Dr. Myriam Assa Sidibe

Dr Myriam Assa Sidibe is known to be the world’s leading expert of brands that drive health outcomes through behavioral change. She was born in France where her parents were studying. As the Global Social Mission Director for Unilever- Lifebuoy. Sidibe is known to have lead a movement that has reached over 183 million people in more than 16 countries.

Early life and education

Sidibe is known to be a third culture child. Originally from Mali, she was born in France and has lived in over 20 countries. After studying, it is said that her parents returned to Mali to work for an NGO in northern Part of Mali, and they remained there as a family until Myriam was 12 years old. Sidibe was 15, following her father’s promotion within the UN, the family moved to New York City where she joined the United Nations international school and learned to speak English.

Myriam is known to holds a doctorate in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, a Masters in Water and Waste Engineering from Loughborough University, UK. She also kn trained as an Agricultural and Environmental Engineer at McGill University, Canada.

She is currently a senior fellow at Harvard Kennedy School.

Career

Myriam is known to have worked in 20 countries in Asia and Africa for public and private sectors (including the International Rescue Committee, consulting with UNICEF, the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Programme and Unilever), arguing for a more transparent relationship between the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors, and advocating the need for businesses to gain growth and profits from engagement in social and health issues in order to build more sustainable, effective interventions.

Affiliations

Myriam is known to be a Board Member of WaterAid (the world’s largest civil society organisation on water and sanitation) and the Kilimanjaro Blind Trust, and was a commissioner for the Lancet on the future of health in Africa.

She is currently an honorary Assistant Professor at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

In 2007, the Financial Times quoted her in the context of Lifebuoy’s plans to encourage handwashing with soap in Africa: “It’s the fact that we hope to make money that makes our involvement sustainable. This can’t be a fashion if we are a soap company. When we say ‘we’re in it for the money’ it helps, because people know we’re not going to leave next year.”Myriam has presented the results of her work in handwashing and Nutrition at many events, including: the Scaling Up Nutrition global movement, the Africa Shared Value Summit (2018), Responsible Business Forum on Sustainable Development (2017), Women Leaders in Global Health (2017), TED Talk ‘The Simple Power of Handwashing,  AfricaSan (2011, 2015), Business Against Poverty - Business and Covid-19 (2020), Brands on a Mission – a New Contribution to Public Health (Harvard Business School 2019) .

Works

• Brands on a Mission: How to Achieve Social Impact and Business Growth Through Purpose

Notes

1. Harvard Business Review article: “Marketing Meets Mission: How brands tackle Global Health Challenges The private sector needs to come clean about doing good” published 14 April 2020
2. Financial Times article: “The rise of the anti-vaxxers is bad news for business”
3. Business Fights Poverty article: “The role of business in preventing further spread of COVID-19” published 14 March 2020.  
4. NPR interview:  Malaka Gharib interviews Joia Mukherjee and Myriam Sidibe. “How do you wash your hands to fend off coronavirus if water is scarce?”
5. World Economic Forum article: by Paul Polman, Myriam Sidibe, Val Curtis. “What washing your hands can teach you about global change” published 19 October 2018
6. IPS News article: by Myriam Sidibe and Jane Nelson. “Big Brands are fuelling the business of nutrition” published 29 October 2018.
7. Nutrition Connect - Executive Course: Myriam Sidibe, Lawrence Haddad. “Together for Nutrition”
8. The Lancet article: “The path to longer and healthier lives for all Africans by 2030: the Lancet Commission on the future of health in sub-Saharan Africa” published 13 September 2017
9. Huffpost Article: By Myriam Sidibe and Siddharth Chatterjee. “Let 5-year-old Sherry tell you how handwashing with soap saves lives” published 24 June 2016.
10. Huffpost Article: By Jeffrey Sachs and Myriam Sidibe. “Global Handwashing Day in the Time of Ebola”  published 15 October 2014
11. Interview with the US Chamber Of Commerce Foundation: Interview with Hanna Felleke “Unilever-Lifebuoy Mission: The Intersection of Business and Social Mission” published 4 June 2014
12. The Guardian, Global Health Innovation Hub Article: “How to get one billion people to wash their hands” published 23 June 2014Business Daily Africa: “Meet Myriam, the handwashing guru” published 24 October 2013
13. Business Daily Africa: “Meet Myriam, the handwashing guru” published 24 October 2013
14. HuffPost Article: “Handwashing with soap can help us achieve the Millennium Development Goals” published 6 July 2012
15. CSR Wire blog: “Saving 600,000 Lives a Year: What Will It Take?” published 2 October 2012
16. Harvard Business Review Article: “The Private Sector Needs to Come Clean About Doing Good” published 15 October 2012
17. Interview with Forbes: Aman Sing interviews Myriam Sidibe”Influencing behaviour: what will it take to save 600,000 lives a year” published 11 October 2012
18. Interview with The Standard, Zimbabwe: “Celebrating Global Handwashing Day” Published 28 October 2012
19. HealthWorks Collective Article: “Global Handwashing Day: Support Global Handwashing” published 13 October 2011
20. Partnership with Craig Yoe for School of 5 superheroes: Details of partnership and presentation at Comic Con published in Bleeding Cool “The School Of 5 Superhero Comic Program Saves The Lives Of Children In 23 Countries” 21 July 2014

References

This article "Dr. Myriam Assa Sidibe" is from Simple English Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Dr. Myriam Assa Sidibe.

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