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The simple power of handwashing

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    So imagine that a plane is about to crash
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    with 250 children and babies,
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    and if you knew how to stop that, would you?
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    Now imagine
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    that 60 planes full of babies under five
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    crash every single day.
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    That's the number of kids
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    that never make it to their fifth birthday.
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    6.6 million children
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    never make it to their fifth birthday.
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    Most of these deaths are preventable,
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    and that doesn't just make me sad,
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    it makes me angry,
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    and it makes me determined.
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    Diarrhea and pneumonia
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    are among the top two killers
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    of children under five,
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    and what we can do to prevent these diseases
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    isn't some smart,
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    new technological innovations.
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    It's one of the world's oldest inventions:
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    a bar of soap.
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    Washing hands with soap,
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    a habit we all take for granted,
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    can reduce diarrhea by half,
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    can reduce respiratory infections by one third.
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    Handwashing with soap
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    can have an impact
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    on reducing flu, trachoma, SARS,
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    and most recently in the case of cholera
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    and Ebola outbreak,
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    one of the key interventions
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    is handwashing with soap.
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    Handwashing with soap keeps kids in school.
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    It stops babies from dying.
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    Handwashing with soap
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    is one of the most cost-effective
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    ways of saving children's lives.
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    It can save over 600,000 children every year.
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    That's the equivalent of stopping
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    10 jumbo jets
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    full of babies and children
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    from crashing every single day.
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    I think you'll agree with me that that's a pretty
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    useful public health intervention.
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    So now just take a minute.
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    I think you need to get to
    know the person next to you.
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    Why don't you just shake their hands.
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    Please shake their hands.
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    All right, get to know each other.
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    They look really pretty.
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    All right.
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    So what if I told you
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    that the person whose hands you just shook
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    actually didn't wash their hands
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    when they were coming out of the toilet?
    (Laughter)
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    They don't look so pretty anymore, right?
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    Pretty yucky, you would agree with me.
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    Well, statistics are actually showing
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    that four people out of five
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    don't wash their hands when
    they come out of the toilet,
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    globally.
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    And the same way,
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    we don't do it when we've got fancy toilets,
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    running water, and soap available,
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    it's the same thing in the countries
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    where child mortality is really high.
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    What is it? Is there no soap?
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    Actually, soap is available.
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    In 90 percent of households in India,
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    94 percent of households in Kenya,
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    you will find soap.
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    Even in countries where soap is the lowest,
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    like Ethiopia, we are at 50 percent.
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    So why is it?
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    Why aren't people washing their hands?
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    Why is it that Mayank,
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    this young boy that I met in India,
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    isn't washing his hands?
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    Well, in Mayank's family,
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    soap is used for bathing,
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    soap is used for laundry,
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    soap is used for washing dishes.
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    His parents think sometimes
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    it's a precious commodity,
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    so they'll keep it in a cupboard.
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    They'll keep it away from him so he doesn't waste it.
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    On average, in Mayank's family,
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    they will use soap for washing hands
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    once a day
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    at the very best, and sometimes
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    even once a week for washing hands with soap.
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    What's the result of that?
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    Children pick up disease
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    in the place that's supposed to love them
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    and protect them the most, in their homes.
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    Think about where you learned to wash your hands.
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    Did you learn to wash your hands at home?
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    Did you learn to wash your hands in school?
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    I think behavioral scientists will tell you
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    that it's very difficult to change the habits
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    that you have had early in life.
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    However, we all copy what everyone else does,
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    and local cultural norms are something
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    that shape how we change our behavior,
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    and this is where the private sector comes in.
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    Every second in Asia and Africa,
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    111 mothers
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    will buy this bar to protect their family.
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    Many women in India will tell you
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    they learned all about hygiene, diseases,
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    from this bar of soap from Lifebuoy brand.
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    Iconic brands like this one
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    have a responsibility to do good
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    in the places where they sell their products.
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    It's that belief, plus the scale of Unilever,
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    that allows us to keep talking about
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    handwashing with soap and
    hygiene to these mothers.
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    Big businesses and brands can change
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    and shift those social norms
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    and make a difference for those habits
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    that are so stubborn.
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    Think about it:
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    Marketeers spend all their time
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    making us switch from one brand to the other.
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    And actually, they know how to transform
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    science and facts into compelling messages.
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    Just for a minute, imagine
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    when they put all their forces behind
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    a message as powerful as handwashing with soap.
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    The profit motive is transforming health outcomes
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    in this world.
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    But it's been happening for centuries:
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    the Lifebuoy brand was launched in 1894
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    in Victorian England
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    to actually combat cholera.
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    Last week, I was in Ghana
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    with the minister of health,
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    because if you don't know,
