Winner
PHASE - a simple handwashing programme that saves lives
Summary of work
GSK set up its Personal Hygiene and Sanitation Education (PHASE) programme in 1998, working with international partners to improve water quality and promote healthy hand-washing behaviours in some of the world’s poorest communities. Since launch, GSK has invested £6 million in the programme, which has reached over 1.5 million children and now extends to 16 countries across sub-Saharan Africa, Central and South America, South East Asia and Europe.
PHASE is designed to be sustainable over the long-term and can be adapted easily to different community contexts and needs. Communities continue to benefit from programme activities long after the initial investment, with a legacy of trained health workers and school teachers and improved water and sanitation infrastructure.
Alongside continued programme delivery, in 2011 GSK took steps to extend the programme’s reach and impact further. An internal review identified opportunities for diversification and integration, with a particular focus on areas where GSK can add value from its existing partnerships and business activities. In the first project of its kind, GSK began a pilot with the Earth Institute at Colombia University to assess the use of the PHASE behaviour-change model to promote oral health as part of its Millennium Village Project.
Executive summary as submitted
Judges’ comments
"GSK set up its Personal Hygiene and Sanitation Education (PHASE) programme a decade ago. The PHASE programme won because it embraced the principles of the CSR award by delivering on three significant points: impact – since its inception the programme has been delivered to 1.5 million children and expands across 16 countries; sustainability – communities continue to benefit from the initial investment because a cadre of teachers and health workers, and the children, become responsible and able to cascade the knowledge; scalability – the programme has been evolved continually to save lives with 2011 focusing on oral health and hand washing."
