Enable more people every day to enjoy a fuller life
What makes Essity successful is the understanding, knowledge and insight about the needs of customers and consumers and the ability to transform this into innovative offerings that increase quality of life and make everyday life easier for people. Essity strives to offer the best value for customers and consumers through value-added hygiene and health solutions for everyone. We adapt our offering to local and regional market conditions to increase hygiene and health standards worldwide. Essity wants to reach more people by promoting a global dialogue concerning hygiene, health and well-being.
“Essentials Initiative”
Every day, millions of women, men and children refrain from going to work or school or from taking part in social events because of hygiene and health-related concerns. The concerns or obstacles could be due to the lack of clean toilets or access to hygiene products, but also due to cultural taboos and stigma. For many people, this results in exclusion from society and for society this leads to a loss of economic value or increased costs. This means there is both a human and a business perspective to investing in hygiene and health and spreading knowledge about this.
Through Essity’s “Essentials Initiative”, we are conducting a global dialogue to increase awareness of the importance of hygiene and health and its link to well-being. Two integral aspects of the “Essentials Initiative” are a global survey of attitudes to hygiene and health and a report. The 2016/2017 report looked at the economic value of investing in these areas, breaking taboos and stigma, as well as innovative solutions for the future. The report was produced in collaboration with the UN’s Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC). The WSSCC is the main UN body that works solely with sanitation and hygiene issues.
Follow our global dialogue on www.essentialsinitiative.com.
Knowledge is key
By investing in knowledge about hygiene and health, we increase awareness and the use of hygiene and health products. Knowledge is key to increased hygiene and health standards in the world, at the same time as this creates business opportunities. In 2017, Essity provided training in hygiene and health to more than 2.5 million children, women and men, parents, relatives and caregivers globally.
In Feminine Care, our work includes educating teenage girls about menstruation, providing them access to feminine care products and helping to create a world where menstruation can be openly discussed. For example, Essity has school programs in several countries that inform girls about the physiological and emotional changes that girls experience during puberty and demonstrate the positive link between hygiene, the right hygiene products and well-being.
In Incontinence Products, Essity is conducting a dialogue to increase knowledge of incontinence and of available incontinence products. Incontinence affects 4–8% of the world’s population, corresponding to approximately 400 million people. Essity offers solutions to manage incontinence and works to ensure that as many people as possible are given the right care and a dignified existence. We are, for example, involved in the Global Forum on Incontinence (GFI), which is a leading global forum for education and debate on incontinence and continence care, where patients and experts in care and health, decision-makers such as politicians, regulators and payers, as well as care providers and other interest groups from all over the world meet and exchange experiences, discuss research results and future solutions. It is a unique occasion for participants with differing perspectives and opportunities to exercise influence to meet and discuss how incontinence can be addressed, prevented and cured in the best possible way.
In Professional Hygiene, our education program includes hand hygiene. We are taking part in the Private Organizations for Patient Safety (POPS), an initiative supported by WHO, to save patient lives and protect employees in the healthcare sector. POPS comprises companies that together provide information and create awareness about the correct routines for hand hygiene in healthcare.
Presence in emerging markets
Every day, several hundred million people across the world use our products and solutions. We want to grow and offer hygiene and health products adapted to the needs of each consumer and thereby help to raise hygiene and health standards in the markets where we operate. The use of hygiene and health products is lower in emerging markets compared with mature markets. Increased disposable income leads to more people prioritizing hygiene and health, and poverty reduction leads to greater use of our products and solutions.
Essity and WSSCC break the silence surrounding menstruation
Menstruation and intimate hygiene for women are unfortunately often sensitive topics around the world. While in mature markets there is normally education and resources available to allow women to learn about menstruation and intimate hygiene from an early age, in emerging markets there is lack of information both in the home and in school where young girls can learn about menstruation and puberty. The taboos, ignorance and preconceptions surrounding menstruation are jeopardizing the health of millions of women every day, particularly in emerging markets. Essity is collaborating with the UN’s WSSCC in order to break the taboos surrounding menstruation and to increase awareness of the importance of good hygiene during menstruation.