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Lilly and International Council of Nurses Win Partnership Award From the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Business Civic Leadership Center
Lilly and International Council of Nurses Win Partnership Award From the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Business Civic Leadership Center
Published 11-19-08
Submitted by Eli Lilly and Company
WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) and the International Council of Nurses (ICN) won a Corporate Citizenship Award at The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Business Civic Leadership Center (BCLC)'s 9th annual dinner and celebration last night at the National Building Museum. Lilly and ICN were recognized for their groundbreaking work in combating the rising global threat of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) worldwide. A unique voting system landed Lilly and ICN as this year's winner of the Partnership Award. Thousands of online voters cast their ballots on BCLC's Web site during the one-month selection process.
"The prevalence of preventable, but lethal, diseases is a major hurdle to sustainable global development," said BCLC Executive Director Stephen Jordan. "Congratulations and thank you to Lilly and its partner, ICN, for helping create a more healthy and prosperous world."
Through its partnership with Lilly, ICN offers training and education programs that are supplemented by global teaching resources, E-tools, and an annual awards program that honors nursing excellence in each of the high-burden TB countries.
ICN/Lilly 2007 award recipient, Kefilwe Mamagoale Mathlala, chief nurse and active nurse educator based at the Witbank TB Hospital in South Africa, emphasized the fundamental motivator for nurses caring for patients with TB and MDR-TB. "What I like most is when I see a patient cured and going home," she said.
Lilly CEO and President John Lechleiter, who accepted the award on Lilly's behalf, thanked Lilly's 17 partners working in 60 countries and communities throughout the world for their dedication to achieving the World Health Organization's goal of treating 50 million people by 2015.
"Lilly is proud to support this global effort involving nurses, doctors, hospital administrators, research institutions, businesses, governments, and social service and advocacy institutions," Lechleiter said. "Stopping MDR-TB is not about a single action -- it's about a series of joint initiatives that improve survival for some of the world's most vulnerable and hard-to-treat patients -- and give them hope."
David Benton, CEO of the International Council of Nurses, underscored the importance of the Partnership. "Nurses are the world's front-line resource against the deadly global pandemics facing us today. Lilly's support has helped us scale up our training efforts so we can save millions of lives by properly diagnosing and treating TB and MDR-TB."
The Clinton Global Initiative also recognized the Lilly/ICN partnership in September this year for its commitment to "implement innovative solutions designed to produce tangible results that will positively change lives."
About the International Council of Nurses (ICN)
The International Council of Nurses (ICN) is a federation of 132 national nurses associations representing the millions of nurses worldwide. Operated by nurses and leading nursing internationally, ICN works to ensure quality nursing care for all and sound health policies globally.
About The Lilly MDR-TB Partnership
The Lilly MDR-TB Partnership was created to confront multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), a disease so daunting that no single organization can fight it alone. The public-private partnership mobilizes 18 partners on five continents in the battle to stop the spread of this disease and ultimately save lives. The Lilly MDR-TB Partnership is especially active in the high-burden countries of China, India, Russia and South Africa. Lilly's has financially invested $135 million for this effort. More information is available at www.lillymdr-tb.com. C-LLY
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