42969 SOAP BOX The PPP for Handwashing Newsletter June 2002 Washington `hand wash summit' a runaway success Over 60 people from many different countries participated in a meeting in May to discuss the future of the PPP-HW. We discussed the lessons learnt so far, and the directions we wanted to take. A highlight was a private sector panel organised by Camille Saadé. Representatives from Colgate-Palmolive, Unilever and Procter & Gamble gave frank answers to difficult questions about how they saw the partnership on handwashing. They agreed that cooperation was a good way forward and that growing the market for soap would benefit all. Jamal Saghir, the Bank's director for infrastructure gave a rousing speech encouraging the partners to adopt a high profile and get the message out on CNN (http://www.wsp.org/english/activities/handwashing.html) Handwashing at the Jo'burg Summit 70,000 people are expected in Johannesburg at the end of August to discuss sustainable development and the environment (http://www.johannesburgsummit.org).The PPP for HW will have a stall in the `Waterdome', hopefully with handwash facilities on site, and hold a public meeting. Present will be major soap companies and representatives from partners including Unicef, WSP and the World Bank. At the same time, the Water and Sanitation Collaborative Council will be launching a major effort to promote sanitation and hygiene, that will involve having handwash and sanitation messages in bathrooms throughout the summit. Volunteers to post stickers are asked to contact Darren Saywell (saywelld@who.ch) of the WSSCC. Look out for the printed toilet rolls! Lessons Learnt After a year and a half of work, the team have put together a document detailing what has been learnt. The main lessons are that public -private partnership can bring benefits that are not only commercial ones i.e. industry enhances its image and draws on the credibility and reach of government channels of communication, whilst the public sector profits from tapping the state-of-the-art knowledge about consumer behavior and effective communications of Industry. While the two pilot programs are now ready for launch in Kerala and Ghana, building up the partnerships was slow and resource intensive. Success will ultimately be judged by carefully measuring the impact of the programs. In the meantime four factors argue for the pursuit of the PPP, both in the two trial countries and in expanding to a limited number of other countries: · The handwash programs that have been designed are of a quality beyond that yet seen in the hygiene promotion sector. · Many enquiries on joining the initiative have come from Governments, NGOs and External Support Agencies. · Three major global industrial players are in discussions on expanding the initiative. · International interest in handwashing as an intervention has grown over the past two years, increasing the need for well-documented trials of new approaches. Results of the systematic review Val Curtis and Sandy Cairncross have finally completed and submitted their review of the evidence about handwashing. 15 studies showed a pooled reduced risk of diarrhoea from washing hands with soap of 43%. This value did not vary much when only the best studies, or only the trials were combined. Handwashing had an even greater effect on the risk of severe diarrhoeas (typhoid, cholera, shigellosis) of over 50%. The implication is that handwashing could save over a million lives. The paper has been submitted to a high profile journal and we hope it may be accepted in time for the Jo'burg summit. Expansion of the initiative Enthusiasm was such at the Washington Summit that the programme may now spread to five more countries. With the newly secured Dutch trust funds it will be possible to envisage not just continuing in Ghana and Kerala, but also setting up new PPPs in China, Senegal, Peru, Kyrgyzstan and Nepal. The Senegalese participant went back home and spread the word, and despite the world cup fever colleagues there are clamouring to begin. In China, meetings with officials are taking place in July. WSSCC has been spreading the word as well and there may be action in South Africa also. Action Plans: Ghana and Kerala The Ghana and Kerala teams have put together remarkable action plans which take hygiene promotion to new heights. The private sectors' marketing skills have been harnessed to the needs of a social programme in ground- breaking ways. The plans propose the use of both mass media and existing government channels to promote handwashing based on people existing motives, and at life change opportunities. Governments, the private sector and External Support Agencies have agreed funding in principle. Programmes will be ready to roll once the red tape is sewn up. Website Up-Date The latest online documents are publicly accessible on the `Publications of the Partnership' section of this website: · Report of the Global Experience Sharing Workshop, May 9-10, 2002 · Global Soap Market Study (April 2002) · The documentation and publication of the results of the BASICS/EHP Public-Private Partnership Handwashing Project in Central America (February 2002) · Public-Private Partnerships for Health: A Review of Best Practices (January 2002) · Business plans of the Kerala Program (draft). To download the document click on: http://www.wsp.org/english/activities/handwashing/ppphw_bp.pdf New people and partners · In Kerala James Varghese has been replaced as director of KRWSA by Mr B. Ashok. · Dr Steve Luby, an expert in handwashing and water and their impact on health is to join the team to assist with designing and testing monitoring and evaluation methodologies. · In Washington, Esther Monier-Illouz, a young development professional, former project manager at the NGO WaterAid in London, to set-up a new Francophone initiative on water, sanitation and hygiene promotion with local partners in West Africa, and build alliances with Francophone water organizations, has been appointed coordinator for the PPP Handwashing Initiative in July 2002.