Health Partnerships Book: Growing Industry Support For Child & Maternal Health, And Chronic Diseases In Developing Countries

Main Category: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 12 May 2009 - 4:00 PDT

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The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA) launches the latest edition of its "Partnerships to Build Healthier Societies in the Developing World" book and online database, which can be accessed at http://www.ifpma.org/healthpartnerships. The 2009 edition features a net increase of 21 active programs, after the removal of the 9 programs which were completed during the course of last year. The disease area with the biggest growth was "Child & Maternal Health", addressing UN Millennium Development Goals 4 & 5, with 6 more programs, while Chronic Disease programs increased by 4.

IFPMA Acting Director General Michael D. Boyd said: "The IFPMA Partnerships Book helps to communicate the research-based industry's contribution to improving health in developing countries to external stakeholders, especially here in Geneva. It also reflects the fact that the industry works with many Geneva-based partner organizations to achieve this common goal."

A significant development in the 2009 edition is the presence for the first time of Indian pharmaceutical companies, supporting capacity building, education and research & development programs intended to benefit Indians. A total of five Indian company programs are listed, by Piramal Healthcare (a direct IFPMA member) and Ranbaxy (a member via IFPMA's Indian member association, OPPI), in R&D for tuberculosis, malaria and dengue, and with capacity building and education programs in Child & Maternal Health and in Chronic Diseases.

Also new in the 2009 edition, under the heading "Additional Health Initiatives", are full entries for programs which do not address a single specific disease or disease area, but help to strengthen general health care capacity. These programs now get the same visibility as disease-specific programs and also show up in the results of search queries in the online database. This provides a more representative overview of industry support and helps increase the total number of programs active in certain developing countries. For example, the total number of programs active in Kenya is now 43, compared to 36 last year.

Source
International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations

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