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Corporate Responsibility Report 2008

Developing countries

Poverty is the underlying cause of the healthcare crisis in many parts of the developing world. In the world’s poorest countries, millions of people do not have reliable access to food and clean water, never mind adequate healthcare services.

The healthcare crisis in the developing world is complex, and only a holistic approach will work to improve the situation. This must involve a comprehensive programme of prevention, health education, screening diagnosis and treatment, community care and support. Increasing access to medicines also plays a vital part. In all of these areas, GSK seeks opportunities to make a contribution.

Significant additional funding from national and international sources must be mobilised to really make a difference. The WHO recommends a minimum spend on health of £17 per person per year to provide the most basic health services. Yet the average spend in sub-Saharan Africa is just £5, according to the UK’s Department for International Development. The African Region of the WHO suffers more than 24 per cent of the global burden of disease, but has only three per cent of the world’s health workers.

The pharmaceutical industry must look to form partnerships to help deliver healthcare services. Political will is needed to aid development and build healthcare infrastructure.

GSK can make an important contribution by:

Diseases disproportionately affecting developing countries

  • Malaria kills over a million people a year, mostly children under five years old
  • Around two billion people worldwide are infected with TB and over 1.5 million people die from the disease each year. No new treatments for TB have been developed in the last 40 years
  • UNAIDS estimates that HIV/AIDS-related illnesses killed two million people in 2007 and that over 33 million people worldwide are living with HIV
  • Worldwide a woman dies of cervical cancer every two minutes; 85 per cent of these are in the developing world
  • Rotavirus infection causes 600,000 deaths each year, mostly in children under two years of age. Up to 85 per cent of these deaths occur in low-income countries

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