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Community partnerships

We support a wide range of health and education initiatives in the communities where we operate. Donations are made centrally and by GSK sites to support local charities and good causes.

Below are just a few examples of the many community partnerships we supported in 2005:

Europe
Barretstown in Ireland and L’Envol in France are residential camps where seriously ill children can have fun and develop their self confidence. GSK gave £250,000 ($455,000) and £100,000 ($182,000) respectively to support the camps in 2005. Employees also give their time to Barretstown and L’Envol, with over 40 GSK employees participating in 2005.

GSK is also funding five European programmes, each with a grant of £300,000 over three years. These are:

• Change in Advance, a disease prevention programme that promotes healthy eating and exercise, aimed at Slovakian children living on urban housing estates;
• Childrens’ Shelters, a programme in Spain that provides healthcare for homeless and abandoned children;
• Beacon of Hope, a palliative care programme for children in Romania;
• Reading for Growing, a programme in Italy which, through reading aloud, helps children with neuro-functional disabilities and those who have endured long hospitalisation;
• Multi Coloured Lives, an interactive education programme to help children with disabilities integrate into Russian society.

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International
GSK’s PHASE (Personal Hygiene and Sanitation Education) initiative is providing education to over 270,000 school children in Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Nicaragua and Peru to improve their health and hygiene to fight infectious diseases. In 2005, we committed three-year funding of £300,000 to extend the programme to Bangladesh in partnership with Save the Children USA, see Major public health initivatives.

GSK is funding a number of country programmes, each with a grant of £200,000 over three years:

• Pinoy Health Pass, Family Health and Well Being provides health education for families on low incomes in the Philippines
• Attituda Positiva, uses drama in schools to increase awareness and education on HIV and reproductive health for teenagers in Brazil
• ‘500 Midwives’ helps improve mother and child health in rural areas of Vietnam by bringing birth attendants from ethnic minority groups for training in the capital’s major hospital.

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UK
In 2005 GSK supported over 80 charitable organisations in the UK. This included over £470,000 ($855,000) to support medical research undertaken by the charities Meningitis UK, The British Liver Trust, Alzheimer’s Research Trust and The Samantha Dickson Research Trust.

We extended our partnership with the British Red Cross, giving £350,000 over three years to their Gateway project in Scotland. Gateway helps young people with disabilities to gain the skills and self-confidence they need to live independently. Since 2001, Gateway has worked with a small group of young disabled people helping them set personal goals and receive individually tailored training and support. More than 150 people with disabilities also visit the centre each year to take part in workshops and use its facilities. The new funding will enable Gateway to extend their service across Scotland and share their experiences with health and social care providers throughout the UK.

GSK is giving £386,000 ($703,000) over two years to support the British Lung Foundation’s Baby Breathe Easy programme. This is funding a pilot scheme in nine regions across the UK supporting parents and carers of young babies and children under five in dealing with diagnosed and undiagnosed recurring chest problems.

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US
GSK is donating $350,000 (£192,000) over three years to the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health. The Black Pearls programme provides health education for low-income neighbourhoods by reaching into non-traditional venues, including African American and Afro-Caribbean churches, barber shops, beauty salons, laundromats and tattoo parlours. It provides culturally appropriate information to help promote early disease detection and encourage people in multi-ethnic communities to adopt healthier lifestyles.

We continue to support the Children’s Health Fund’s Referral Management Initiative (RMI). A new, three-year grant of $2.6 million (£1.4 million) will help RMI continue and extend its services into Philadelphia, helping high-risk and homeless children receive the specialist medical care they need.

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Foundations
GSK does not operate a single charitable foundation for its community investment programmes but has several country-based foundations in Canada, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Romania, Spain, and North Carolina in the US. Our local foundations support a wide range of charities and healthcare initiatives.

Since 1998 the GSK France Foundation has supported 68 programmes in 13 countries. These focus on people living with HIV/AIDS in developing countries, particularly in Africa, and aim to improve healthcare through prevention, education and training. During 2005, 13 new programmes were implemented in 5 countries with grants of 700 000 euros (£480,000).

The GSK Foundation in Canada focuses much of its support on hospice care helping terminally ill patients and their families. The Foundation is also supporting community programmes in Africa, including AIDS Orphan Uganda, a three-year programme building community support for vulnerable children in the Luweero District.

The North Carolina GSK Foundation in the USA is an endowed, self-funding organisation. It supports initiatives in the areas of mathematics, science and health education in North Carolina. In 2005, this Foundation awarded grants totalling $2.7 million (£1.49 million).

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