners in the effort will contribute supply chain logistics and behavior change communication expertise.

About Procter & Gamble and CSDW

P&G touches and improves the lives of about 4.4 billion people around the world with its portfolio of trusted, quality brands. The Company's leadership brands include Pampers®, Tide®, Ariel®, Always®, Whisper®, Pantene®, Mach3®, Bounty®, Dawn®, Fairy®, Gain®, Pringles®, Charmin®, Downy®, Lenor®, Iams®, Crest®, Oral-B®, Duracell®, Olay®, Head & Shoulders®, Wella®, Gillette®, Braun®, Fusion®, Ace®, Febreze®, and Ambi Pur®. With operations in about 80 countries, P&G brands are available in more than 180 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G and its brands.

The P&G Children's Safe Drinking Water Program (CSDW) is a non-profit initiative that has provided more than three billion liters of clean drinking water to people in need since 2004. CSDW has partnered with a diverse network of organizations to help distribute PUR packets in developing countries. To learn more about the P&G CSDW Program, and see how PUR packets work, please visit www.csdw.org.

About Save the Children

Save the Children is the leading, independent organization that creates lasting change for children in need in the United States and around the world. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

###

Media Contacts:

Elizabeth Ratchford, P&G

513.983.3290

ratchford.eq@pg.com

P&G and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and P&G Pampers & UNICEF : Partnering to Save Lives

2011-08-11T12:16:30-07:00

In these tough economic times, it helps to think beyond yourself. While we cut-back, tighten our belts, and focus, it’s important that we also help those who need our help the most.   And, you know, this always leads to making us feel and perform better, and as organizations it helps us do better.   It’s really as simple as that.

For P&G, we’re reaching out to help those most in need through our CSDW program.   The greatest humanitarian crisis in the world is now in East Africa where a long drought is causing starvation on a massive scale.   About 600,000 children are at risk of dying from starvation. One of the most important treatments for starving people is to give them clean water so that they can absorb nutrients from their food. So, we’re mounting a massive effort with our partners to respond to the East Africa famine crisis. I’ll share more soon – but rest assured that P&G and our safe drinking water partners are going to help hundreds of thousands of people in this famine.

Another area where P&G has been helping for a number of years is in the battle against maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT).   This is a disease that is eliminated in the developed world but still kills a child every nine minutes in the developing world. It’s a horrible death but can be easily prevented through an MNT vaccine. So, the P&G’s Pampers brand and UNICEF have teamed up to provide MNT vaccines through a program called 1 pack = 1 vaccine. Since 2006, Pampers has donated funds for 300 million vaccines that are helping protect 100 million women & their babies.   Last year, I visited Uganda with a team from UNICEF and P&G as the last phases of a vast MNT vaccination program were being completed. We’ve been waiting for the World Health Organization’s confirmation that the effort was a success and they recently announced that MNT has been eliminated in Uganda.   This is fantastic news!

One of the biggest supporters of vaccines in the world is the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. P&G has recently started an effort to collaborate with the Gates Foundation and I’m honored to be the leader of this effort that is sponsored by P&G CEO Bob McDonald.    Bob and Melinda Gates met at the Clinton Global Initiative last year when they were on the opening plenary and Bob announced our new CSDW goal to save one life every hour in the developing world with clean water by 2020.   That led to some follow-up discussions and we’ve found that we share the belief that the powerful but limited role of philanthropy needs to be augmented through products and services that improve and save lives and reduce inequity in the world.   We’re exploring a number of areas of collaboration but a clear area of shared interest is in the work of vaccines.

The Gates Foundation leader of our collaboration is Dr Gary Darmstadt. He suggested that he team up with my friend and colleague Dr Nada Dugas of P&G, who leads the Pampers:UNICEF effort, in order to write a blog about the recent success of the Pampers:UNICEF effort in eliminating MNT in Uganda. I’m thrilled that the Gates Foundation is helping build awareness of this important collaboration. And, as Gary and Nada state in their blog, there’s more to come as “the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Procter and Gamble are teaming up to develop new partnerships with viable business models that will sustain the delivery of other life-saving interventions”.

