News - Medentech joins USAID in programme to bring safe drinking water to millions in Pakistan
18 Aug 08
Wexford, Ireland, August 18, 2008: Medentech is to play a major part in the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) campaign to improve public health in Pakistan.
Medentech joins Unilever, the multi-national
manufacturer of leading brands in foods, home care
and personal care and Mobilink, the leading
provider of mobile phone and text messaging
services in Pakistan, in signing three
‘memorandums of understanding’ with USAID. "USAID is helping Pakistani communities to have
access to clean water and adopt sanitary practices
that save lives," said Ms. Kathleen McDonald,
Director Health, Democracy and Governance,
USAID/Pakistan. "We look forward to finding new
avenues with this innovative partnership with the
corporate sector while we serve our common
objective of helping the citizens of Pakistan live
a better and a healthier life."
Signed through the USAID-funded Pakistan Safe
Drinking Water and Hygiene Promotion Project,
these agreements will help leverage the strengths,
expertise and resources of the private sector to
aid Pakistan in achieving the Millennium
Development Goal of significantly reducing the
incidence of diarrhea through safe drinking water
and hygiene promotion.
By signing the agreement, Medentech ensures that a
large number of households in 40 districts will
have an easy access to Aquatabs water purification
tablets. Similarly, Unilever re-affirms its
commitment to cut down the incidence of
diarrhea-related deaths by promoting hand washing
with soap and creating better hygiene awareness
among the vulnerable rural communities. Mobilink
supports the USAID-funded Pakistan Safe Drinking
Water and Hygiene Promotion Project in
communicating critical messages concerning safe
drinking water and hygiene in main local
languages, using the same approach as in a
successful programme which set up a helpline
service for farmers in Pakistan.
Since 2002, the U.S. Government has provided more
than $2 billion to Pakistan to improve economic
growth, education, health, and governance and to
assist with earthquake reconstruction.
Medentech was represented at the project launch
ceremony in Islamabad by its Head of Sales and
Marketing, Michael Gately, who said the company
looked forward to participating in this programme
which promises to have an enormous positive effect
on the lives of millions of people in Pakistan.
“Aquatabs are extensively used and trusted
throughout the world to reduce the 1.1 billion
people who are still without access to safe
drinking water,” said Mr. Gately. “This important
initiative in Pakistan will help to reduce the 1.8
million deaths globally – mainly among children
under the age of five – who die each year from
water-borne diarrhoeal diseases.
“Because household water treatment techniques can
be relatively cheap and the impact of improving
water quality dramatic, household water treatment
and safe storage can produce huge health and
economic benefit and the World Health Organisation
points out that the return on investment is
dramatic with a €60 return on each €1 invested,”
added Mr. Gately.
“The Pakistan project is the latest milestone in
Medentech’s ambitious goal to make Aquatabs
available in countries where large percentages of
the population do not have access to safe drinking
water. The implementation of the planned programme
in Pakistan will bring Medentech closer to our
global aim of providing safe drinking water to
seven million people daily by the end of 2008,” he
concluded.
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News Media Contact: D. Richardson; +353.53.9117910
Medentech is committed to driving a significant positive health impact globally by improving access to safe drinking water and by reducing surface contaminations by developing, manufacturing and marketing cost effective disinfection solutions. Its Aquatabs brand of rapidly dissolving tablet is one of the best known and most respected names in point-of-use water purification globally and is used to disinfect billions of litres of water every year. Medentech is headquartered in Wexford, Ireland with distribution agents in over 60 countries worldwide. For more information visit www.medentech.com.
Aquatabs is a trademark of Medentech.
