Unilever donates water purifying equipment to MoH
Unilever Ghana Limited has donated 120 Water Purifying equipment worth GH¢50,000 to the Ministry of Health (MoH) as part of a Unilever worldwide strategy dubbed, Unilever Sustainable Living Plan.
The donation formed part of the company’s mission to provide about 500 million people on the African continent with access to affordable and safe drinking water.
The equipment, known as the Pure-it Water Purifier, comes with support stands and Germ-Kill refill kits and is to be distributed to district and regional hospitals under the Ghana Health Service.
Pure-it Water device
The product does not use electricity and was conceptualised in India in 2008.
The device passes water through certain processes at the end of which it comes out purified and germ-free, colourless, odourless and tasteless.
Water from the purifier is guaranteed to be free from germs because the germ-kill kit that it uses protects the water from contamination. It is also said to prevent users from contracting diseases like jaundice, dysentery, typhoid and cholera.
Access to safe drinking water
The Head of Corporate Affairs at Unilever Ghana, Mr Gabriel Opoku-Asare, who presented the items in Accra, said majority of Ghanaians lacked access to safe drinking water.
He was hopeful that the equipment would go a long way to assist the ministry in its plans to prevent and manage diseases in the country.
According to him, about two billion people in the world did not have access to clean drinking water, even though water is a source of life. Under the circumstances, he said preventable water-borne diseases like dysentery and diarrhoea remained a threat to weak members of society, including children who die from water-related illness about every 20 seconds.
He said Unilever was committed to ensuring improvement in children’s health and creating access to safe drinking water for Ghanaians. That, he said, underlined the company’s decision to donate the purifiers to the Ministry of Health.
Initiative laudable
The Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Victor Asare Bampoe, who received the items on behalf of the ministry, commended Unilever Ghana for its support towards fighting water-borne diseases, stressing that, “Indeed the gesture was a shining example of public-private partnership.”
He urged other corporate organisations to contribute to the welfare of the people.
The Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Ebenezer Appiah-Denkyira, said access to safe drinking water was a challenge in most cities and towns throughout the country, so the presentation of the equipment to the hospitals would help to supply patients with clean water which in the long run would improve their health.
He assured the donors that the GHS would ensure that the devices were properly maintained to last long.
