CSR Press Release

New York, NY – December 18, 2008 – The Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which annually identify the best in business action in the fight to end AIDS, TB and malaria, is inviting submissions for the 2009 Awards for Business Excellence.

The awards are highly visible in the public health and donor communities. The 2008 Awards ceremony included the participation of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the head of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, UNAIDS and the UN Special Envoys on Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Award-winners are seen as setting exceptional standards of innovation and impact, and winning programs are influential models for the private sector and for the creation of public-private partnerships. They become part of an exclusive global collection of best practices that already have provided care and treatment for hundreds of thousands of employees, and reached millions more consumers with critical prevention and awareness messages, ending stigma and preventing new infections.

Headed by President and CEO Richard Holbrooke, the Coalition is well known and recognized in the public health community, and works closely with top multilaterals such as UNAIDS, Stop TB and national AIDS control programs around the world.

Past winners of the Coalition’s awards include leading multinational companies such as Viacom, ExxonMobil, Intesa Sanpaolo, Johnson & Johnson, Telekom S.A. Limited, Coca-Cola and Xstrata Coal South Africa.

The Coalition's recognition is designed to celebrate the biggest successes as well as to engage more companies in the fight as part of a coordinated international business movement. The winning programs point the way forward, providing other companies with a compelling example of what can be achieved in the fight to end global epidemics.

The deadline for submissions is February 23, 2009 and winners will be notified by April 30, 2009. Only for-profit companies are eligible to submit applications. The awards will be presented on June 24, 2009 at the culmination of a two-day conference in Washington, DC.

The conference will be geared to ensure that private sector action remains high on the business agenda despite the current economic situation. It will bring together high-level actors from the public and private sector and deliver practical tools and strategies to ensure that business initiatives on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria achieve greater impact and become more cost-effective.

Awards will be granted in six categories:

1. GBC Award for Business Excellence: Workplace Program
   Awarded to a company for combating HIV/AIDS, TB and/or malaria through a comprehensive workforce-focused program. Applications will also be welcomed for programs that incorporate interventions for two or more of the diseases, as well as for programs in which the disease interventions are part of a comprehensive wellness approach.

2. GBC Award for Business Excellence: Community Investment
   Awarded to a company that expands HIV/AIDS, TB and/or malaria interventions beyond its own workforce and operations to reach the broader community. Applications are welcomed from company-implemented intervention programs as well as community-focused philanthropic initiatives.

3. GBC Award for Business Excellence: Core Competence
   Awarded to a company that best applies its individual core competencies—skills, products, services, or people—to facilitate action on one or more of the three diseases.

4. GBC Award for Business Excellence: Women & Girls
   Awarded to a program that directly addresses the needs and vulnerabilities of women and/or girls, engages women in program activities or directly confronts the gender inequalities that drive disease transmission and impede care-seeking.

5. GBC Award for Business Excellence: Performance Measurement (NEW in 2009) Awarded to a company that has actively developed an HIV/AIDS, TB or malaria program with a robust monitoring and evaluation component. Preference will be given to programs where the evaluation has already assessed impact and results.

6. GBC Award for Business Excellence: Partnership and Collective Action (NEW in 2009) Awarded to companies achieving exceptional results through partnerships or collective actions among businesses and/or across sectors. Preference will be given to standard-setting programs with outstanding use of complementary competencies. Applications will be accepted from a single company applying on behalf of a partnership or team and/or from the full team collectively. Eligible programs should focus on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, or some combination of all three, and may include connection to a larger public health initiative.

To learn more about the awards process and to download an application form visit: http://www.gbcimpact.org/live/events/awards/2009/call-for-applications-2.php

Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria
The Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is a coalition of more than 220 companies united to keep the fight against these epidemics a global priority. The Coalition provides tailored support so that companies can take an active role in defeating the pandemics. The Coalition also organizes collective actions among companies and links the public and private sectors in ways that pool talents and resources. The official focal point of the private sector delegation to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the Coalition maintains offices in New York, Paris, Johannesburg, Beijing, Nairobi and Moscow. For more information visit: http://www.gbcimpact.org

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