Dettol on a mission for hygiene

School programme to educate young Malaysians about hygiene habits for better health

Malaysia’s No.1 Germ Protection brand^*, Dettol and the Ministry of Education jointly kicked off the ‘Mission for Hygiene’ school programme at Sekolah Kebangsaan Seksyen 7 Shah Alam today.

 Currently in its fourth year running, the programme aims to promote healthy hygiene habits among school children by actively educating them to practice hygiene habits in school and at home. This includes playing a part in keeping their school a clean, healthy and safe environment for the school community.

Present at the programme’s opening ceremony was Tiffany Tang, Marketing Director of Reckitt Benckiser Malaysia and Singapore, which manufactures and markets Dettol products in these countries. She said: “As a leading global hygiene brand, Dettol is proud to be the trusted hygiene champion for mothers around the world, to help her protect her family from harmful germs through our wide range of innovative germ-protection products. We understand how good hygiene and sanitation can improve individual and public health. This is why it is important for Dettol to lead hand hygiene education from young age.

According to Tang, the brand is an advocate of hygiene education worldwide through its partnership with Save the Children, a non-government organisation (NGO) to stop children in underdeveloped countries from dying of diarrhea due to poor hygiene and sanitation.

“In Malaysia, ‘Mission for Hygiene’ has seen us reached close to 350,000 school students over the last four years, and together with the Ministry of Education, we have continuously enhance the quality of hygiene education in participating schools with the involvement of parents. In the next 10 years, we aim to reach all of 2.7 million primary school children in Malaysia,” added Tang.

She continued, “We strongly believe that one should start young in terms of practicing good hygiene habits. Dettol ‘Mission for Hygiene’ programme is designed to educate school children the importance of good hygiene habits including 7 steps of hand washing. We hope this will help to raise the awareness of Hand Foot Mouth Disease in Malaysia and how hygiene practices can keep it at bay.”

As the brand is working actively towards expanding the campaign to more schools, Dettol aims to reach another 150,000 students in 200 primary schools and 50 kindergartens in Malaysia throughout the year of 2017.

Dettol understands that keeping the school compound clean and germ-free is vital for students to have a good learning environment. This year, participating primary schools are encouraged to conduct a series of ‘Gotong Royong’ (communal cooperation) activities related to toilet cleanliness. Schools taking part in the ‘Gotong Royong’ contest will submit ‘before’ and ‘after’ photos of their toilets. They are also required to create a Dettol logo mural in front of the school’s toilet with Dettol’s ‘Mission for Hygiene’ theme: Better Hygiene, Better Health that will serve as a reminder to the school children to wash their hands.

To promote awareness and encourage participation among the children, Dettol has designed a number of exciting activities, such as: hand hygiene education sketching to engage students so that they understand the importance of hand hygiene; 7 steps of hand washing, which shows them a full demonstration on how to clean their hands properly; goodie bags containing educational leaflets for parents; and continuous reminders at school with posters in toilets and canteens.

During the opening ceremony, YB Dato' P. Kamalanathan, Deputy Minister of Education, stressed the importance of school hygiene and the students’ roles in making Dettol’s ‘Mission for Hygiene’ a success. “Studies have shown that the school environment can affect attendance rate and student achievement. Therefore, it is imperative for schools to be tidy and clean, in order to provide students a conducive learning environment.

Good hygiene habits should be propagated in the school curriculum to prevent harmful germs spread in the classroom environment. Poor hygiene habits will lead to harbouring germs on their hands transmit to places they touch at school. This will lead to absenteeism, which then affects our students’ learning momentum and progress,” he said.

“It’s crucial to practice good hygiene habits at school to prevent harmful micro-organisms from spreading around. Besides regular efforts from the school administration and our hardworking janitors, our students must also learn to play their respective roles in keeping their school environment clean and healthy. From a young age, we need to cultivate personal hygiene habits, and slowly but surely, guide them towards taking the initiative to wash their hands before meals, flush after using the toilet, help clean the classroom, pick up litter in common areas, and so on. These small efforts will make a big difference in helping to prevent the spreading of germs, so that our schools offer cleaner, healthier environment that promote learning and academic excellence for the leaders of tomorrow,” continued YB Dato' P. Kamalanathan.

Head of Quality Assurance Sector, Tuan Haji Abdul Latiff bin A. Aziz expressed his enthusiasm towards this year’s ‘Mission for Hygiene’ campaign. “Our kids are the future of Malaysia – as educators, it is our duty to ensure that they grow up well and live healthier lives.

We are pleased to have Dettol as our partner to help promote better hygiene habits among young children. When you start educating them from a kindergarten or primary school level, these habits will be ingrained into their lives, so that it becomes natural for them to observe cleanliness, both at school and at home. That’s why schools are the perfect place to heighten awareness about hygiene, and at the same time, educate pupils on the basic rules of having a clean learning and living environment. When you have a clean school, you get healthy kids and well-performing students,” he said.

Better hygiene, better health. With this in mind, Dettol hopes that everyone comes together through its ‘Mission for Hygiene’ programme to play their part in ensuring a cleaner, healthier, and safer school environment for our future generation.

For more information about Dettol, go to www.dettol.com.my.

*based on Retail Index Service for Personal Wash for the 12 months ending March 2017 for the Total Peninsular Malaysia (Copyright 2017 The Nielsen Company)

About Reckitt Benckiser

Reckitt Benckiser (RB) is the world’s leading consumer health and hygiene company. The company has operations in over 60 countries, with headquarters in the UK, Singapore, Dubai and Amsterdam, and sales in almost 200 countries. The company employs approximately 37,000 people worldwide.

As the global leader of health, hygiene and home, RB is not only passionate about making a difference in people’s lives; it is also inspired by a vision of a world where people are healthier and live better. Investments are constantly made in R&D, driving innovation to find new, cutting-edge solutions, leading RB to fulfill their responsibility to change things for the better.

With a purpose of delivering innovative solutions for healthier lives and happier homes, RB is in the top 20 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. Today, it is the global No. 1 or No. 2 in the majority of its fast-growing categories, driven by an exceptional rate of innovation. Fueled by a new breed of talent who blend intellectual curiosity with commitment to the highest quality standards, RB is set to redefine the world of consumer health and hygiene.

In a modern world, health is no longer just about the absence of illness. It’s about being able to lead a fitter and happier life. Overall RB wants to reach 200 million people to improve their health and hygiene behaviour.

For more information visit www.rb.com/my.

About Dettol

Dettol has been a trusted antiseptic brand since 1932 and is the world's well-known brand of antiseptics and a trusted champion of family health. Dettol products offer a high standard of germ kill and are recommended by healthcare professionals for their proven ability to keep families healthy. The brand has stayed contemporary through the launch of new products and offered consumers a breadth of products across categories that can help protect them from germs. These include shower gels, bar soaps, hand sanitisers, liquid hand washes and antibacterial wet wipes. Dettol is a trusted brand among mothers to keep her family members protected all day long.