I’d encourage you to check out their blog. Congratulations to P&G Pampers and UNICEF for the elimination of MNT in Uganda!

With a Little Help from My Friends: CARE, CDC, and SWAP Kenya

2011-07-14T10:48:05-07:00

I’m traveling to Kisumu, Kenya today where we’ve been providing the PUR packets since 2003 prior to the launch of our P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water (CSDW) in 2004. At the airport in Nairobi, I’m surprised when Dr Rob Quick of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) wakes me from my blackberry induced coma. The CDC and P&G have partnered since 1995 on safe water and hygiene with Rob being one of the constants in our collaboration. He’s a world leader in safe water and one of the most dedicated public health experts in the world.

Like me, Rob is headed back to Kisumu to check in on the work of several of the humanitarian groups doing work in the area of Lake Victoria. There’s a lot of people who suffer from waterborne illness in this region and it’s one of the top causes of death among small children.

Just as during my first trip to Kenya in 2003, I’m meeting with Sam Ombeki of CARE Kenya and Alie Eleveld of the Safe Water and AIDS Program (SWAP). I start the day in Kisumu with Sam and say good-bye to Rob and agree to check-in with him later.

Sam Ombeki of CARE Kenya first introduced me to the idea of selling the PUR packets through a not-for-profit effort. This helped lead to our world-wide collaboration with PSI to socially market PUR. With CARE Kenya, we began providing PUR in schools and measured through Rob’s CDC team that providing PUR packets and hand washing stations in schools significantly reduces school absenteeism. CARE has now reached more than 70 schools with this effort and improved the lives of thousands of children in the schools and surrounding communities. Globally, the CSDW Program and our partners have reached more than 1.6 million children through school programs.

About a year ago, we decided to expand the work with CARE Kenya to include helping people living with HIV/AIDS by providing PUR packets. CARE already had experience in providing clean drinking water in the rural health clinics so it fit well within their capabilities to reach out to the HIV/AIDS support groups that meet at the clinics and also the maternal health programs at the clinics including those that work to prevent mother to child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV/AIDS.

Sam and I stop at the District Hospital in Siaya for a courtesy visit with the District Medical Officer, Dr Samuel. He tells us that nearly 1 in 5 of the expectant mothers in this area test positive for HIV/AIDS when they come to the clinics prior to giving birth. Dr Samuel tells us that the effort with PUR has his full endorsement since most people in this area collect water from open and contaminated water sources such as rivers and ponds. The opportunistic infections from the contaminated water cause a high level of sickness and death among people with HIV/AIDS. In fact, Dr Samuel believes that the CARE Kenya program, that has provided 2 million packets of PUR in 53 rural health clinics, has significantly reduced the incidence of waterborne infections in Siaya.

We go to one of the clinics and arrive as they are completing one of their daily demonstrations on the proper use of PUR. Margaret Lesso of CARE Kenya has introduced PUR to each of the 53 clinics in Siaya and now lives here to manage the project.

The head nurse, Priscilla Onyango, explains that PUR has been accepted by the community and she also believes PUR has helped reduce opportunistic infections. I’m thrilled to hear Priscilla tell me that the community health workers have taken the initiative to introduce PUR to the local schools including 9 primary schools and 3 secondary schools. This will help build community acceptance since the children act as positive change agents with their families.

I speak with several of the mothers who attended the PUR demonstration this morning. Some of them are seeing PUR for the first time while others are already regular users. Jacqueline O’Chieno has newborn twins named Churchill and Marab.

Jacqueline’s seen PUR for the first-time but has no problem correctly telling me all of the proper steps for using PUR. She says she is simply amazed to see the water turn clear and feels confident it will kill all the germs. Like most people in this area, she collects water from the nearby river.

Linette Otieno has been using PUR for six months, starting right before five month old Rose was born. She says that prior to receiving PUR her family frequently had to go to the clinic for diarrhea illness but that hasn’t happened a single time since they started treating their water with PUR.

