NEW YORK– The International Rescue Committee (IRC) recognized fifty years of partnership in disaster response by honoring Pfizer with its Corporate Responsibility Award. The award was presented at the IRC’s 2006 Freedom Award Dinner. This longstanding relationship has been important in meeting the needs of people who are the victims and survivors of disasters to restore and rebuild their lives.
“Pfizer has been one of the IRC’s most generous and reliable corporate supporters,” said John C. Whitehead, Chairman Emeritus of the IRC. “In one global emergency after another, Pfizer’s contributions have helped save countless lives. We are grateful to them.”
“The IRC has a long history and tremendous reputation for its capacity to respond to humanitarian crises and deploy needed aid to those who are suffering,” said Robert Mallett President of the Pfizer Foundation and Senior Vice President of Worldwide Stakeholder Alliances, Philanthropy and Corporate Citizenship. “We are pleased to receive this award and the fifty years of partnership with the IRC.”
Pfizer’s partnership with IRC began in 1956 by providing emergency medicines and health products to refugees in Hungary. From the public health challenges of a community torn by civil conflict to the tsunami that struck South East Asia, Pfizer has partnered with the IRC to mobilize resources that provided immediate humanitarian relief and supported rebuilding efforts.
Today, the company and IRC collaborate on efforts to build healthcare capacity and improve healthcare delivery to patients in Africa and Asia through Pfizer’s Global Health Fellows program. The Global Health Fellows program sends Pfizer colleagues to work with non-governmental organizations and other partners on public health assignments in developing countries. Global Health Fellows have been placed by the IRC at the Mae Tao Clinic in Thailand and at the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya.
Pfizer Partnership Initiatives:
Global Health Fellows – The program sends Pfizer colleagues on assignments to work with non-governmental and multi-lateral organizations addressing HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria.
Infectious Diseases Institute – Pfizer partners with the Academic Alliance Foundation, Makerere University, Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and other organizations to support training and treatment activities of the Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI) in Kampala, Uganda. This regional training and treatment center is empowering the local healthcare providers to care for a population desperately in need of HIV/AIDS treatment and to train others.
Diflucan Partnership Program – Diflucan® (fluconazole), an antifungal that treats two fungal opportunistic infections associated with AIDS, is provided free of charge to governmental and non-governmental organizations in developing countries.
International Trachoma Initiative – A public-private partnership dedicated to eliminating trachoma, the world’s leading cause of preventable blindness, through health worker training, patient education and donations of the antibiotic, Zithromax® (azithromycin).