New York, Tokyo,11 November 2014 - Saraya Co. Ltd, a Japanese manufacturer of hygiene and sanitation products, joined the Business Call to Action (BCtA) with its initiative to decrease healthcare associated infections in Uganda. Saraya brings its unique alcohol-based hand rub products to East Africa in an effort to reduce the spread of preventable diseases. The company has committed to improve the compliance rate of healthcare workers in Uganda and scale up its production and sales by 2016.

With an estimated 75 percent of childhood diseases linked to poor sanitation practices in Uganda, Saraya has worked to promote better hand washing and hygiene since 2010. In collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and local partners, the company initiated a feasibility project in 2012 to control infections with its alcohol-based hand rub products in pilot hospitals and educate healthcare workers about preventing healthcare associated infections. As a result of the project, Saraya's alcohol-based hand rub products were proven to decrease cases of infection, including post-cesarean sepsis and acute diarrhea in pediatrics.

To make its products more accessible, the company has also established a local subsidiary to manufacture, distribute and sell its products in East Africa. Saraya procures bio-ethanol, the main ingredient of the products, locally. The company's entire value chain from sourcing, manufacturing, and distribution to sales is designed to provide more affordable products and enhance distribution efforts.

As a result of Saraya's efforts, the critical hand washing and compliance rate required to reduce infections and improve health outcomes in public hospitals, especially within countries with high child mortality rates, will be enhanced. We are very encouraged to have them join the Business Call to Action, stated Suba Sivakumaran, Programme Manager for the Business Call to Action.

Saraya also advocates the importance of hand hygiene in hospitals. The company trains college graduates as sanitation instructors and assigns them to hospitals to instruct healthcare workers in how to improve sanitation by using hand hygiene products.

According to Yusuke Saraya, President of Saraya, "We wish to contribute to food sanitation and public health, and improve hospital infection control in developing countries. We started our projects in Uganda and Cambodia to improve hygiene for mother's and children's health. We also continually aim to improve food production and distribution to make value-added products".

The company plans to provide its specialty Ugandan-made products to 100 hospitals in Uganda and to 300 hospitals across East Africa by 2017.

For More Information:

BCtA: Karen Newman, karen.newman@undp.org +1.212. 906-5194

Saraya: Madoka Mori, mori-md@global.saraya.com

The Business Call to Action (BCtA) is a global corporate leadership platform, with over 100 member companies that are incorporating inclusive business approaches in their operations to help advance the MDGs. As innovators in this space, BCtA member companies are advancing the inclusive business agenda by creating novel business models, sharing lessons learned, and forging partnerships to improve scale and increase development impact. The initiative is the result of a partnership between the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), UK Department for International Development(DFID), US Agency for International Development (USAID), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the United Nations Global Compact to meet the anti-poverty Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Companies report on progress toward commitments on an annual basis. @bctainitiative

SarayaCo. Ltd: Founded in in 1952, Saraya is a Japan-based manufacturer of hygiene and sanitation products. The company strives to improve sanitation, environment and health around the world with its hygiene products, including liquid soap and alcohol-based hand rub products.