Kimberly-Clark and UNICEF strengthen child and maternal healthcare

On November 17, Kimberly-Clark Vietnam, through the Kimberly-Clark Foundation, announced a renewed partnership with UNICEF, backed by a $2.05 million commitment to expand access to essential care for 3.8 million mothers, newborns, and young girls across Vietnam. This new investment doubles the $1 million allocated during the partnership’s earlier phase.

Over the next three years, Kimberly-Clark and UNICEF will focus on improving menstrual health for adolescent girls and women through education and better access to services. The initiative will also support young and expectant mothers by expanding Adolescent-Responsive Maternal Care and Kangaroo Mother Care to enhance early bonding, breastfeeding, and newborn survival, while providing training for educators and healthcare workers and supporting policies to ensure equitable access to health services.

According to UNICEF, maternal mortality in mountainous regions is five times the national rate, and infant mortality in rural households is nearly double that of urban areas. Access to quality prenatal and postnatal care is also limited. Around 40 per cent of girls and parents lack accurate knowledge of menstrual health, and one in three adolescent girls and women unable to change menstrual materials as needed.

Kimberly-Clark and UNICEF aim to support nearly 1.29 million infants and 2.5 million women and adolescent girls in provinces such as Gia Lai, Lam Dong, Dien Bien, and Lai Chau, where maternal and child health outcomes lag national averages.

"Our brands have long been part of women’s and families’ everyday care," said Nitish Gupta, managing director of Southeast Asia and general manager of Vietnam at Kimberly-Clark. "By renewing our partnership with UNICEF, we’re continuing our shared mission to strengthen maternal, newborn, and adolescent health – especially in communities that need it most – and to make a lasting difference for millions of women and children across every stage of life."

The partnership will also enable UNICEF to continue supporting the Ministry of Health in Vietnam to implement cost-effective interventions to reduce neonatal mortality, including early essential newborn care, early breastfeeding, and Kangaroo Mother Care – a method in which premature or low-birth-weight babies are held skin-to-skin on a parent’s chest to provide warmth, promote bonding, and improve survival and growth.

"This renewed partnership with Kimberly-Clark comes at a crucial time for women and children in Vietnam, where many still face barriers to basic health and hygiene services," said Ziad Nabulsi, UNICEF Vietnam OIC representative. "Together with Kimberly-Clark, we are working to change this by improving access to care and by equipping communities with the knowledge and confidence to make informed decisions about their health and hygiene."

Since the previous partnership, Kimberly-Clark and UNICEF have reached more than 860,000 children in Vietnam as of 2024, including over 74,000 newborns who received early essential newborn care. The collaboration also supported more than 1,500 premature babies through Kangaroo Mother Care and enabled over 200 sick newborns to receive life-saving resuscitation and stabilisation treatment.

The partnership further supported the nationwide implementation of Ministry of Health guidelines on child healthcare, aiming to reduce under-five mortality, improve newborn care at health facilities, and ensure routine check-ups for children under 24 months.

The renewed partnership is part of the Kimberly-Clark Foundation’s global $28.7 million initiative with leading non-governmental organisations – Baby2Baby, Plan International, Project HOPE, and UNICEF – to expand access to essential care for 24 million women and girls across seven countries. The initiative aligns with Kimberly-Clark’s Powering Care business strategy and its global goal to positively impact one billion lives by 2030.

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