Catholic Medical Mission Board Announces Donation Of Lifesaving Pediatric Drugs

Lifesaving pediatric antibiotics are on their way to more than 110,000 children in Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic and Haiti through the Action for Family Health program, an initiative of the Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Bristol-Myers Squibb donated the medicines valued at $225,000 to CMMB as part of its ongoing support to the Action for Family Health program.


Action for Family Health was created in 2003 by CMMB and PAHO to reduce infant mortality and the effects of childhood illness and to improve the survival of children under five. The partnership is designed to bolster the implementation of the PAHO/WHO Integrated Management of Childhood Illness Strategy (IMCI) in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Dominican Republic and Haiti by involving the public and Catholic health networks. The medicines donated today build on a $400,000 public-private partnership grant that the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation made to CMMB for this initiative in December 2004.


"We are pleased to be able to enhance our contribution to this important project by providing lifesaving medicines to children who would otherwise not have access to them," said Dieter Weinand, president of Latin America and Canada, Worldwide Pharmaceuticals, Bristol-Myers Squibb. "The partnership with Action for Family Health exemplifies the Bristol-Myers Squibb commitment to addressing health disparities, particularly among vulnerable populations like many of the children of Central America."


CMMB president and chief executive officer, John F. Galbraith, speaks of the donation, "It was exactly three years ago that Action for Family Health was launched, and this donation by Bristol-Myers Squibb is an example of the continued commitment to making an already-successful, unique partnership even more effective."


Through the Action for Family Health partnership, CMMB, PAHO, affiliated Ministries of Health, and Catholic Healthcare Networks have rolled out IMCI to 36 dioceses, 122 community sites and 242 health facilities, with an estimated target population of 3 million persons, including 446,000 children less than five years of age. The project uses a network of Catholic faith-based organizations such as Caritas, Pastoral de la Salud, Catholic universities and others to help reduce mortality rates and to increase country coverage and access of the population to benefits from qualified health services.


Every year more than 11 million children in developing countries die before reaching their fifth birthday, many during the first year of life. In Latin America and the Caribbean, more than 300,000 children under five years of age die each year from illnesses that can be easily prevented or treated. Half of these deaths are due to acute respiratory infections, diarrhea, malaria, measles or malnutrition, and often a combination of these ills. It is estimated that 30 percent of the population does not have access to primary health care services.


Action for Family Health supports the Millennium Development Goals to reduce the under-five mortality rate by two thirds, to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS, to improve maternal health and reduce maternal mortality rates by the year 2015.


Bristol-Myers Squibb is a global pharmaceutical and related health care products company whose mission is to extend and enhance human life. Corporate philanthropy at Bristol-Myers Squibb is focused on strengthening communities where company employees live and work and reducing health disparities.


Founded in 1928, CMMB works collaboratively to provide quality healthcare initiatives, without discrimination, to people in need around the world. In 2005, it provided medicines and medical supplies to 51 countries and supported 123 medical volunteers in 27 countries. With donor support, CMMB collaborated with partners to support healthcare projects in resource-poor countries that addressed HIV and AIDS, child health and neglected diseases.


PAHO, which also serves as the Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization, has been working for more than 100 years with all the countries of the Americas to improve the health and raise the living standards of their peoples. See paho/ for additional information.


Catholic Medical Mission Board

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