Unilever launches campaign to reduce under-five mortality

The Deputy Minister of Health, Ms Tina Mensah, has said that the ministry has set the goal to reduce neonatal mortality rate from 32 per 1,000 live births in 2011 to 21 per 1,000 live births by 2018.

In Ghana, the current neonatal mortality of 29 deaths per 1,000 live births accounts for almost 50 per cent of under-five mortality and continues to rise.

In line with this, she said that the ministry would work with the Ghana Health Service and individual stakeholders to sensitise mothers and caregivers to preventable deaths from diseases including diarrhoea.

“If we are able to achieve this, we would have reduced neonatal mortality by five per cent per annum,” she said.

Ms Mensah was speaking at the launch of the Lifebuoy social mission campaign, “Help a Child Reach 5” organised by Unilever Ghana Limited in Accra last Friday.

The Campaign

The campaign would promote lifesaving hand washing habits, involving simple hand washing behaviour before breakfast, lunch dinner, after visiting the toilet and during daily bath.

Its objective is to eradicate under-five mortality resulting from preventable diseases, including cholera by raising awareness of the critical contribution of hand washing with soap to prevent children from infections.

Causes of under-five deaths

Launching the campaign, Ms Mensah identified infection as the main cause of under-five deaths.

She expressed the belief that the death of those children could be averted if their parents and caregivers adopted a habit of washing their hands with soap under running water before feeding the children and after using the toilet.

“Our hands are the main carriers of disease-causing germs. Diarrhoea is an infection that is spread through contaminated food, drinking water or from person to another as a result of poor hygiene. Interventions to prevent diarrhoea, including safe drinking water, use of improved sanitation and hand washing with soap can reduce risk of infection,” she said.

Handwashing

The Managing Director of Unilever Ghana, Mr Ziobeieton Yeo, observed that some parents lost their children to diseases such as cholera, pneumonia and diarrhoea although they had aspirations and ambitions for the children.

“We believe that through this campaign, we will raise awareness of critical contribution of hand washing with soap under running water to prevent children from picking up infection-causing germs and mobilise Ghanaians to adapt to this habit,” he said.