CINCINNATI, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Pantene, the world's leading hair care brand, is proud to announce a charitable partnership with the P&G Children's Safe Drinking Water Program (CSDW), by providing PUR packets that transform contaminated water into clean, drinkable water. CSDW is a non-profit organization focused on the critical, global need for clean, safe drinking water. Pantene will support CSDW to prevent 20 million days of illness and save an estimated 2,500 lives, by providing half a billion liters of clean drinking water in the developing world.

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In celebration of the millions of loyal Pantene users, Pantene is launching, Healthy Hair for Healthy Water (HHHW), a global program to support CSDW in helping women and their communities that need it most.  Pantene celebrity ambassadors, supermodel Gisele Bundchen of Brazil, and singer/song writer Anggun of Indonesia, announced the kick-off of the Healthy Hair for Healthy Water program at P&G's VIP reception that was held in conjunction with the 2010 Clinton Global Initiative in NYC on September 22nd.

Through its HHHW program, Pantene is partnering with its consumers to help CSDW achieve its goal to 'save one life every hour' in the developing world by providing two billion liters of clean water every year by 2020.  In the United States, consumers can make a difference now by purchasing Pantene products from the P&G eStore at http://www.pgestore.com/Pantene/pantene,default,sc.html.  For each bottle purchased from the eStore through February 28, 2011, Pantene will donate 10 cents to CSDW, which is the cost of providing one week's worth of clean drinking water (10 liters) for a child in the developing world.  Pantene expects to launch the HHHW program in several regions around the world over the next five years, and is currently working towards the next introductions in Brazil and Indonesia.

"Pantene is committed to helping women and their world shine through health," says Hanneke Faber, P&G's Vice President & Brand Franchise Leader for Global Pantene. "As the Healthy Hair for Healthy Water program expands around the world, consumers will have the chance to simultaneously enhance the health of their hair and provide healthy water for women and their struggling families."

"Mothers lose 1.8 million children every year from diarrheal diseases caused by contaminated water – more than HIV/AIDS and malaria combined," says Dr. Greg Allgood, Director, CSDW. "Pantene's commitment to improving the health of women and their children through its Healthy Hair for Healthy Water program is a means to help address this global health issue."  

The program will deliver clean, purified drinking water to needy areas via low-cost PUR packets, one of which quickly turns 10 liters of dirty, potentially deadly water into clean, drinkable water.  Although CSDW is named after the children, Allgood says it is women who bring the program to life. "The true heroes of the CSDW program are women, as they provide 90% of all of the PUR packets."

The Pantene HHHW program is part of Pantene's ongoing commitment to making meaningful improvements in sustainability through its products, operations and social responsibility programs. Pantene is working towards creating innovative, beautiful products which are better for the environment, without trade-offs for consumers in performance, aesthetics, or price.

About P&G Beauty & Grooming

P&G Beauty & Grooming products help make beauty dreams real for women and help men look, feel and be their best everyday.  With 8 billion dollar brands and products available in nearly 130 countries, P&G's beauty and grooming products delivered sales of over $27 billion in fiscal year 2009/10, making it one of the world's largest beauty and grooming companies.  P&G Beauty & Grooming offers trusted brands with leading technology to meet the full complement of beauty and grooming needs, including  Pantene®, Olay®, Head & Shoulders®, Max Factor®, Cover Girl®, DDF®, Frederic Fekkai®, Wellaflex®,  Rejoice®, Sebastian Professional®, Herbal Essences®, Koleston®, Clairol Professional®, Nice 'n Easy®, Venus®, Gillette®, SK-II®, Wella Professionals®, Braun® and a leading Prestige Fragrance division that spans from point of market entry consumers to high end luxury with global brands such as Hugo Boss®, Lacoste®, and Christina Aguilera®.  Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G (NYSE: PG) and its brands.

About the P&G Children's Safe Drinking Water Program

Procter & Gamble's not-for-profit Children's Safe Drinking Water (CSDW) Program is focused on reducing the sickness and death that result from water-borne illness caused by drinking contaminated water.  Since 2004, P&G has partnered with a diverse network of organizations to help distribute PUR packets which turn 10 liters of dirty, contaminated water into clean drinkable water.  To date, the P&G Children's Safe Drinking Water Program has delivered over 2.4 billion liters of clean drinking water to people in over 57 developing countries.  To learn more about the CSDW program, please visit www.csdw.org.

SOURCE Pantene