Minister of Health lauds P&G’s Support in fight against diseases

The Honourable Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu has commended the leading consumer goods manufacturing company, Procter & Gamble (P&G) Nigeria, for its efforts towards the elevation of the health status of Nigerians. The minister gave the commendation during the official handover of Safeguard Antibacterial Soap by P&G Nigeria to the Federal Ministry of Health on October 10, 2014, as part of the company’s global campaign against communicable diseases.

The Minister said he was particularly impressed that the company, without being prompted, chose to identify with the FG’s on-going hand washing campaign and encouraged other corporate organizations operating in Nigeria to emulate such gesture as that would go a long way in making the nation disease free.

Earlier at the event which held at the Conference Room of the Ministry in Abuja, Mrs Temitope Iluyemi, P&G Director, Global Government Relations, Sub-Sahara Africa, said the donation was a demonstration of P&G’s support for the Ministry’s Hand Washing Campaign.

Iluyemi, who made the donation on behalf of P&G to the Honourable Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, represented by the Minister of State for Health, Dr Khaliru Alhassan, said that this was aimed at curbing the transmission of communicable diseases in Nigeria.

“This donation is our partnership effort to support the Federal Ministry of Health’s health and hygiene campaign through hand washing, which is aimed at curbing the transmission of communicable diseases. It is also a demonstration of our commitment to improving the lives of people in Nigeria in line with our company’s global social responsibility principles”.

She commended the country’s concerted efforts that effectively contained the dreaded EVD in such a record time such that the world has come to commend Nigeria’s approach to the fight of the disease and advised that Nigeria sustains that consciousness.

“We should not relax our personal hygiene consciousness based on our success over EVD as this success does not make the country immune to subsequent attacks. Also, there is the need to sustain this consciousness because there are other infectious diseases like diarrhea, hepatitis, cold and the likes that Nigerians are prone to, apart from the EVD”, she said.

In a related development, P&G Nigeria also donated Safeguard Antibacterial Soap to the Lagos State Ministry of Education to boost the state’s efforts towards the promotion of the fight against communicable diseases as well as the ebola surveillance in schools.

The soaps were received on behalf of the state Commissioner for Education, Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye, by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mrs Omolara Erogbogbo at the event that held at the Lagos State Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja.

Iluyemi informed the Minister that P&G is to extend this fight against communicable disease to 2,000 public schools in the South-West region of the country. She further informed that Safeguard Antibacterial Soap contains Triclocarban, a safe and effective antibacterial agent which is widely used around the world adding that Triclocarban forms an effective tool in the fight against germs.

“The Safeguard Antibacterial Soap we are donating today contains Triclocarban, a safe and effective antibacterial agent which is widely used around the world. Triclocarban forms an effective tool in the fight against germs. The advantage of Triclocarban over other antibacterial agents, such as Triclosan, found in other soaps in the market, is its long lasting activity against bacteria that normally colonize the skin. Safeguard is the Doctors’ Number 1 Choice anti-bacterial soap in some countries of the world and the champion of family health in Nigeria”, she added.