L’Occitane’s Solidarity soap to support UNICEF. Image supplied.
When you think of the brand L’Occitane, the thoughts high quality, luxury beauty products may spring to mind, but what most people don’t know is that L’Occitane stands alongside UNICEF to support the cause of preventing avoidable childhood blindness. It started in 1997 when L’Occitane founder—Oliver Baussan, decided to put braille on all of the product labels, then in the year 2000 L’Occitane enabled access to eye care for children in need by donating proceeds from their products to this cause, since then they have reached a whopping five million people around the world and this year they are aiming even higher.
According to the World Health Organisation – “80% of all visual impairment can be prevented or cured and that can start by getting sufficient Vitamin A.” In developing countries as a result of poor diet and disease, it is said that 250,000 to 500,000 children go blind every year, with Vitamin A being crucial to a child’s development, growth and resistance to disease. L’Occitane believes every child deserves to see the world with clear eyes, which is why they’ve joining forces with UNICEF for a future where childhood blindness can be prevented.
In 2017 L’Occitane donated one million euros, helping UNICEF provide Vitamin A supplements to an estimated 400,000 children around the world and their goal is that by 2019 they would have helped preserve the vision of 1.9 million children across the world, with focus on three main countries – Bolivia, Myanmar and Papua New Guinea.
This year L’Occitane has released the Solidarity soap, crafted from shea butter and wrapped in natural craft paper, with a design from a 9-year-old artist named Célestin. The proceeds from just one bar of soap will provide Vitamin A supplements for three children for a year and for a mere $8 per bar, you too can get behind L’Occitane and UNICEF to support this cause and help fight against avoidable childhood blindness.