Procter & Gamble Supports Federal Ministry of Health, State Governments to Promote Maternal and Child Health in Nigeria

Under P&G’s Pampers® Rigakafi II program, Procter & Gamble is stepping up as a Force for Good by partnering with the Federal Ministry of Health and state governments to reduce infant mortality and increase immunization rate. During phase 2 of this program, P&G has provided over 1.5 million Pampers® diapers to its partners to promote child and maternal health care in Nigeria. This announcement was made at the official handover to the Minister of State for Health, Senator Olorunimbe Mamora, held in Abuja recently.

Since the launch of the Pampers® Rigakafi program early this year, P&G has donated over 3.5 million diapers to Federal and State governments including Kebbi, Ogun, Adamawa, Niger, and Anambra states, as well as the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs & Social Development and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency. In line with the company’s commitment to doing good, this program was launched with the aim of impacting the health outcomes of thousands of infants and mothers in participating communities.

Speaking on this initiative, the P&G Senior Director for Africa, Global Government Relations and Public Policy, Dr. Mrs. Temitope Iluyemi said, “P&G remains committed to touching and improving the lives of people in the communities where we live and work. Through our Pampers® Rigakafi program, we want to advance the quality of life for children and mothers to ensure they are provided with adequate healthcare”.

“As a force for good and a force for growth, we are confident of the significant role we play in ensuring we can encourage an improvement in the health of infants across rural and peri-urban areas across Nigeria. We are extremely grateful for the opportunity to join forces with Federal and State governments to scale up efforts in mitigating concerns over the health and hygiene of children as well as mothers through increased immunization and antenatal care programs”, Dr. Iluyemi added.

In his remarks, the Honorable Minister of State for Health, Sen. Dr. Olorunnimbe Mamora, added, “Safe and healthy hygiene habits are particularly critical to the health of infants and in order to achieve this, it is crucial that we engage in effective partnerships. Therefore, we appreciate P&G for collaborating to accomplish better healthcare and hygiene for children through the donation of Pampers® diapers which will encourage immunization to prevent childhood diseases.”

For over 25 years in Nigeria, Procter & Gamble, producer of notable brands like Always®, Ariel®, Pampers®, Gillette®, Oral B® and Safeguard®, has been an active investor in Nigeria, creating over 4,000 jobs through its manufacturing operations in Ibadan and Lagos and its world-class distributor center in Agbara. P&G’s Children Safe Drinking Water program (CSDW) has provided hundreds of million liters of safe drinking water in Nigeria helping to prevent possible death and disease from contaminated water while its Always/UNESCO program is empowering over 110,000 Nigerian girls and women with basic literacy and skills development through ICT.