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On World Toilet Day 2021, LIXIL, producer of pioneering water and housing products, showed appreciation for its employees, partners and consumers who have enabled the company to improve access to basic sanitation for 25 million people in 41 countries, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Currently, an estimated 1.7 billion people, about one-fifth of the global population, live without access to safe, sanitary toilets and use poor quality or no facilities at all. Up to 700 children under the age of five may die every day due to diarrheal diseases caused by unsanitary conditions related to unsafe and low availability of water, sanitation and hygiene.
Among the 494 million people still practicing open defecation, women or children may be placed under risk of being sexually assaulted while trying to find somewhere private to relieve themselves. The lack of safe and private toilets in schools may also contribute to the gender gap in education as teenage girls report that they stay home during menstruation, which leads to girls falling behind in their studies and eventually curtailing their education.
The UN’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 seeks to ensure access to water and sanitation for all by 2030. But the world is off-track, according to the latest UN progress report, compounded by the extreme challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Progress must be accelerated in the coming nine years, it states, in some areas up to four times faster.
"Providing access to safe, clean toilets can save lives, close gender gaps, and improve the wellbeing of the most vulnerable within society. It is a cause that is very close to our hearts at LIXIL, one that inspires and gives us greater purpose as people," said Jin Montesano, chair of LIXIL’s Corporate Responsibility Committee.
LIXIL has improved access to basic sanitation for 25 million people and counting. In line with SDG 6, the company aims to improve the livelihood of 100 million people through hygiene and sanitation solutions by 2025.
Expanded product portfolio
Leading LIXIL’s commitment is its SATO brand of toilet and hygiene solutions, an affordable and aspirational option for households and communities of rural and peri-urban areas across developing economies.
Drawing on LIXIL’s expertise in water solutions and its consumer-centric approach, SATO innovates tailored solutions to cater to the unique challenges of underserved communities. SATO products range from a variety of squat toilet pans to toilet stools, and components that include connection systems like the V-Trap and I-Trap systems. As a social business, SATO is also helping develop the sanitation economy, where communities play a vital role in bringing sustainable change.
With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, SATO developed a simple and affordable handwashing solution: the SATO Tap. SATO quickly deployed this innovation, leveraging its market intelligence and partner networks for the safety and health of users.
By supporting communities and local business partners as they faced these challenges, over the last 12 months, SATO has distributed over 1 million units of toilets and hygiene solutions, impacting the lives of 5.5 million people globally.
In partnership with UNICEF and other critical partners, SATO donated and delivered over 325,000 units of toilets and tap handwashing stations to underserved communities. The company has also trained an estimated 3,000 masons across India, Africa, and SE Asia.
LIXIL and UNICEF expanded their "Make A Splash!" partnership after reaching 2.9 million people with sanitation and hygiene solutions.
Launched in 2018, "Make a Splash!" combines the two organizations' complementary strengths to support progress towards SDG 6. Scaling-up the partnership underscores its success in improving sanitation and hygiene over the past three years, reaching 2.9 million people in communities in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania.
‘Make a Splash!’ Partnership impacting communities 2021.
The ‘Make a Splash!’ partnership aims to build viable sanitation and hygiene markets serving millions of people - by expanding the availability, affordability and quality of goods and services.
Through UNICEF’s sanitation and hygiene demand generation activities, LIXIL designs and supplies solutions based on user needs and preferences, along with joint capacity building activities.
LIXIL's GROHE brand also contributes 1.2 million euros raised through its "Energy for Life" campaign.
GROHE, a leading global brand for complete bathroom solutions and kitchen fittings, supported "Make a Splash!" with a dedicated campaign across 13 countries in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa this summer.
Through the "Energy for Life" campaign, the brand raised one euro for every participating GROHE shower system or thermostat purchased. As a result, LIXIL collected the sum of 1.2 million euros through associated GROHE sales, which is now being used to help ensure more children have access to clean, safe toilets and hand hygiene.
For more information on the Energy for Life campaign, visit: https://www.grohe.co.uk/en_gb/energy-for-life/makeasplash/
LIXIL makes pioneering water and housing products. Drawing on Japanese heritage, LIXIL creates world-leading technology and innovate to produce high quality products that transform homes, with approximately 55,000 colleagues operating in more than 150 countries.
LIXIL's leading brands include INAX, GROHE, American Standard, and TOSTEM.
