by Akan Ido

In furtherance to its commitment to reduce infant  mortality rates  in Nigeria and promote  basic health and hygiene practices among consumers, leading antiseptic brand,  Dettol  strengthened its affinity with  consumers  when they turned up for  its walkathon  to pledge their support against diarrhoea and their commitment to simple hygienic practices.

The walkathon  which held at Teslim Balogun stadium, Surulere  was part of commemorative activities to mark Dettol’s 50 years presence in the Nigerian market and was tagged ‘‘ a pledge to save 10 Million Children’’ is a strategy aimed at reaching 10 Million Moms with the multiplier effect of   helping save the lives of 10 Million Nigerian children from premature death. This initiative is centred on helping Nigeria meet its 2015 Millennium Development Goals of reducing Child Mortality for Children under the age of 5 by 6.3% by 2015.

Speaking to a mammoth crowd who turned up at the event, Marketing Director for West Africa, Reckitt Benckiser, Oguzhan Silivrili said the walkathon was a very symbolic component of the company’s greater journey motif. He described it as a conviction that let’s Dettol lead the charge in Nigeria’s journey to reducing infant mortality and to partner all relevant government and non government agencies in creating a hygiene conscious nation.

‘‘He explained that over the last 50 years  Dettol’s has been at the forefront of educating consumers about health and hygiene habits through several platforms and went on to  list some of Dettol’s initiatives and achievements such as New Mum Programme which has reached 5 million moms since 2006 teaching them good hygiene habits for themselves and their new born babies; the Health on Wheels Programme that has reached 150,000 families through mobile clinics; the School on Wheels Programme which has impacted three million children across schools since its inception in 2010 and finally the Direct home contact programme in which almost a million moms were reached from last year’’

The Marketing Director announced that Dettol was stepping up the ante by bringing all these programmes together on a holistic platform to make the impact even stronger and help Nigeria achieve its millennium development goals on reducing child mortality. He said that given the alarming death rate amongst children under age 5 in Nigeria there is indeed a sense of urgency attached to this journey. He explained that the motivation for the Dettol Walkathon was a demonstration of Reckitt Benckiser’s global vision of building healthier kids and happier homes.

Silivrili pointed out that two hundred thousand children in Nigeria died from diarrhoea last year and this new initiative was designed to galvanise action in the face of what he called ‘unacceptable’ number of infant mortality rates in Nigeria noting that it will take collective action to bring down these numbers. ‘‘But of course Dettol cannot do it by itself, we need your help, we need your contribution. So today we are initiating a big campaign, a holistic one  which we have called MOMEMTUM-  Mom to Mom which is targeted at mothers and it will be reaching one million moms  at antenatal clinics every year and will empower and enable them to share best hygiene practices with each other to make a direct impact on the lives of their families and loved ones’’ he said.

At the same event, Rahul Murgai, Managing Director,Reckitt Benckiser Nigeria Limited/General Manager, Reckitt Benckiser West Africa equally said that the Momentum campaign whose goal is to save Ten million lives will go a long way in improving the hygiene situation of many households in Nigeria and significantly help to reduce death arising from preventable diseases.

The Marketing Director added that Dettol intends to take a pledge from every participant at the walkathon and also each mother it contacts in its direct contact programmes to teach 2 more mothers the same habit thus creating a chain of empowerment all over Nigeria.

In their separate remarks, Dr Hamid Balogun , Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Health Service Commission, Sekiru Momdu, Director , Chemical evaluation and Research NAFDAC and Dr  Batty Okorochuwkwu, Second Vice President of the Nigeria Medical Association listed partnership as key to effectively creating a hygiene conscious society. They expressed their resolve to continue to encourage Dettol in its strategy of educating and empowering mothers who can help reduce infant mortality in Nigeria.

See photos below: