MUMBAI (India CSR): Lindstrom India, a subsidiary of Lindstrom Group, a Finnish workwear service company, is celebrating 9 years of its association with UNICEF for the clean water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) program in India on this Global Handwashing Day, 15th of October. The program has already benefitted almost 10 million children.
“Every year, diarrhoea kills 188,000 children under five in India. Washing hands with soap is a small act that can significantly improve the health of children”, Kirsi Haru, Communication Manager at UNICEF Finland.
Lindström has supported UNICEF’s clean water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) program both in Bihar and in Madhya Pradesh since 2007. A pilot project in the state of Madhya Pradesh was carried out in 150 schools and it reached 15,000 families. After the state administration decided to implement the model more extensively throughout the state, the program benefitted indirectly almost 10 million children. Now the cooperation with UNICEF continues in Rajasthan – covering 750 schools and 93,000 school children, reaching a total of 30,000 families.
Anupam Chakrabarty, Managing Director, Lindstrom India said, “As a workwear company, serving customers that require very high hygiene standards, hand hygiene is also very important for us. The root cause for a lot of diseases is unclean hands and contamination of food and water. Handwashing is the most efficient way to prevent diseases from spreading and contamination from happening. We constantly work for the safety and health of people from all spheres. Our support to UNICEF’s WASH program has helped us in reaching out to large number of children and their families.”
Correct handwashing requires correct routines. Hands should be washed several times a day. Careful drying with a textile or paper towel is an essential part of good hand hygiene. An international study has shown that 33 per cent of people do not use soap because it dries their skin, and only five per cent wash their hands sufficiently after using a toilet to remove the bacteria causing diseases.
Chakrabarty says, “It is surprising how very few people actually understand the significance of washing hands properly. This Global Handwashing Day we look to reach out to more children than before and make a difference in their lives.”
Lindstrom India is a subsidiary of Lindstrom Group, a Finnish workwear service company. Established in 2007, Lindstrom India is the only organized rental workwear service company in India. The company clothes more than 100,000 people on a daily basis across India and over one million people globally. Lindstrom has service centres in 10 cities including Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Panchkula, Vadodara, Tinsukia and Pune.
(India CSR)
