Kimberly-Clark Vietnam, through the Kimberly-Clark Foundation, announced a renewed partnership with UNICEF, backed by a USD 2.05 million (VND 54 billion) commitment to expand access to essential care for 3.8 million mothers, newborns, and young girls in Viet Nam. This doubles the USD 1 million invested in the partnership’s earlier phase.
Over the next three years, Kimberly-Clark and UNICEF will help to improve menstrual health for adolescent girls and women through education and better access to services. The program will also support young and expectant mothers by helping to expand Adolescent-Responsive Maternal Care and Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) to improve early bonding, breastfeeding, and newborn survival. It will also facilitate relevant training for educators and healthcare workers and support policies for equitable access to health services.
As of February 2025, 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% 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, Lâm Đồng, Điện Biên, and Lai Châu, where maternal and child health outcomes lag behind national averages.
Preterm infants in Điện Biên have benefited from the Kangaroo Mother Care program jointly implemented by Kimberly-Clark and UNICEF.
“Our brands have long been part of women’s and families’ everyday care,” said Mr. Nitish Gupta, Managing Director, South-East Asia and General Manager, Viet Nam, 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 Viet Nam in implementing cost-effective interventions to reduce neonatal mortality, including Early Essential Newborn Care, early breastfeeding, and Kangaroo Mother Care.
“This renewed partnership with Kimberly-Clark comes at a crucial time for women and children in Viet Nam, where many still face barriers to basic health and hygiene services,” said Ziad Nabulsi, UNICEF Viet Nam OIC Representative. “Together with Kimberly-Clark, we are working to change this, not only by improving access to care, but also 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 Viet Nam as of 2024, including over 74,000 newborns who received Early Essential Newborn Care. They also supported more than 1,500 premature babies through Kangaroo Mother Care and enabled over two hundred sick newborns to receive life-saving resuscitation and stabilization treatment.
The partnership also supported the nationwide implementation of MOH guidelines on child healthcare, aimed at reducing under-five mortality, improving newborn care at health facilities, and ensuring 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 NGOs – Baby2Baby, Plan International, Project HOPE, and UNICEF – to expand access to essential care for 24 million women and girls across seven countries. This initiative aligns with Kimberly-Clark’s Powering Care business strategy and contributes to its global ambition to positively impact one billion lives by 2030, a key milestone in the company’s purpose of “Better Care for a Better World”.
