Merck Annual Report 2000

Botswana – Leading the fight against HIV/AIDS

    Committed to Fighting HIV/AIDS Around the Globe
    Merck enjoys a long and successful record of collaborating with both public and private organizations to fight disease around the world. Never has this been more evident than in our efforts to confront the global pandemic known as HIV/AIDS.
    We have already outlined our partnerships with the governments of Romania and Botswana. Another initiative is the Enhancing Care Initiative (ECI), started in 1998 with the Harvard AIDS Institute and the Harvard School of Public Health. A multinational program, the ECI identifies challenges and then responds with practical initiatives that take account of local political, social, and cultural realities. To date, AIDS Care Teams led by local opinion leaders and experts are operating in Thailand, Senegal, Brazil and KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. In Senegal, efforts are focused on determining the direct and indirect costs of HIV testing and counseling, clinical management and of a national pilot program of antiretroviral therapy. In Northern Thailand, the team is working to identify and then fill existing knowledge gaps regarding “best practices” in HIV/AIDS care. In Brazil, the goal is to improve the quality of health care for women with HIV/AIDS in evaluating specific methods to provide improvements in the continuum of care between hospital and home-and-community based care.
    In May 2000, Merck linked up with the world’s leading health and development agencies, along with four other pharmaceutical companies, to accelerate access to HIV/AIDS care and treatment in developing countries. Our public partners in this co-operative venture are the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the World Health Organization (WHO), The World Bank, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The private members are Boehringer-Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, and F. Hoffmann–La Roche.
    This initiative represents an historic partnership among public and private sector organizations to begin to tackle HIV/AIDS in the developing world in a sustainable way. Senegal, Uganda and Rwanda have already reached agreement on obtaining more affordable access to HIV/AIDS medicines, and discussions are underway with more than 30 other developing countries. This is where the partnership is now focused – with working teams of UN agency and industry experts collaborating with government officials and HIV/AIDS specialists in the countries affected to bring the promise of improved access to more of the many people in need.

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