Community, Employees

Robert Davies makes the point well in his guest editorial: health issues are not just for healthcare companies. At home, thanks to the tax-funded National Health Service, few UK companies see the health of their employees as an issue for corporate social responsibility. CSR or not, stress (much of it work-related) nonetheless costs them dear, as these studies show. Abroad, health is a matter of basic economics, as the latest WHO report makes clear. It is also a matter of basic humanity. The facts are stunning. Today two billion people have tuberculosis, and 30 million will die from it over the next decade. Around 2.3 billion are at risk from malaria infection and the numbers dying are going up, not down: 2,200 children die each day. Some 35 million people live with HIV/AIDS, with two million dying a year. And 120 million have Lymphatic Filariasis, with a further 1.2 billion at risk of infection.

That makes the GSK commitment to eradicate the LF disease so inspiring ¨C up to six billion tablets over 20 years, and a huge alliance to deliver the programme on the ground. In the first five years, GSK and Merck are providing drugs worth 6400 million. A further 6600 million is needed in support costs. Only one other disease has been successfully eliminated before small pox. The big pharmaceutical companies see the situation clearly. After all, they are under daily pressure to answer the question how can you make profits when so many are dying? Yet the challenge is so huge it goes way beyond them and their drug donation programmes. Yet only 30 companies have joined the Global Health Alliance. Surely this crisis affects us all.

Corporate Citizenship Briefing, issue no: 62 - February, 2002