World Vision was highlighted by former US President Bill Clinton at the 2012 Clinton Global Initiative for its partnership with Procter & gamble (P&G) through the latter’s Children's Safe Drinking Water (CSDW) Program to supply clean drinking water to drought and famine hit West Africa.
Pictured from left to right: Kevin Jenkins, President of World Vision International; Greg Allgood, P&G CSDW; President Clinton; Bob McDonald, P&G CEO; Marc Pritchard, P&G BBO; Curtis Welling, AmeriCares CEO. (PRNewsFoto/World Vision U.S.)
Though the food requirements for the 2.3 million people impacted in West Africa are being met to their possible extent by World Vision and other voluntary organizations, lack of clean drinking water poses a big risk for the mortality of children as a result of dehydration. With one million children at risk of dying, response is needed on emergency footing.
World Vision will address this issue by providing the water purification powder developed by P&G in packets in Mali, Chad, Ghana, Senegal, Niger, Sierra Leone and Mauritania. The purification powder not only removes contaminants in water but also destroys the bacteria and viruses. The powder is available in small packets wherein one packet can purify 10 liters of polluted water. One packet of the purification powder is thus sufficient to meet the clean drinking water requirements of one family for a day. P&G’s endeavor to extend the CSDW program to a larger scale in order to provide an annual supply of 2 billion liters of clean drinking water was highlighted at the Global Initiative.
The CSDW program was launched in 2004 in response to the South East Asian Tsunami. World Vision and other aid organizations will provide 35 million water purification packets from P&G to ensure the availability of 350 million liters of clean drinking water.