Covid-19: ActionAid joins Hygiene and Behaviour Change Coalition led by Unilever and DFID to provide women and girls in Kenya and Nepal with soap and water.
Covid-19 is having a disastrous impact on the world’s poorest countries where millions live in overcrowded conditions without access to clean water, sanitation or medical care. In response, the Department for International Development and Unilever are providing funding to a number of NGO partners, including ActionAid, to help the global spread of the virus and protect those most impacted.
The ‘Hygiene & Behaviour Change Coalition (HBCC)’ represents a £100 million contribution to the UK’s response to tackling Covid-19 in low- and middle-income countries.
Girish Menon, ActionAid UK’s Chief Executive says, “This grant is enabling us to provide life-saving advice and emergency provisions like soap and water to the most marginalised women and girls in Kenya and Nepal. ActionAid is delighted to be working with the Department for International Development and Unilever so that we can carry out this critical work in response to the pandemic.”
Girish continues, “ActionAid is also working closely with local women leaders in both Kenya and Nepal to respond to the secondary impacts of the virus on women and girls. This includes providing support for survivors of domestic abuse and ensuring that vital services for them remain accessible.”
NGO partners will be working across multiple countries using mass and digital communication channels to raise awareness of the virus, distributing essential hygiene products donated by Unilever such as soap and surface cleaners, and working with communities to embed long-term hygiene behaviour change.
In addition to this, ActionAid is rehabilitating water sources in Kenya to ensure that access to water is not a barrier to good hygiene practices. In Nepal, ActionAid is working with youth networks to reach those who might not engage with traditional media to ensure everyone can access vital information.
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For further information or interview enquiries, please contact Frankie.harrington@actionaid.org or call 07753 973 486.
Notes to editors:
ActionAid works with women and girls living in poverty. Our dedicated local staff are changing the world with women and girls. We are ending violence and fighting poverty so that all women, everywhere, can create the future they want.
More information on the Hygiene & Behaviour Change Coalition (HBCC).