Hygiene & well-being

The issues

Around the world, preventable disease, resulting from poor hygiene and sanitation, still pose a significant global health challenge.  Simple changes can help prevent this.  Helping people access the right products, such as soap and toothpaste, is an important first step.

Our approach

Yet this is not enough.  Encouraging people to change their habits, like washing hands before touching food, is essential.  Our health and hygiene programs in many parts of the world set out to achieve this.  Our approach is to:

• Make effective products that promote good hygiene and well-being

• Transform people’s everyday habits through effective behavior change campaigns

• Work with partners to achieve wider improvements in health and well-being

Enhancing self-esteem & well-being

Many of our brands help people feel good and look good every day, which can enhance both physical and emotional well-being.  Some of our brands, such as Dove®, have campaigns on empowering and raising the self-esteem of women.  This continues a tradition going back as far as the 1890’s.  The vision of one of our founders, William Lever, was to improve women’s well-being by making everyday household care products more affordable.

Today, poor self-image affects the confidence and well-being of many people, especially young girls and women.  How a person feels about his or her personal appearance and hygiene can boost his or her self-esteem and confidence.  This is true in all communities around the world – in developing as well as developed countries.