At the clinic, Sam and I meet one of the newest members of the CDC’s water team, Anu Rajasinghan. She’s spending a couple of weeks visiting the clinics and households in the surrounding community to measure compliance and acceptance. She explains that she’s about halfway through her work and that it’s clear that people have PUR in their homes and know how to correctly use it. We’ll have to wait until she’s finished with her monitoring to see the more detailed results.

Margaret introduces me to Dimas Ochieng, one of the volunteer community health workers. Margaret, Sam, Anu, and I walk with Dimas to visit some of the homes that he supports. Dimas has volunteered to regularly visit 20 households in his community to provide health support and training. Dimas tells me that he did a demonstration and gave PUR samples to each of his 20 households. The 10 households with children less than five years old receive PUR through the clinic for free while the rest of the households have the option of purchasing PUR at a low cost through the local shops. Dimas tells me that he knows that people are purchasing PUR from the shops.

We visit the home of Sophia Awino. Her three year old child Rollins is playing in the yard as we chat and she shows us how she uses PUR. She receives some PUR from the clinic but also buys some from the shop to supplement her needs. She’d seen other options for water treatment like dilute bleach (Waterguard) but never used it because she didn’t trust it would work. So, Sophia boiled water before using PUR but tells us it’s difficult to boil so she didn’t always do it and, thinking in retrospect, she recalls that her family frequently suffered from diarrhea. In fact, she had a very bad case of diarrhea that resulted in bloody stools and sent her to the clinic last year. Since then, she’s been a regular user of PUR.

Our next stop is with Celine Barasa. She’s a 36 year old mother of 8 month old Roni and has two older children. She’s open about her HIV status and tells us that while she has the HIV virus, she’s glad that her older children are negative. She’s waiting for the test results on Roni and prays that she’ll be negative as well.

Celine is a passionate user of PUR and makes about 3 batches of PUR every day for her family. She usually collects water from the local river and it’s very dirty. When she was first diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, she really suffered from diarrhea but since using PUR she’s been healthy. She tells me that she didn’t know PUR removes the worms and the parasites from the water but believes me because she can see PUR work. We enjoy some of the PUR-treated water before leaving to visit SWAP.

Sam drops me at the Safe Water and AIDS Program (SWAP) and I meet my friend, Alie Eleveld, the Executive Director of SWAP. Today, Alie wants to show me the newest addition to SWAP’s work. They’ve recently opened their second Pampers Baby & Family Care Center, a rural kiosk that provides healthy products and safe water for the community.

SWAP is one of the best examples that I know of women to women selling. They’ve been selling PUR since 2004 and recently detailed their sales of all products over the last 5 years. The best selling product over the 5 years is the PUR packets and they’ve provided about 400,000 sachets of PUR. They started selling Always and Pampers a few years ago and have sold 50,000 Always and 10,000 Pampers. They’re reaching people that P&G infrastructure would usually not be able to reach.

The Pampers Baby & Family Care Center is a way to expand the reach of P&G products that improve lives through a high frequency store in rural areas. This kiosk effort is just starting but I love the idea because it not only provides products at the store but it has women that use the kiosk as a center from which to reach out into the community with health education and also to sell products. When we visit the clinic today, two of the four women who run the clinic are refilling baskets with PUR, Pampers, Always, soap, mosquito nets, and other products that are in demand by the community.

Alie and I head back to Kisumu so I can meet with Dr. Rob Quick before finishing my visit. I have a chance to reflect on the progress that we’ve made since my first visit in 2003. Much of our success is because of the same people and their organizations that I met on my first trip – Dr Rob Quick of CDC, Alie Eleveld of SWAP, and Sam Ombeki of CARE. It’s great to have them as friends and colleagues to achieve a sustained and growing impact on the health of Kenyans. Through them and other great groups like PSI, we’ve been able to provide more than 20 million packets of PUR in Kenya – enough to provide 200 million liters of clean drinking water.

Cheers to our CSDW partners and friends!