Myriam Sidibé is one of the only people in the world with a doctorate in public health focused on handwashing with soap. As the Global Social Mission Director for Lifebuoy soap, she has spent 14 years working with thousands of children understanding the most effective ways to get them to wash their hands with soap at key occasions like before eating or after using the bathroom.
Myriam leads Social Mission activity in 55 countries throughout Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America with the aim of changing handwashing behaviours of one billion people by 2020 – that’s the biggest hygiene behaviour change program in the world.
Myriam is one of the driving forces behind the creation of Global Handwashing Day, which recognises the need to raise awareness of handwashing with soap as a simple but lifesaving habit that can prevent disease. She represents Unilever and often partners with organisations such as Millennium Villages, the World Bank, PSI, WSUP, MCHIP and USAID to educate people about the importance of handwashing with soap, and run programmes that will help form healthy handwashing habits for life.
Myriam is also the Founder of Brands on a Mission, a movement to catalyse and generate an additional US$1 billion investment in sustainable business models that address health and well-being, contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. It is a framework to help businesses achieve social impact and business growth through purpose.
