Some 1 million Indonesian children are set to receive handwashing, vaccinations, and nutrition education as part of an "innovative multisectoral partnership" aimed at saving children's lives.
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, Unilever's Lifebuoy soap brand, and The Power of Nutrition, a global charitable foundation focused on the fight against malnutrition, have launched the partnership in West Java and South Kalimantan, the Guardian reports.
"Inadequate hand hygiene, malnutrition, and infectious diseases together cause millions of preventable child deaths every year and contribute to a vicious cycle of poor health, stunted growth, poverty, and exclusion," Dr. Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, says in a press release.
"Integrated interventions that begin at birth, including clean water and vaccines, can protect against these diseases."
Indonesia has some of the highest child mortality rates in the world, with more than a quarter of the deaths of children under the age of one occurring in the country in 2021, according to the press release.
The new program will use lessons learned from a similar partnership between Gavi and Unilever in India, which saw a five-fold increase in incidental handwashing with soap and a significant increase in routine vaccination against diseases such as rubella, measles, and rotavirus.
"Unilever has a long
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