Rentokil Initial Philippines Inc., a company that provides pest control and hygiene solutions, has launched a health awareness campaign aimed at educating school kids on proper toilet etiquette.
Rentokil Initial Philippines managing director Ederine Gee Geneblazo said the company’s “Adopt-a-School” hygiene program is in support of the global celebration of World Toilet Day.
“When we launched this program and we taught the kids the proper way to use a toilet bowl as well as how to wash hands properly. We even brought a machine to show them that even as they wash their hands, there are still lingering germs and bacteria that may cause illness. So, after washing we recommend to use hand sanitizer. Sometime, kids trend to wash only their fingertips. The proper way of washing is to wash hands while singing the Birthday Song twice,” she said.
Rentokil Initial’s “program complements the objectives of World Toilet Day and was launched with an activity that aims to teach young Filipinos the basics of proper toilet habits, starting off with the students of the Makati Gospel Church New Life Christian Academy, which is Rentokil Initial’s adopted school.
managing director Ederine Gee Geneblazo
Geneblazo said the mindset in developing proper toilet and hand washing habits should start at a young age. “As such, the event program will particularly focus on helping students learn and develop proper toilet and handwashing habits,” she said.
One of the key messages of the activity is “When you flush, cover and wash,” which emphasizes the importance of covering the toilet bowl whenever they flush to avoid contaminating the air and of washing their hands afterwards.
The World Toilet Day is an initiative of the United Nations General Assembly and is in line with the Sustainable Development Goals launched in 2015 which include a target to ensure everyone has access to a safely-managed household toilet by 2030.
“Our advocacy complements the World Toilet Day’s aim of addressing the global need for more toilets, because aside from the dire lack of clean toilets in many communities, studies show that contributory to the spread of diseases is improper sanitation and bad toilet habits,” said Geneblazo.
As Rentokil Initial’s adopted school, the Makati Gospel Church New Life Christian Academy was provided with toilet hygiene products for the use of its students and teachers in the school’s comfort rooms as well as literature for the products’ proper use.
“The main reason why we chose the Makati Gospel Church New Life Christian Academy as our first adopted school for this advocacy is because their objectives in toilet hygiene are aligned with our own program objectives. So, it’s a perfect fit,” Geneblazo said.
The “Adopt-a-School” program is part of Rentokil Initial’s ongoing global “Better Future” health education program which educates communities in developing countries about the importance of personal and environmental hygiene.
The “Better Future” health education program aims to generally raise the standards of hygiene globally, targeting not only young students but adult employees and families as well.
“As experts in the hygiene industry, we have taken it upon ourselves to further educate the community and its schools by developing a more sustainable information and awareness campaign,” Geneblazo said.
Later on, the company is planning to expand the reach of its hygiene awareness program to the national level.
Rentokil Initial is the only known sanitation and hygiene solutions company in the Philippines. It services big companies, hotel, organizations, media offices and other agencies.
“More than installing the solutions we provide, we educate users”•the people”•on how to use toilet properly and hygienically. It should not be just cleaning since it will only clean the surface only. I think it is our habit that we do not know how to use the toilet, especially the toilet bowl, properly. You know, it only takes about 30 seconds for the germs and bacteria to spread in a cubicle. People are at risk of contacting airborne diseases if not properly toilet-trained,” Geneblazo said.
In place of work like the offices, ladies rooms should be fitted with sanitary bins to efficiently dispose of sanitary napkins. The company said there is a law in the Philippines that requires all offices with 10 or more than 10 women employees to install sanitary bins for sanitary napkin disposal.
Most of the time, toilet bowls are cleaned by wiping the surface, Genelaza said, noting that by swiping the rim, one will see how filthy and grimy toilet bowls are.
“So if you run a test, like what we do before we proceed with our assessment, you can see blood, bits of feces and other foul matters. We have four categories for toilet hygiene solutions and one of them is feminine care. The installation of a sanitary bin equipped with the necessarily chemicals that fight odor and the spread of bacteria, is one of the services we offer to companies,” she said.
Rentokil Initial is a company that combines the expertise of Rentokil, the world’s leading commercial pest control services provider, and Initial, the world’s leading commercial hygiene services company.
Rentokil Initial is currently one of the leading providers of hygiene solutions, offering leading-edge technology, products and services to customers in over 45 countries including the Philippines.