Pupils learn new hygienic practices
A school project titled "Lifebuoy's School of 5 and Wrapper Campaign” and five superheroes was launched in schools last month.
The project has seen a dramatic increase in good health practices among primary school children, resulting in healthier pupils.
Unilever’s Lifebuoy brand headed into 162 schools nationally, reaching more than 100 000 pupils with a project that encouraged pupils to adopt a new hand washing habit within just 21 days.
The campaign focussed on children aged between 6 and 12 years old, in Grades R to 4.
The brand manager for Lifebuoy, Mr William van der Westhuizen said, “The project reached not only the pupils but their families and friends over the 21-day period. Lifebuoy is actively involved in teaching good health practices and hand-washing habits in schools.”
“Good health practices and habits should not only be taught and focused on in winter, hand washing with soap is an important factor in breaking the chain of infection in all seasons. The 21-day habit benefited pupils as well as their parents. By improving their health conditions, it has a positive impact on family medical bills too,” said Mr Van der Westhuizen.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), diarrhoea and pneumonia combined are responsible for the deaths of millions of children under the age of five every year.
The majority of these deaths are linked to poor hygiene and lack of access to sanitation, but research has proved that the simple habit of washing hands with soap can reduce this figure by almost half.
Mr Van der Westhuizen said, “Consumers at participating Spar stores were invited to purchase a bar of Lifebuoy and place their till slip in one of three entry boxes with the names of schools in the community. Pupils at participating schools were also encouraged to collect Lifebuoy wrappers and place these in an entry box at their schools. The 51 winning schools could choose one prize from a selection of four options, namely a computer and printer, a printer, three whiteboards or a generator to the value of R10 000.”
Mr Hilary Ramokgopa, the principal of Seotloana Primary School in Tembisa, said the campaign was wonderful and effective.
“The prize chosen by the school was a colour printer, which will be useful. We only have one printer at the school, so we will use this new colour printer in the computer lab to assist the pupils with their projects,” he said.
