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Corporate Social Responsibility
News
6.06.2006 ET
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The Baxter International Foundation Awards Grants in Five Countries to Improve Access to Healthcare
First-Quarter Awards Include Grant To Support Launch Of AmeriCares
Program To Enhance Healthcare Services In Africa And Asia
(CSRwire) DEERFIELD, Ill.- The Baxter International Foundation, the
philanthropic arm of Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX), today announced
its first-quarter grant awards, totaling nearly $600,000. The foundation's
board of directors recently approved grants to 10 organizations in five
countries to support initiatives that improve global access to quality and
cost-effective healthcare. Specifically, these first-quarter grants will
help improve access to healthcare for children, the uninsured and the
elderly, prevent child abuse and neglect, promote health education, expand
training opportunities for healthcare providers and aid victims of global
disasters.
"Throughout the world, limited government funding for healthcare, the
growing number of uninsured and underinsured individuals, and natural and
man-made disasters continue to increase the need for healthcare services,"
said Jim Utts, president, The Baxter International Foundation. "The
foundation's fundamental purpose, reflected in these first-quarter grant
awards, is to make a positive and lasting impact on the health of
communities throughout the world."
Two-Year Foundation Grant Expands Baxter's Commitment to
AmeriCares
One of the major grants approved in the first quarter will support
Baxter's long-standing partner in international disaster relief and
product donation distribution, AmeriCares. The foundation awarded
AmeriCares $190,000 over two years to help launch a new warehouse in
India, expanding the organization's geographic reach and speeding access
to essential medicines to enhance healthcare services in Africa and Asia.
Delivering aid directly from India will also reduce the time and expenses
involved in shipping medical products. Currently, most product donations
are sent out of the AmeriCares warehouses in Stamford, Conn. or Amsterdam,
Netherlands, where shipping time to partners in Asia, Central Asia and
Africa can take two months or more. This new facility, expected to open in
the fall of this year, will significantly reduce transit time, allowing
needed products to arrive more quickly in times of natural disaster. In
addition to this grant, Baxter will also help supply the warehouse with
its first round of product donations.
"The Baxter International Foundation's gift, given to support the launch
of AmeriCares India, is another example of Baxter's long-standing
commitment to improving lives in the global community," said Curt Welling,
president and CEO of AmeriCares. "Since 1987, Baxter has been instrumental
in AmeriCares emergency response efforts while also contributing to our
ongoing programs. We are truly grateful for their latest contribution,
which will help us to dramatically further our own mission of providing
humanitarian relief to those most in need."
The foundation also partnered with the National Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), a leading non-governmental organization in
the United Kingdom (UK) working to protect children from abuse. According
to NSPCC, each week, nearly 700 children considered to be at risk of abuse
are added to the UK child abuse registry. The organization's mission is
to prevent children from suffering significant harm as a result of
cruelty, help protect children who are at risk of harm, and protect
children from future harm. The $67,000 grant will allow the organization
to expand therapeutic services for abused children in Hampshire, England,
and offer more extensive outreach activities to bring services to a number
of satellite clinics through partner organizations.
Additional organizations that received grants in the first quarter of 2006
include:
Chameleon Association, Inc., to initiate a health and dental care
assessment and treatment program for abused, neglected, abandoned or
homeless children in Passi City, Iloilo in the Phillipines.
Delta Health Center, established in 1965 as the first rural community
health center in the United States, to support the center's launch of a
rural health education outreach program in three counties surrounding
Cleveland, Miss.
Access Community Health Network, to help launch a new program to
implement long-term strategies to increase immunization rates of nearly
15,000 low-income, medically underserved and uninsured children in
Chicago.
A full listing of The Baxter International Foundation grants awarded in
the first quarter of 2006 can be found at www.baxter.com/grants.
The Baxter International Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Baxter
International Inc., helps organizations expand access to healthcare in the
United States and around the world. The foundation, established in 1981,
began to focus exclusively on increasing access to care in 2002 -
particularly for the disadvantaged and underserved in and near communities
where Baxter employees live and work.
Beyond its charitable giving, Baxter has been committed to advancing
environmental stewardship and social responsibility for more than three
decades. Baxter has been recognized by Innovest Strategic Value Advisors
as one of the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World, and
has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for seven consecutive
years. Baxter is a member of The Center for Corporate Citizenship at
Boston College, the Business Environmental Leadership Council of the Pew
Center on Global Climate Change, the Chicago Climate Exchange, the U.S.
EPA's Climate Leaders, the Ethics & Compliance Officer Association and
Hospitals for a Healthy Environment. Baxter endorses the Coalition for
Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES) principles and is an
organizational stakeholder of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). To
learn more about Baxter's sustainability initiatives, please visit .
www.baxter.com/sustainability
Baxter International Inc., through its subsidiaries, assists healthcare
professionals and their patients with the treatment of complex medical
conditions, including cancer, hemophilia, immune disorders, kidney disease
and trauma. The company applies its expertise in medical devices,
pharmaceuticals and biotechnology to make a meaningful difference in
patients' lives. For more information, please visit www.baxter.com.
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