ABBOTT PARK, IL – Abbott Laboratories today issued its second annual global citizenship report, "Working Together…Making A Difference." As a global corporation, Abbott believes it has the opportunity and responsibility to make a positive impact on society in a number of ways by implementing diversity and inclusiveness, improving environmental, health and safety performance, through expanding the company's ethics and compliance programming, and through humanitarian programs to fight HIV/AIDS in the developing world. Increasingly, corporate social responsibility has become a core business issue for the world's leading companies.

"Global citizenship is about the way we run our business, engage our stakeholders, implement policies, apply our social investment and philanthropy, and exercise our influence to bring about positive change to help make contributions to society. It is also about doing our part to assist in addressing some of the world's urgent needs." said Miles D. White, chairman and chief executive officer, Abbott Laboratories. "For Abbott, our relationships with stakeholders are fundamental to our success."

Highlights from the 2002 Global Citizenship report include:

• Being the first health care company to launch a product bar coding initiative to improve patient safety in hospitals.
  
• Providing Abbott's new rheumatoid arthritis drug, HUMIRA™ at no cost to Medicare-eligible seniors without prescription drug coverage.
  
• Investing nearly $20 million in four Global Care Initiatives to fight HIV/AIDS in the developing world: Step Forward…for the World's Children, Access to HIV Care, Prevention of Mother-To-Child Transmission of HIV/AIDS, and Tanzania Care.
  
• Launching new employee network groups for African-Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, Chinese and others in addition to the established Women's Leadership Initiative (WLI). Abbott has increased the number of women in management by 68 percent over the past five years. Abbott has also increased the number of minorities in management by 78 percent in the past five years.
  
• Training more than 11,000 employees in an interactive Web-based training program on ethics and compliance in the United States and Puerto Rico.

Abbott Laboratories is a global, broad-based health care company devoted to the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceuticals, nutritionals, and medical products, including devices and diagnostics. The company employs more than 70,000 people and markets its products in more than 130 countries.

Abbott's news releases and other information are available on the company's Web site at www.abbott.com.

Abbott

Abbott

About Abbott and the Abbott Fund

The Abbott Fund is a philanthropic foundation established by Abbott in 1951. The Abbott Fund's mission is to create healthier global communities by investing in creative ideas that promote science, expand access to health care and strengthen communities worldwide. For more information, visit www.abbottfund.org.

Abbott is a global, broad-based health care company devoted to the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceuticals and medical products, including nutritionals, devices and diagnostics. The company employs nearly 90,000 people and markets its products in more than 130 countries. Abbott's news releases and other information are available on the company's website at www.abbott.com.

More from Abbott