Corporate Responsibility Report 2008

Local programmes

We support a wide range of programmes to build healthcare capacity in the communities where we operate. We fund these programmes at corporate and local levels. Below are just a few local programme examples.

Training midwives in Vietnam

We support a project to train birth attendants to bring maternal healthcare services to rural villages in Vietnam. The project aims to reduce childbirth complications and decrease newborn fatality from the unacceptably high level of 6 per cent. The trainees are housed in a residential training centre built by GSK at Tu Du Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City. Supported by hospital staff, they spend four months gaining practical knowledge of maternal and child healthcare.

During the first phase of the project, between 2004 and 2007, over 520 midwives – representing 38 of Vietnam’s 54 ethnic groups – have graduated with a government-recognised qualification. The midwives return to their villages equipped with a medical pack. Some are also provided with a motor scooter to assist access to remote areas.

Phase two of the project was launched in 2008. This involves hospital staff visiting villages to provide additional training to the midwives and to provide basic pregnancy and reproductive health education for community members.

Palliative care for children in Romania

Over the last three years we have been working in partnership with the Hospice Casa Sperentei in Romania on the ‘Beacon of Hope’ project to improve the level of care available to terminally ill children in the Balkans.
Huge progress has been achieved, helping to change attitudes towards dying patients in the region.

The project has received acclaim from the Romanian government, which began a partnership with the hospice in 2007 with a view to creating a national plan for palliative care. Key achievements include the establishment of a children’s palliative care unit in Brasov, a mobile nursing team and a network of care providers across the region. The project has developed a regional centre of excellence for the whole of south-eastern Europe that provides palliative care training for health workers and volunteers. As a result, children’s palliative care services have been set up in neighbouring Moldova.

New fund for Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

In October 2008 we announced a $1 million donation to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to help young people with cancer in the US. The hospital runs one of the world’s largest paediatric cancer programmes. Our contribution, together with a matched donation from the hospital, will form the GlaxoSmithKline Hope for Families Fund. The Fund is a permanent endowment to enable children and young adults suffering from relapsed and hard-to-cure cancers access to innovative therapies. It will help cover the travel and accommodation costs of patients and their families, who often must stay at or near the hospital for extended periods.

Healthcare for the homeless in Pittsburgh

GSK supports Pittsburgh Mercy Foundation’s Operation Safety Net ‘Street Medicine’ outreach programme that enables Pittsburgh’s homeless to access free healthcare. The programme includes a mobile medical unit, a drop-in clinic and teams of clinicians and care workers who walk the streets offering medical examinations and treatment to homeless people.

Rewarding community healthcare organisation in the UK

Each year the GSK IMPACT Awards recognise voluntary organisations that have significantly improved the health of their local communities. Ten winning charities receive £25,000 each and the overall winner is awarded an extra £10,000.

In 2008 the UK Impact Awards programme introduced an initiative for the managers of the winning organisations to be trained in leadership, networking and fundraising skills. This will help strengthen small charities that are often unable to afford this vital skills training.

The GSK IMPACT Awards also run in Philadelphia in the US.

Read more about the GSK IMPACT Awards and the winning organisations.