A young boy practising the correct way to wash hands.
FORTY underprivileged families were treated to a delicious Malay-Middle Eastern dinner while also learning about the importance of handwashing to prevent the spread of diseases.
The attendees were beneficiaries of charity Hope Worldwide Malaysia, which collaborated with personal hygiene brand Lifebouy, and beauty and health retailer Watsons for the dinner treat.
The event was part of Lifebuoy Malaysia’s “Bringing Hope Changing Lives” corporate social responsibility initiatives.
Since the start of Lifebuoy’s outreach programmes in 2015 across Malaysia, it has reached 536,113 children aged four to nine.
The 40 families who are beneficiaries of Hope Worldwide Malaysia with Chuah (back row, middle in red) at the event.
This year, Lifebuoy aims to reach 100,000 more children, with the mission to help one million develop good handwashing habits by 2025.
Each family at the dinner event also received a pack of personal care provisions which contained Lifebuoy bodywash and handwash, shampoo and healthcare products sponsored by Watsons Malaysia.
On top of learning good hygiene habits, the underprivileged children also enjoyed activities that aimed to lay the groundwork for good financial literacy and help them grow into financially confident adults. This will enable them to access good health resources.
For nearly a decade, Unilever through Lifebuoy has set out to make handwashing with soap a habit for all Malaysians, keeping families one step ahead of infections.
Unilever mobilises hygiene education programmes in communities and schools, and also donates hygiene care products to needy communities to help them stay infection-free.
Still, learning a new habit is not an easy process.
Handwashing tends to be neglected due to a low perception of health risks and forgetfulness, with some communities lacking access to handwashing facilities.
A 2020 study revealed that more than half of young children do not always wash their hands when they need to – after playing outdoors, after touching pets and after coughing or sneezing.
At the recent event, Dr Malar Santhi was on hand to demonstrate proper handwashing techniques.
She stressed that very young children were more susceptible to infectious diseases because their immune system was still developing.
Hope Worldwide Malaysia executive director Katy Lee explained that it was crucial for the nation to uphold good personal hygiene in the (Covid-19) endemic era.
“We are grateful to Lifebuoy Malaysia for this partnership to educate and empower our beneficiaries from the B40 community.”
Unilever Malaysia head and country business unit lead of personal care (Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand) Lenny Chuah said, “Unilever has always been focused on protecting lives and livelihoods.
“That is why we have strived to create a germ-free community.
“Still, the less-privileged communities are lagging behind in getting access to basic handwashing essentials.
“We want to do what we can to bring hope and change lives.”
The donation of personal care provisions was also extended to over 1,100 underprivileged families across Malaysia under this initiative.
