Pharma responds to disaster in Haiti
pharmafile | January 18, 2010 | News story | Sales and Marketing | Haiti, disaster, industry reputation, relief
A number of pharmaceutical companies have sprung into action to help the relief effort in Haiti.
The island has been devastated by the earthquake which struck in mid-January, and is desperately in need of medical aid, food and housing provision.
Novartis is providing the equivalent of $2.5 million, including direct financial assistance and donations of antibiotic and pain-relieving drugs.
Chief executive Daniel Vasella said: “It was with dismay that we learned about the destructive force of the earthquake in Haiti, which has brought such immense suffering to that nation and its people.
“Our experience of providing support in the wake of natural disasters has proven successful, ensuring that we can get aid to the people in need fast and efficiently.”
AstraZeneca has given antibiotic and respiratory medicines Meronem, Pulmicort and Rhinocort through US charity AmeriCares and made a £100,000 donation to the British Red Cross Emergency Appeal.
Bristol-Myers Squibb has shipped antibiotics through the Project Hope programme and is sending medicine via Tulipe, an organisation that facilitates pharma company donations to disaster or conflict areas.
The Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation is also to donate a total of $200,000 to the American Red Cross and two Haiti-based groups: the Catholic Medical Mission Board and Partners in Health.
The Abbott Fund is giving $100,000 in grants to the same three humanitarian partners, part of $1 million in funding and products that Abbott is donating.
“The recent earthquake has had a devastating impact on Haiti’s limited health care system, which was already facing significant challenges,” said Catherine Babington, president of the Abbott Fund.
The company has given pharma and nutritional products, some of which it says are already in use in a hospital in Haiti.
Since 2007, Abbott and the Abbott Fund have provided more than $34 million in grants and product donations to help address health needs in Haiti, including maternal and child health, diabetes, HIV/AIDS and malnutrition.
There has been anger at the lack of relief reaching earthquake victims but the United Nations says getting aid from the airport is difficult since so few routes are clear for trucks.
Robert Smith, president of the Lilly Foundation, called the situation in Haiti “a profound human tragedy”.
“The significant number of casualties and widespread property damage require an urgent and compassionate response,” he added.
The company has pledged $250,000 in cash, half for short-term relief, with the rest donated over the next year for longer-term rebuilding.
It will work with non-governmental organisation (NGO) partners in Haiti on “appropriate” donations of medicines, it says.
Hundreds of thousands of people are estimated to have died in the earthquake, which struck last week.
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