Lifebuoy Leads Hand Hygiene Movement by Getting Families to Pledge at Global Handwashing Day

My mum has taught her children a good habit to wash our hand frequently since we were young. I’ve been teaching my girls the good habit since they were young. Hence when I knew that Unilever Malaysia’s leading health soap Lifebuoy is gathering Malaysians to pledge for good hand hygiene by practicing proper handwashing techniques on the 8th Global Handwashing Day; I fully supported the event with my whole family members at Kidzania Kuala Lumpur.

Lifebuoy, the world’s leading health soap, is taking on the fight against germs by educating families on the importance of proper handwashing techniques. As a proud supporting partner of the Global Handwashing Day Campaign, Lifebuoy is playing its part to improve the health and well-being of Malaysians - one handwash at a time through its behavioral change initiative.

“This initiative brings to life our company’s philosophy of “Doing Well by Doing Good”. I am extremely proud of Lifebuoy’s involvement as a founding partner of Global Handwashing Day. As part of the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan (USLP), we aim to help 1 billion people by 2020 to improve their health and well-being. Lifebuoy is playing a key role in helping us achieve this mission by spreading awareness on the importance of handwashing and empowering mothers to lead behavioural change in their family,” said Rakesh Mohan, Unilever Chairman of Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia & Laos.

Click on the poster above to enlarge for proper handwashing techniques

This is the fifth consecutive year the Ministry of Health is partnering with Lifebuoy for “Program Doktor Muda Bersama Lifebuoy”. This is yet another ongoing behavioural change programme with one hundred selected primary schools nationwide, where students who are selected as the “Doktor Muda” will undergo special training on the basics of healthcare by completing exercises and learning modules set by the Ministry. Launched in March 2011, the Doktor Muda programme aims at empowering students to promote and influence good hygiene behaviour amongst their peers and even family members. Lifebuoy recognizes that peer-to-peer education instils a sense of responsibility in the children by giving them the right set of tools and knowledge for them to spread a good deed to their peers and family. This programme has reached out to over 250,000 children in Malaysia to date. 

(L to R) Vincent Chong, Marketing Director for Unilever Malaysia, YB Dato’ Seri Dr. Hilmi Bin Haji Yahaya, Deputy Minister of Health Malaysia, 

Rakesh Mohan, Chairman, Unilever Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos and Alias, Senior Organizer, Ministry of Education Malaysia, pledging to practice good handwashing habits during Lifebuoy Global Handwashing Day 2015. 

This year, as part of the Global Handwashing Day initiative, Lifebuoy is gathering pledges from mothers and families to increase awareness on the importance of the simple act of handwashing. Targeted at empowering mothers, this behavioral change initiative looks to educate Malaysians on handwashing techniques to protect and safeguard families from potential infections. To support this cause, all you have to do is take a picture of you and your family pledging to practice good handwashing habits and post it up with the hashtag ‪#‎LifebuoyGHD2015.

In conjunction with Global Handwashing Day 2015, Lifebuoy volunteers demonstrated proper techniques in handwashing with soap to families.  

At the Lifebuoy Global Handwashing Day celebration, Unilever volunteers along with students and their families came together for the launch of this fight against germs. The event kicked off with the “Doktor Muda” choral speaking students who performed their handwashing themed piece. To encourage families to practise what they have learnt from the campaign, Lifebuoy offered many stationed handwashing push carts where attendees were able to experience proper hand washing methods as a family.

YB Dato’ Seri Dr. Hilmi and Alias receiving tokens of appreciation from Unilever Lifebuoy for their continuous support of the Program Doktor Muda bersama Lifebuoy

Officiating the event, YB Dato' Seri Dr. Hilmi Bin Haji Yahaya the Deputy Minister of Health said; “Global Handwashing Day is a global movement to foster and support a local culture of handwashing with soap. It is a day for us to shine a spotlight on the multiple benefits of the practice, which include being the most effective and cheapest means of preventing diarrheal and acute respiratory infections. While the government is committed to improving the health service delivered to every Malaysian, this is a cause that requires a collaborative effort. The habit of handwashing needs to be championed consistently from multiple sources, and this is why we are proud to partner Lifebuoy, an organisation whose goals are aligned with ours.”

YB Dato’ Seri Dr. Hilmi Bin Haji Yahaya and Alias with Unilever executives learning to wash their hands the right way in conjunction with Global Handwashing Day 2015, with Lifebuoy aiming to encourage Malaysian families to wash hands with soap to stay and live healthy. 

Lifebuoy runs the world’s largest hygiene behaviour change programme and has already reached over 257 million people across 24 countries since 2010. As a continuous effort to expand Lifebuoy’s outreach programmes, Lifebuoy Malaysia has again tied up with the Ministry of Health and Education to craft a more extensive school programme. Lifebuoy will adopt selected schools in rural areas as part of its on-going efforts to empower kids to take care of their overall hygiene starting with handwashing. These kids will be provided the necessary tools to practice good hand hygiene and the knowledge and drive to make handwashing part of their everyday routine. This programme will be undertaken next year and will play a key role in contributing to Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan in which Lifebuoy is aiming to change the handwashing behaviour of one billion people by 2020.

Choral speaking participant from SK Putrajaya Presint 14, performing their routine which features 7 steps in handwashing thoroughly. Click the video below to view more;

To learn more about Lifebuoy, including their corporate responsibility initiatives and rich heritage, please visit www.unilever.com OR www.facebook.com/LifebuoyMalaysia.