PISCATAWAY, N.J., Sept. 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- American Standard
Brands President and CEO Jay Gould
will speak at the 10th Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual
Meeting tomorrow on the topic of improving access to safe
sanitation facilities around the world and its effect on people's
health, education and safety. Gould will be joined in discussion by
Raya, a new Sesame Street character acting as the mascot for the
"Cleaner, Happier, Healthier" sanitation campaign recently launched
in Bangladesh, India, and Nigeria.
The session will focus on the serious problems caused by the
lack of access to adequate sanitation, including the increased
healthcare costs, diminished productivity, unsafe environment and
premature death rate. The speakers will also explore how NGOs,
private enterprises and entrepreneurs can partner to build
sanitation infrastructures in rural and urban environments,
providing appropriate sanitation options for local communities,
while specifically addressing issues affecting girls' safety and
education.
Worldwide, 2.5 billion people lack access to safe sanitation
facilities. Every day, 2,000 people die from diseases caused by
this lack of proper sanitation, many of them children. The United
Nations has set a 2015 Millennium Development Goal of reducing by
half the proportion of people who lack access to safe drinking
water and basic sanitation.
In 2013, American Standard Brands announced an official CGI
Commitment to Action to improve sanitation and quality of life for
three million people around the world from 2014 through 2017.
Including the 2.5 million residents of Bangladesh that received safer sanitation
assistance from the Company during 2013 and 2014, an estimated 5.5
million people will be reached by the end of 2017.
This commitment played a key part in the Flush for Good campaign
launched by American Standard in 2013, with the goal of increasing
awareness of the global sanitation crisis, while creating
innovative solutions to help stop the spread of disease caused by
inadequate sanitation facilities in developing countries. In part
through a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,
American Standard researched and invented the SaTo (derived from
Safe Toilet) sanitary toilet pan in 2013, designing it to work
without a sewer infrastructure. The SaTo toilet pan uses
ingeniously simple mechanical and water seals to close off pit
latrines from the open air, thereby reducing the transmission of
disease and odor. The Company's Flush for Good campaign donates one
SaTo pan for every Champion toilet sold in North America during 2013 and 2014.
American Standard has partnered with non-profit organizations
including BRAC, WaterAid, Save the Children, Plumbers Without
Borders and Water For People to distribute SaTo toilet pans
throughout the developing world. To date, these simple, yet
innovative, SaTo pans have helped improve, and save, lives around
the world:
- In 2013, more than 530,000 SaTos were donated to BRAC, WaterAid
and Save the Children for their distribution throughout
Bangladesh over the next two
years.
- After an initial donation of 10,000 SaTo hygienic toilet pans
to UNICEF Philippines to support reconstruction efforts in the
aftermath of the devastation of Typhoon Haiyan, another 25,000
units are due to arrive this month for that effort.
- Containers of SaTo pans recently arrived in Malawi and Uganda to help residents in rural communities
in these African nations have access to safer sanitation.
- NGO Food for the Poor was so pleased with test installations of
SaTo pans in Haiti that it will
now include these life-saving pans in all future homes it builds in
developing countries.
- Philanthropic organization Plumbers Without Borders is teaching
plumbing students at the vocational school Haiti Tec about using
SaTo pans to improve sanitation facilities in their native
Haiti.
- Currently, American Standard is developing an alternate toilet
pan for areas where water is scarce, targeting their initial
efforts on countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
In summary, American Standard aims to donate 1.2 million SaTo
hygienic toilet pans as a result of its Flush for Good campaign
promotional efforts in 2013 and 2014. These SaTo pans will be
distributed and installed in homes and schools in developing
nations around the world through 2017.
"All of us at American Standard take our commitment to saving
lives and improving sanitation around the world very seriously,"
said Gould. "It is a privilege to share our work with the Clinton
Global Initiative community, and I look forward to an inspiring day
of idea sharing and collaboration at the Annual Meeting."
The Clinton Global Initiative brings together highly influential
individuals from across the globe, including heads of state, CEOs,
Nobel Prize laureates and leaders of NGOs, all with a mission of
turning ideas into action. More than 2,900 Commitments to Action
have been made by members of the CGI community since the Initiative
was founded in 2005, to the benefit of an estimated 430 million
people around the world.
For more information on the Flush for Good campaign, visit
www.americanstandard.com or www.flushforgood.com. Learn more about
the Clinton Global Initiative at
www.clintonglobalinitiative.org.
ABOUT AMERICAN STANDARD BRANDS
American Standard Brands make life healthier, safer and more
beautiful at home, at work, in the community and throughout the
world. Offering total project solutions for residential and
commercial customers around the world with respected brands such as
American Standard®, DXV™, Safety
Tubs®, Crane Plumbing®, Eljer®,
Fiat® and Decorative Panels International®.
American Standard Brands is owned by Lixil Corporation (TSE Code
5938), a global building products company. Learn more at
www.americanstandard.com, or follow us at twitter.com/AmStandard,
https://www.facebook.com/AmericanStandardPlumbing.
SaTo™ and Flush for Good™ are trademarks
of American Standard Brands.
ABOUT THE CLINTON GLOBAL INITIATIVE (CGI)
Established in 2005 by President Bill
Clinton, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), an initiative
of the Clinton Foundation, convenes global leaders to create and
implement innovative solutions to the world's most pressing
challenges. CGI Annual Meetings have brought together more than 180
heads of state, 20 Nobel Prize laureates, and hundreds of leading
CEOs, heads of foundations and NGOs, major philanthropists, and
members of the media. To date CGI members have made more than 2,900
commitments, which are already improving the lives of more than 430
million people in over 180 countries.
CGI also convenes CGI America, a meeting focused on
collaborative solutions to economic recovery in the United States, and CGI University (CGI U),
which brings together undergraduate and graduate students to
address pressing challenges in their community or around the world.
For more information, visit clintonglobalinitiative.org and follow
us on Twitter @ClintonGlobal and Facebook at
facebook.com/clintonglobalinitiative.
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140922/147558
SOURCE American Standard Brands
