CSR: Dettol leads fresh hygiene benefit awareness to schools

In furtherance of efforts to promote healthier lifestyle and reduce abstention of pupils from school owing to sicknesses, Dettol, the anti-germ health and hygiene brand from the stable of Reckitt Benckiser, has under its corporate social responsibility (CSR) commenced fresh rounds of visit to schools to educate pupils and teachers on the benefits of hand hygiene.

The school visits, a key component of the Dettol School Hygiene Programme (SHP) initiative, is targeted at driving home the key message of proper handwashing culture as the most cost-effective strategy to reduce potential death-causing illnesses such as diarrhea and other respiratory diseases often caused by germs and poor hygiene.

Last weekend in Lagos, the SHP train berthed at Chrisland School, Ikeja, during the school’s inter-house sports competition with Dettol brand ambassador and veteran Nollywood actress, Patience Ozokwor, popularly known as Mama G, leading the highly interactive campaign.

Through the deployment of audio-visual kits and memorable sing-along songs, the students fully participated in the do-it-yourself six steps of effective handwashing, and they commended Dettol for the initiative.

While encouraging the students, parents and teachers to imbibe the culture of regular handwashing in order to live healthy and be active, Ozokwor reminded them that germs posed serious danger to human health and they could cause illnesses such as diarrhea, flu, fever, cough and catarrh in addition to avoidable death.

According to her, “Nothing else compares to having good health. We are unhappy when we or our loved ones fall sick; we go through pains and unable to go about our regular activities. Germs are found everywhere; on the playground, in toilets and in trash can. It is therefore important that after we play with friends or use the toilet or trash rubbish, we must wash our hands properly with Dettol soap and clean water.”

She affirmed Dettol’s commitment to the continued empowerment of Nigerians through innovative solutions that could bring about healthier living.

Speaking on the significance of the Dettol School Hygiene Programme, the Marketing Director, West Africa, Reckitt Benckiser, Oguzhan Silivrili, enjoined Nigerians to embrace standard solutions such as regular handwashing as one of the cost-effective ways to protect themselves and loved ones against illness-causing germs.

“Solutions that do not protect from all 100 types of germs are substandard and we at Reckitt Benckiser advocate that people do not protect themselves with substandard solutions but with gold standard solution. Dettol is the antibacterial brand which has been proven to protect from up to 100 illness causing germs which is why we advocate that Nigerians do not take a risk with the lives of their loved ones but rather, adopt the gold standard kind of protection they can get – Dettol,” he said.

Silivrili added that the SHP was one of the numerous platforms put in place by Dettol to help Nigerians to live healthier life as well as empower them to remain active at all times. He said over 3 million children across Nigeria have been reached with the message of handwashing since the inception of the programme in 2009.

The chairman of Chrisland interhouse sports competition, Olatunde Babalola-Smith, advised parents to bring up their children well and inculcate moral discipline in them.