Lifebuoy Help A Child Reach 5 Campaign Ambassador Janet Mbugua (left) engages pupils in handwashing campaign

Kenya is grappling with more than 34,000 newborn babies who die annually within their first month of life – a figure that translates to more than 90 deaths per day.

Following this alarming figures, Unilever East Africa’s, CEO, Justin Apsey said that the company has partnered with AMREF and UNFPA to deliver high impact interventions such as hygiene, family planning and access to skilled care which is instrumental in preventing both women as well as newborns from losing their lives.

Migori county is among the first places to benefit from the project.

“At Unilever, our commitment is to change the hand washing behaviors of 12 million Kenyans by 2020 through high impact intervention hygiene education programmes.

The simple act of hand washing with soap is one of the most cost-effective, yet often overlooked ways to save a child’s life and by leveraging the expertise and scale of our business, together with our partners, we can effect real change in the communities that we serve,” said Apsey.

The initiative is being implemented in Migori, a county which has some of the highest maternal mortality ratios and prevalence of diarrhoea among young children in Kenya.