As a global company with over 170 years of history, P&G has built a rich heritage of touching consumers’ lives with brands that make life a little better every day. For almost 2 decades, P&G has strived to bring to Pakistanis, brands that meet their everyday needs and improve quality of life. Today, many P&G brands, including Ariel, Safeguard, Pantene, Head & Shoulders, Pampers and Always, have become famous household names.
Since its inception in Pakistan, P&G has made significant investments in multiple avenues including industry, community programs and human resource development. P&G strives to fulfill its purpose of touching and improving the lives of Pakistani consumers not only through its brands but also its various community programs. Under its global corporate cause ‘Live Learn and Thrive’ P&G Pakistan has focused on the development of Pakistani children in need between the ages of 0 - 13. Keeping in view the country’s needs in the area of health and education, several P&G programs are currently empowering Pakistani children with a healthy start to life, access to education and skills for life. P&G brand and corporate community development programs have touched and improved the lives of over 19 million Pakistani mothers, children and young girls to date.
The P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water program - P&G’s signature corporate program under Live Learn and Thrive and focal philanthropic effort under Live, helps address the critical need for clean drinking water through P&G’s water purifying brand PUR. Almost a billion people around the world do not have access to safe drinking water. Moreover, about 2 million people, mostly children under 5 die every year due to diarrheal diseases caused by unsafe water. Through this program P&G is striving to reduce illness and death caused by drinking contaminated water, particularly amongst children in the developing world. Since its launch in 2004, the P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water program has distributed more than 300 million packets of PUR to provide over three billion liters of clean drinking water to communities in need.
What is PUR?
Developed in collaboration with the U.S. Centers for disease control and prevention, PUR is a low cost technology which helps purify even heavily contaminated drinking water so that it meets World Health Organization standards for safe drinking water. PUR is a powdered water purification technology and is available in a four gram sachet, enough to purify ten liters of contaminated water. It functions like a dirt magnet, pulling dirt and contaminants out of unclean water. The fact that PUR is packaged in light-weight sachets makes it a convenient and viable distribution option in situations of emergencies, natural disasters and hard to reach rural areas.
5 clinical studies show that the use of PUR can reduce diarrhea illness amongst children under 5 years of age by an average of 50%. P&G is committed to long-term, not for profit, provision of PUR in the developing world.
Clean drinking water for Pakistanis
P&G Pakistan plays a vital role in the Company’s global Children’s Safe Drinking Water program. The P&G Plant at Hub, Balochistan exclusively manufactures PUR and supplies it globally.
According to news reports, in Pakistan water and sanitation-related diseases account for 60 per cent of the total child mortality cases, of which, diarrheal diseases alone are estimated to claim the lives of more than 200,000 children under five years of age every year. In view of this P&G has made Pakistan a key beneficiary of this program. The P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water program has provided more than 500 million litres of clean drinking water in Pakistan since its launch in the country in 2004 through social markets and disaster relief. In partnership with Greenstar, social markets were established across Pakistan in Karachi, Hyderabad, Multan, Faisalabad, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Abbotabad and have provided over 157 million liters of clean drinking water to communities in need.
Clean water is a critical need in immediate relief efforts during natural calamities and crisis situations and P&G has supported the need of the hour for clean drinking water through provision of PUR. During the October 2005, Muzaffarabad and Balakot earthquake, P&G in collaboration with Greenstar, USAID and UNICEFF provided 6 million packets of PUR for those affected by the earthquake. Several hundred thousand PUR packets were provided in collaboration with AmeriCares and Action Against Hunger in response to the Quetta earthquake in Oct 2008. P&G also actively contributed towards the humanitarian crisis in Northern Pakistan in April 2009 by providing 2.1 million sachets of PUR in NWFP camps and homes near Peshawar in collaboration with World Vision and HOPE. Most recently, during the tragic floods which hit the country, P&G provided more than 280 million liters of clean drinking water with the help of its partners.
P&G remains dedicated to its mission of tackling one of the world’s biggest problems, lack of clean drinking water through long-term, not for profit provision of PUR. Through the P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water program P&G is committed to provide access to safe drinking water and give back to communities wherever it operates in line with its purpose of touching and improving consumers’ lives, now and for generations to come.
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