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    there's a cholera outbreak in Ghana at the moment.
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    A hundred and eighteen years later,
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    the solution is exactly the same:
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    It's about ensuring that they have access
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    to this bar of soap,
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    and that they're using it,
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    because that's the number one way
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    to actually stop cholera from spreading.
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    I think this drive for profit
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    is extremely powerful,
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    sometimes more powerful than
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    the most committed charity or government.
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    Government is doing what they can,
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    especially in terms of the pandemics
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    and epidemics such as cholera,
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    or Ebola at the moment,
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    but with competing priorities.
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    The budget is not always there.
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    And when you think about this,
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    you think about what is required
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    to make handwashing a daily habit,
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    it requires sustained funding
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    to refine this behavior.
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    In short, those that fight for public health
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    are actually dependent upon the soap companies
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    to keep promoting handwashing with soap.
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    We have friends like USAID,
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    the Global Public-Private Partnership
    for Handwashing with Soap,
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    London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine,
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    Plan, WaterAid,
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    that all believe
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    for a win-win-win partnership.
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    Win for the public sector,
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    because we help them reach their targets.
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    Win for the private sector,
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    because we build new generations
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    of future handwashers.
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    And most importantly,
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    win for the most vulnerable.
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    On October 15,
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    we will celebrate Global Handwashing Day.
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    Schools, communities,
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    our friends in the public sector
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    and our friends in the private sector —
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    yes, on that day even our competitors,
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    we all join hands to celebrate
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    the world's most important
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    public health intervention.
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    What's required,
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    and again where the private sector
    can make a huge difference,
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    is coming up with this big, creative thinking
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    that drives advocacy.
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    If you take our Help a Child Reach 5 campaign,
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    we've created great films
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    that bring the message of handwashing with soap
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    to the everyday person
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    in a way that can relate to them.
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    We've had over 30 million views.
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    Most of these discussions are still happening online.
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    I urge you to take five minutes
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    and look at those films.
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    I come from Mali,
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    one of the world's poorest countries.
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    I grew up in a family where every dinner conversation
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    was around social justice.
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    I trained in Europe's premier school of public health.
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    I think I'm probably one of the only women
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    in my country with this high degree in health,
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    and the only one
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    with a doctorate in handwashing with soap.
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    (Laughter)
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    (Applause)
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    Nine years ago, I decided,
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    with a successful public health career in the making,
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    that I could make the biggest impact coming,
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    selling and promoting the world's best invention
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    in public health: soap.
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    We run today the world's largest
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    handwashing program
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    by any public health standards.
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    We've reached over 183 million people
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    in 16 countries.
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    My team and I have the ambition
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    to reach one billion by 2020.
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    Over the last four years,
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    business has grown double digits,
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    whilst child mortality has reduced
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    in all the places where soap use has increased.
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    It may be uncomfortable for some to hear —
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    business growth and lives saved
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    somehow equated in the same sentence —
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    but it is that business growth
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    that allows us to keep doing more.
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    Without it, and without talking about it,
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    we cannot achieve the change that we need.
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    Last week, my team and I
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    spent time visiting mothers
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    that have all experienced the same thing:
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    the death of a newborn.
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    I'm a mom. I can't imagine anything more powerful
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    and more painful.
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    This one is from Myanmar.
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    She had the most beautiful smile,
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    the smile, I think, that life gives you
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    when you've had a second chance.
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    Her son, Myo, is her second one.
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    She had a daughter
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    who passed away at three weeks,
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    and we know that the majority
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    of children that actually die
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    die in the first month of their life,
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    and we know that if we give a bar of soap
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    to every skilled birth attendant,
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    and that if soap is used
    before touching the babies,
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    we can reduce and make a change
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    in terms of those numbers.
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    And that's what inspires me,
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    inspires me to continue in this mission,
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    to know that I can equip her
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    with what's needed
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    so that she can do
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    the most beautiful job in the world:
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    nurturing her newborn.
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    And next time you think of a gift
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    for a new mom and her family,
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    don't look far: buy her soap.
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    It's the most beautiful invention in public health.
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    I hope you will join us
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    and make handwashing part of your daily lives
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    and our daily lives
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    and help more children like Myo
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    reach their fifth birthday.
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    Thank you.
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    (Applause)
Title:
The simple power of handwashing
Speaker:
Myriam Sidibe
Description:

Myriam Sidibe is a warrior in the fight against childhood disease. Her weapon of choice? A bar of soap. For cost-effective prevention against sickness, it’s hard to beat soapy hand-washing, which cuts down risk of pneumonia, diarrhea, cholera and worse. Sidibe, a public-health expert, makes a smart case for public-private partnerships to promote clean hands — and local, sustainable entrepreneurship.
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Video Language:
English
Team:
closed TED
Project:
TEDTalks
Duration:
11:41

English subtitles

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