Reckitt Pakistan and the Aga Khan Foundation have signed an agreement to launch Saaf Sehatmand Pakistan, a new social impact platform whose first programme will bring safe drinking water, rehabilitated toilets, handwashing stations and hygiene education to schools across Pakistan. The platform was unveiled in Karachi, where British Deputy High Commissioner Alison Blackburne joined senior leaders from both partners at the launch event.
As the first initiative under the platform, the school-based programme is designed to start in classrooms and scale across the country. It will give children access to safe drinking water, repair and upgrade toilet facilities, build dedicated handwashing stations and deliver hygiene education that helps young learners develop healthier habits from an early age.
What Saaf Sehatmand Pakistan Will Deliver in Schools
The partnership pairs Reckitt Pakistan’s health and hygiene expertise with the Aga Khan Foundation’s on-ground experience in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and community outreach. That combination is meant to turn classroom-level problems into practical, lasting solutions:
- clean, safe drinking water that children can actually drink at school
- rehabilitated toilets that are safe and usable
- dedicated handwashing stations that make daily hygiene part of the school routine
- hygiene education that helps young learners build healthier habits from an early age
Reckitt Pakistan already reaches more than two million children every year through school-based hygiene education. Saaf Sehatmand Pakistan will deepen that impact by pairing education with better infrastructure, so lessons about clean habits are matched by the facilities children need to practise them.
Powered by Dettol and Harpic
The platform is powered by Dettol and Harpic, brands that have been part of Pakistani households for generations, as noted in Reckitt’s official announcement. Under the Saaf Sehatmand Pakistan umbrella, Reckitt Pakistan says it is bringing together all of its work across health, hygiene, sanitation and safe water under one long-term ambition: to help build a cleaner and healthier Pakistan.
Speaking at the launch, Reckitt Pakistan General Manager Asif M. Hashimi said the initiative would translate the trust and expertise of Dettol and Harpic into real interventions in schools, adding that the company’s ambition is to carry that impact from classrooms into homes and communities across Pakistan. Reckitt, the global consumer health and hygiene company behind the brands, describes its purpose as putting better health in more hands every day.
Starting in Rural Sindh, Scaling Nationwide
The initiative will begin by creating healthier school environments in rural Sindh, where the Aga Khan Foundation’s implementation experience will be central. Amin Feerasta, Chairman of the National Committee of Aga Khan Foundation Pakistan, said every child deserved a safe, healthy and dignified learning environment, and expressed hope that the agreement would be the first chapter of a long-term cooperation between Reckitt and the foundation in Pakistan.
Chief Executive Officer of Aga Khan Foundation Pakistan Akhtar Iqbal and Reckitt Pakistan Marketing Director Sarah Ahmed also attended the unveiling, signalling the senior-level backing behind the partnership.
The focus on schools matters because access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene directly affects whether children can attend school and stay there. British Deputy High Commissioner Alison Blackburne welcomed the launch, noting that safe water, sanitation and hygiene are essential for children’s health, wellbeing and education, and that the Aga Khan Foundation’s implementation expertise could help turn the initiative’s goals into lasting impact.
A Partnership Model for Healthier Communities
Saaf Sehatmand Pakistan is designed to grow beyond its first schools programme through a wider network of partners who share Reckitt Pakistan’s ambition to improve access to health and hygiene, taking better health from classrooms into homes and communities while leaving no one behind.
The model of combining private-sector resources with development-sector expertise is one that Pakistan is using more often in the health space, including recent collaborations between Pakistani and Chinese institutions on medical education (see our story on the China-Pakistan medical education MoUs). And as with other initiatives that put community wellbeing first, such as the internationally recognised housing project honoured with a UN-Habitat award or the homes built for flood-affected families by Hadiqa Kiani, the real test of Saaf Sehatmand Pakistan will be the change that reaches families on the ground.
For now, Saaf Sehatmand Pakistan marks the beginning of a long-term journey: healthier schools, stronger communities and, step by step, a healthier nation.
Sources
- Reckitt: Saaf Sehatmand Pakistan official announcement
- Wikipedia: Reckitt
- Wikipedia: Aga Khan Foundation
Umar is an engineer by profession and a passionate writer by passion. He has a deep interest in sharing good news related to Pakistan and has been working hard to promote the positive image of his homeland. Umar has written numerous articles on various topics related to Pakistan, such as technology, sports, culture, and economy.