The world’s leading children’s organization has tapped the expertise of the company behind such brands as American Standard, well-known for its bathroom products, to bring clean, safe toilets to vulnerable kids.
LIXIL and UNICEF have teamed up to promote global access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene in a partnership called “Make a Splash! Toilets for All.” Their combined effort is aimed at helping further this sustainable development goal, which sets a 2030 target for ending open defecation.
In the absence of basic sanitation facilities, open defecation — an indicator of extreme poverty — is a fact of life for 892 million people worldwide. Access to toilets, important tools in stopping the spread of disease, has the potential to combat some of the top causes of preventable deaths in children aged five and under.
“Nearly 800 children die every day from diarrhea caused by unsafe water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene,” said Henrietta Fore, executive director of UNICEF. “Through this innovative partnership with LIXIL, we hope to help keep every child healthy and alive.”
In their latest collaboration, UNICEF and LIXIL are looking to build on the past success of their work in Africa making sanitation products available to people in need.
The global shared-value partnership — UNICEF’s first in the water, sanitation and hygiene sector — will see market-driven programs introduced in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Kenya with the goal of helping create a sanitation economy in which people in need of sanitation products can access them affordably.
“In many countries, this ‘sanitation crisis’ has devastating consequences for public health and reduces children’s opportunities for the future, as many drop out of school because there is nowhere to go to the bathroom,” said Kinya Seto, group CEO of LIXIL. “As a global leader in sanitary products and with a unique brand of products known as SATO that are specifically designed for developing markets, we recognize the opportunity to improve the quality of life for people everywhere by raising sanitary standards, creating genuine social value.”
Pictured above: Three girls in India holding a SATO product.
