"Improving access to healthcare and addressing the unmet needs of communities in crisis are both critical aspects of Baxter's commitment to saving and sustaining lives," said Robert L. Parkinson, Jr., Baxter's chairman and chief executive officer. "Our charitable giving efforts in 2005 are helping address the financial and human resource challenges faced by organizations around the world working to make a meaningful difference in the lives of individuals in need."

The company's 2005 charitable giving included more than $4.3 million in support of relief efforts for individuals affected by worldwide disasters, including the tsunami in December 2004, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the earthquake in India and Pakistan. The Baxter International Foundation committed nearly $2.3 million in grants to organizations dedicated to disaster relief, in addition to nearly $825,000 in employee contributions and matching gifts from Baxter and the foundation. At the same time, with the help of international relief agencies, the company donated more than $1 million of needed Baxter products to victims of these disasters.

One major foundation grant awarded $750,000 to Foundation for the MidSouth (FMS), a regional development foundation serving Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. The grant supported the creation of a donor-advised fund at FMS for recovery and restoration of community-based health services affected by Hurricane Katrina. The Baxter International Foundation Health Recovery Fund will provide grants of up to $30,000 to support local healthcare professionals in restoring their clinics and re-establishing their services to families and communities in need.

Other Foundation Grants Aim to Improve Healthcare Worldwide
In 2005, The Baxter International Foundation awarded grants totaling $4.2 million to nearly 70 organizations in 19 countries. Through its grant program, the foundation funds initiatives that improve global access to quality and cost-effective healthcare. Specifically, the grants awarded in 2005 will help improve access to healthcare for children, the uninsured and the elderly, prevent child abuse and neglect, promote health education, expand specialized training opportunities for healthcare providers and aid victims of global disasters.

Through one of the grants, the foundation partnered with Centro MillaJen in Cidra, Puerto Rico, an organization dedicated to providing services to children suffering from cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, spina bifida and other speech and language disorders and physical disabilities. The $54,000 grant will expand the organization's physical and speech therapy services to assist more than 100 local children with disabilities.

Additional organizations that received grants in 2005 from the foundation include:

Foundation Supports Philanthropic Efforts of Baxter Employees
In addition to grants, the foundation also supports Baxter employees in their personal philanthropic efforts. Through the Dollars for Doers program, which awards grants to organizations in the United States where employees volunteer, the foundation contributed a total of $30,950 in 2005. Through the Matching Gifts program, the foundation also matched nearly $647,000 in employee donations to qualified cultural, health and educational organizations.

Product Donations Help Countries in Crisis
Baxter International Inc. donated more than $17.8 million in vital medical products to 13 organizations in 2005, primarily through the international disaster relief and humanitarian aid organization AmeriCares. These products were distributed in more than 50 countries in Asia, Africa, North, Central and South America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and the Caribbean that experienced crisis or disaster in 2005. The majority of the donated products contributed to sustainable initiatives that AmeriCares has in place in these countries.

One donation through AmeriCares went to support the Pakistan Hemophilia Patients Welfare Society (PHPWS), the country's first comprehensive hemophilia treatment center. Through a donation from Baxter's BioScience business, PHPWS was able to provide factor VIII, an injectable clotting factor, free of charge to more than 260 patients - treatment these patients could otherwise not afford.

About Baxter
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 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 two decades. Baxter has been recognized by Innovest Strategic Value Advisors as one of the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World, as one of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens by Business Ethics Magazine, and was the 2004 Medical Products Industry Leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. Baxter is a member of the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship, the Business Environmental Leadership Council of the Pew Center on Global Climate Exchange, 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. (NYSE:BAX), through its subsidiaries, assists health-care 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.