• Home
• Responsibility
• CR Report 2004
• Community investment
• Major public health initiatives

Major public health initiatives

GSK supports public health initiatives in developing countries through donations of medicines, financial and practical support.

We focus on efforts to tackle three major diseases - lymphatic filariasis (LF or elephantiasis), HIV/AIDS and malaria - as well as our PHASE education programme to reduce diarrhoea-related disease.

Progress during 2004

Eliminating Lymphatic Filariasis (LF)
LF is a disfiguring disease prevalent in tropical countries and one of the world’s leading causes of permanent disability.

The Global Alliance is a partnership between pharmaceutical companies, the World Health Organisation, Ministries of Health, NGOs and community organisations, aiming to totally eliminate LF by 2020.

We have committed to provide as many doses of albendazole, our anti-parasitic drug used to prevent transmission of LF, as are needed to treat the one billion people at risk in 80 countries.

In 2004 we donated 67 million albendazole treatments, worth £7 million ($13 million) valued at wholesale prices, to 34 countries. Demand from some countries was lower than anticipated in 2004 due to problems extending programmes to new regions. We have donated 307 million albendazole treatments since 1998 and over 85 million people have benefited from this programme.

We also gave £1 million ($1.8 million) ) in grants during 2004 to support the Global Alliance to Eliminate LF and a team of dedicated GSK employees helps in its advocacy, research, community mobilisation and education initiatives.

The rate of LF infection has already dropped in many participating countries. For example, Egypt began a nationwide campaign to eliminate LF in 2000. Since then 2.4 million people have received treatment, over 90% of those at risk of infection. Infection rates have fallen dramatically over the same period. During 2005 the Egyptian government will be evaluating the impact of the programme to decide whether to continue the preventative treatment campaign. During 2004 we expanded our manufacturing site in Cape Town, South Africa, to produce albendazole tablets and help us deliver enough treatments to support elimination efforts in all at-risk countries. This facility is expected to start producing albendazole for Africa in 2005.

Positive action on HIV/AIDS
GSK provides HIV/AIDS medicines at preferential prices to developing countries (see Access to medicines).

We also support communities affected by HIV/AIDS through Positive Action, part of our community investment. Set up in 1992 Positive Action recognises that the involvement of people affected by HIV and AIDS is a key element in helping control the HIV pandemic. During 2004 Positive Action supported 32 programmes in 35 countries in partnership with 23 community organisations.

The impact of HIV/AIDS is exacerbated by HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination - a major barrier to people accessing healthcare. Positive Action seeks to strengthen the responses of and promote access to care and treatment for the most vulnerable communities affected by HIV/AIDS. One example was a grant of £115,000 ($210,000) ) to enable people living with HIV/AIDS and community leaders to attend the 15th International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand. This was an important opportunity for community organisations to share experiences and ideas and participate in technical workshops to build skills and improve AIDS services in their home countries. Such conferences provide a platform for community representatives to voice the needs of their home countries and to champion equitable rights and access to healthcare for people living with HIV/AIDS.

We expanded Positive Action during 2004 to new countries in Latin America, Asia, and central and Eastern Europe, in response to growing rates of HIV infection in these areas.

This included seed funding to establish AIDS Action Europe (AAE), a new pan-European HIV organisation. This consortium will help to mobilise resources for the fight against HIV and support new awareness and prevention campaigns, particularly in countries that have recently joined the European Union.

In Latin America, we extended Positive Action to Bolivia, Argentina and Peru, building on our successful programmes in other Latin American countries. These programmes provide at-risk communities with accurate and up-to-date information on HIV/AIDS and healthcare rights.

We also launched Positive Action at Work with the National AIDS Trust, UK, and the Kenya HIV/AIDS Business Council to help businesses develop education and awareness programmes to prevent discrimination and help support employees affected by HIV/AIDS.

GSK’s African Malaria partnership
Our African Malaria partnership is supporting education and behaviour change programmes in eight African countries, through partnerships with three non profit organisations - Freedom from Hunger, AMREF (African Medical and Research Foundation) and Plan International.

GSK is investing $1.5 million (£820,000) in the African Malaria partnership over three years. This is expected to benefit two million people by encouraging effective prevention and prompt treatment, particularly among children and pregnant women.

One of the programmes supported through the partnership is the Credit with Education programme, which provides small loans, business and health education to very poor women. During 2004, Senegal was added to the five West African countries already participating in the programme. See Tackling poverty and Malaria in West Africa for more information.

In 2005 we intend to continue support for community-based malaria education and behaviour change programmes.

Personal Hygiene and Sanitation Education (PHASE)
Every year more than two million people die of diarrhoea-related disease, mostly children in developing countries. These deaths can often be easily prevented through better hand washing and sanitation.

PHASE is an education programme helping to reduce diarrhoea-related disease by encouraging school children to wash their hands. GSK established PHASE in 1998 and has invested £1.5 million ($2.7 million) in the programme. PHASE is run in partnership with AMREF and Plan International - as well as Ministries of Health and Education.

PHASE currently operates in five countries - Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Nicaragua and Peru - reaching more than 300,000 children and their extended families. The programme has had impressive results. For example, studies show that diarrhoea rates have fallen by 40% following the introduction of PHASE to schools in the Kenyan community of Ongielo.

In 2004 the Group committed three-year funding of £226,000 ($414,000) to extend the programme into Uganda in partnership with the Ministry of Health and AMREF.

GSK has convened a PHASE steering committee with representatives from the countries and partners involved to identify new partners and help expand the programme into new countries.

Back to top