P&G Children's Safe Drinking Water Program Commits to 'Save a Life Every Hour' at 2010 Clinton Global Initiative

CINCINNATI, Sept. 21, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG) today announced its intent to provide enough clean water to save a life every hour through the Children's Safe Drinking Water Program, a not-for-profit program founded by P&G that provides clean drinking water in the developing world.  Unveiled at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) in New York City, this CGI commitment will be made possible by the delivery of more than two billion liters of clean drinking water every year by 2020 – helping save an estimated 10,000 lives and preventing 80 million days of diarrheal illness on an annual basis.   To realize this "save a life every hour" target by 2020, the company will build a new manufacturing facility for its PUR packets in Singapore, forge new partnerships with humanitarian organizations throughout the world and extend Children's Safe Drinking Water Program operations into more countries.  

The Children's Safe Drinking Water Program utilizes PUR packets, a water purifying technology developed by P&G and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to help reduce sickness and death resulting from drinking contaminated water.  One small PUR packet quickly turns 10 liters of dirty, potentially deadly water into clean, drinkable water.  

"P&G's purpose is to improve people's lives, and scaling up the Children's Safe Drinking Water Program to provide more than two billion liters of clean drinking water every year in developing countries is yet another demonstration of this commitment," said Bob McDonald, P&G Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer.  "P&G will work with global partners, leverage its brands and employ a variety of marketing assets to build awareness of the global clean water crisis and motivate people to help provide those in need with clean drinking water."

In recent years, P&G has made, and subsequently fulfilled, several corporate commitments to the Clinton Global Initiative.  

• Through its partnership with UNICEF to help eliminate maternal & neonatal tetanus (MNT), the Pampers brand exceeded its 2008 commitment by delivering 300 million vaccines to protect 100 million women of child-bearing age.  
• P&G exceeded its 2009 Children's Safe Drinking Water commitment to inspire 300 million people to get involved in addressing the global clean drinking water crisis by generating more than two billion media impressions.  This year's Children's Safe Drinking Water CGI commitment will further stretch awareness raising efforts to include global brand initiatives like the Pantene "Healthy Hair for Healthy Water" program, in which more consumers from around the world will be inspired to donate clean drinking water to those who need it most.
• P&G has already exceeded its 2009 Future Friendly commitment to place P&G Sustainable Innovation Products in 30 million U.S. homes and provide conservation education to at least 50 million U.S. households by the end of 2010.

P&G to Recognize Sustainability Partners

To honor valued partners for their efforts in support of P&G social and environmental sustainability initiatives, P&G is holding a VIP reception in conjunction with the 2010 Clinton Global Initiative.  This year's event will recognize Carrefour, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Save the Children, and Earth Day Network.  Each award recipient has been instrumental in helping P&G reach key social and environmental sustainability goals, including:

• Carrefour:  partnered with Pampers and UNICEF to protect three million moms and their babies against maternal and neonatal tetanus in the developing world.
• U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):  partnered with the P&G Children's Safe Drinking Water Program in a collaboration that led to the development of the PUR packets, in addition to ongoing research to improve program implementation including a recent study(1) showing that PUR in schools reduced absenteeism.
• Save the Children:  partnered with the P&G Children's Safe Drinking Water Program to provide clean drinking water to school children and those in need in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Kenya, Pakistan, Somalia, south Sudan, and Uganda.
• Earth Day Network:  partnered with P&G Future Friendly to raise awareness and motivate consumers to improve their environmental performance through the adoption of environmentally-beneficial habits.  

(1) Blanton, Elizabeth, et al. (2010). "Evaluation of the Role of School Children in the Promotion of Point-of-Use Water Treatment and Handwashing in Schools and Households--Nyanza Province, Western Kenya, 2007" Am J Trop Med Hyg 82(4), 664-671.

About Procter & Gamble

Four billion times a day, P&G brands touch the lives of people around the world. The company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Pampers®, Tide®, Ariel®, Always®, Whisper®, Pantene®, Mach3®, Bounty®, Dawn®, Gain®, Pringles®, Charmin®, Downy®, Lenor®, Iams®, Crest®, Oral-B®, Duracell®, Olay®, Head & Shoulders®, Wella®, Gillette®, Braun® and Fusion®. The P&G community includes approximately 127,000 employees working in about 80 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G and its brands.

SOURCE The Procter & Gamble Company

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