Needy families with young children in South West District will get free diapers over the next three years.
A diaper bank launched yesterday will see a million diapers given out over the next three years to more than 3,000 low-income families with babies up to two years old.
Each beneficiary family will receive six packs of diapers.
The scheme, called Huggies Singapore Diaper Bank @ South West, is organised by South West Community Development Council and Kimberly-Clark. Kimberly-Clark is donating about $300,000 worth of Huggies diapers.
The scheme will help people such as Madam Nor Aisha Mohamad Jupri, 37. The housewife goes to Johor Baru every weekend with her 70-year-old mother to buy diapers and milk powder for her three-month-old son, Mohamad Rayyan Naqeeb.
She lives with her parents, her husband - a logistics officer and sole breadwinner - and six children in a three-room flat in Jurong West.
She said it is hard raising the children on a household salary of $1,900 a month, especially with the rising cost of milk and diapers.
Currently, her son can use up to four packs of 80 diapers each a month, costing about $80 a month.
At the launch of the diaper bank at Jurong Spring Community Club yesterday, South West District Mayor Low Yen Ling said: "For many needy families with young children, diapers can be a big strain on their day-to-day expenses. Sometimes, to save money, they may leave the diapers longer than they should - and this can cause rashes or urinary tract infection that adds to their financial worries.
"We hope this inaugural baby diaper bank will bring much-needed relief to these parents so that they can better focus on parenting and raising their children well."
The families can collect the diapers from FairPrice Xtra @ JEM, FairPrice Xtra @ Jurong Point and Warehouse Club.
Depending on the impact of the scheme and feedback, the scheme may be expanded to other areas, South West CDC and Kimberly-Clark said.
Correction note: In the previous version of the story, we said that there is a monthly cap of six packs of diapers a family. This is wrong. Currently, each beneficiary family will receive six packs of diapers upon being identified by the scheme's organisers. We are sorry for the error.
