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Global Poverty Alleviation: A Case Book pp 113–165Cite as

Health

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Abstract

The insufficient availability of healthcare facilities and medicines perpetuates poverty, particularly when curable diseases are involved. The problem is particularly serious with HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa where, even in 2013, 40 million people are infected. Another deterrent to health is the lack of clean water, a phenomenon that plagues many developing countries. In this chapter we will include three cases of companies that work to address the issues of health access, HIV/AIDs, and clean water. These include the Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development, and its work with HIV orphans in Tanzania, Proctor & Gamble’s NGO that distributes water purification packets, and the Female Health Company who distributes female condoms for HIV prevention in over 100 countries.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    terres des hommes schweiz focused on the health, social care, and rights of children worldwide.

  2. 2.

    Nelson, Benjamin F. “Global Health: The U.S. and U.N. Response to the AIDS Crisis in Africa,” U.S. General Accounting Office Testimony (February 2000): 2. http://www.gao.gov/archive/2000/ns00099t.pdf. Accessed 12 Sept 2007.

  3. 3.

    “Number of AIDS Orphans Rapidly Increasing in Sub-Saharan Africa,” Reproductive Health Matters 11, no. 22 (2003): 193.

  4. 4.

    http://www.thebody.com/content/world/art33120.html. Accessed 25 April 2007.

  5. 5.

    Foster, Geoff. 2002. Supporting community efforts to assist orphans in Africa. New England Journal of Medicine 346(24): 1907.

  6. 6.

    Foster, 1907.

  7. 7.

    Foster, 1907.

  8. 8.

    Foster, 1907.

  9. 9.

    Freudenheim, Milt. 1996. Merger of drug giants: A new image for corporate Switzerland. New York Times, 8 March 1996, D1.

  10. 10.

    Moore, Stephen D. 1996. Novartis Leaps last regulatory hurdle. The Wall Street Journal, 18 December 1996, B11.

  11. 11.

    According to Freudenheim, this was the third-largest deal at that time, following Mitsubishi Bank’s acquisition of the Bank of Tokyo for USD33.8 billion and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts’s deal for RJR Nabisco for USD30.6 billion.

  12. 12.

    Moore, Stephen D. and Philip Revzin. 1996. Challenge for Novartis Lies in the lab. Wall Street Journal, 30 July 1996, B8.

  13. 13.

    Freudenheim

  14. 14.

    Freudenheim.

  15. 15.

    http://www.novartis.com/about-novartis/company-history/index.shtml (accessed 04 November 2007).

  16. 16.

    Novartis Operational Review 1997, 4.

  17. 17.

    Novartis Operational Review 1997, 4.

  18. 18.

    Bale Communications Inc., “Novartis Looking To Be the Biggest,” Adnews Online, 18 December 1997.

  19. 19.

    “Success Through Perseverance and Patience: The History of the Novartis Foundation is One of Continuity Over 25 Years,” 19, http://www.novartisfoundation.org/platform/apps/Publication/getfmfile.asp?id=652&el=543&se=634215889&doc=14&dse=1 . Accessed 17 July 2007.

  20. 20.

    Karin Schmitt (Novartis), interviewed by Jenny Mead, April 4, 2007, Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, Charlottesville, Virginia.

  21. 21.

    “Success Through Perseverance and Patience,” 20.

  22. 22.

    “Success Through Perseverance and Patience,” 21.

  23. 23.

    Germann, Stefan, Kurt Madörin, and Ncazelo Ncube. 2001. Psychosocial support for children affected by AIDS: Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. SAFAIDS 9(2): 11.

  24. 24.

    Germann et al., 11.

  25. 25.

    http://www.humuliza.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1&Itemid=1. Accessed 20 Aug 2007.

  26. 26.

    Novartis, “Regional Psychosocial Support Initiative: Bringing Hope to AIDS Orphans,” 4.

  27. 27.

    http://www.humuliza.org/.

  28. 28.

    http://www.humuliza.org/.

  29. 29.

    For more detailed information about the Humuliza Project, see http://www.humuliza.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1&Itemid=1. Accessed 04 Nov 2007.

  30. 30.

    http://www.novartisfoundation.org/page/content/index.asp?Menu=3&MenuID=237&ID=526&Item=44.6. Accessed 27 Aug 2007.

  31. 31.

    “History of REPSSI,” www.repssi.org/home.asp?pid=31. Accessed 20 Aug 2007.

  32. 32.

    Karin Schmitt (Novartis), interview by Jenny Mead, April 4, 2007, Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, Charlottesville, Virginia. (Unless otherwise noted, all Schmitt quotations in the case are from that interview.)

  33. 33.

    “History and Background of REPSSI,” http://www.repssi.org/home.asp?pid=31. Accessed 1 Sept 2007.

  34. 34.

    Schmitt emphasized that this list of criteria was not complete; the degree of specification in Novartis’s criteria for development work was too extensive to catalogue in this case.

  35. 35.

    Novartis, “Regional Psychosocial Support Initiative: Bringing Hope to AIDS Orphans in Africa,” 2, http://www.novartisfoundation.org/platform/content/element/1172/Bringing_Hope.pdf. Accessed 24 Aug 2007.

  36. 36.

    In addition, by 2006, the Novartis Foundation had been involved in a number of other projects including: improving access to leprosy services in Sri Lanka (1989–2006); integrated health care project in Mali (2001–2005); community development program in Sri Lanka (2000–2005); organization and community development in Brazil (1993–2004); support for youth training centers in Tanzania (1998–2002); rural women’s project in Bangladesh (1992–96); and empowerment of women in Gaza (1992–1996).

  37. 37.

    For more information about the Millennium Goals, see http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals. Accessed 17 Jan 2008.

  38. 38.

    The cost of this particular venture was not readily determined because the Novartis corporate human resources department put it together and paid for it. By 2007, approximately 500 man-hours and 10 airfares from Switzerland to South Africa had been attributed to this program.

  39. 39.

    “Safe Drinking Water,” P&G Health Sciences Institute, http://www.pghsi.com/pghsi/safewater (accessed 15 February 2008).

  40. 40.

    U.S. Census Bureau, International Data Base, “Total Midyear Population for the World: 1950–2050,” 16 July 2007, http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idb/worldpop.html. Accessed 28 Feb 2008.

  41. 41.

    Hawkes, Nigel and Nigel Nuttall. 1995. Seeds offer hope of pure water for the developing world. The Times (London), 15 September 1995.

  42. 42.

    Gadgil, Ashok. 1998. Drinking water in developing countries, Annual Review of Energy and the Environment 23:254.

  43. 43.

    Gadgil, 254.

  44. 44.

    “Our History,” P&G Web site, http://www.pg.com/company/who_we_are/ourhistory.jhtml. Accessed 15 Feb 2008.

  45. 45.

    Marguerite Nugent, “P&G CEO Sees Transformation in Five Years,” Reuters News Service, 12 October 1999.

  46. 46.

    Gadgil, 264.

  47. 47.

    Gadgil, 264.

  48. 48.

    Gadgil, 256.

  49. 49.

    P&G had sales of $38.1 billion and net earnings of $3.76 billion in 1998.

  50. 50.

    In the first quarter of 1999, PUR had 21.2 % of the market, compared with Brita’s 66.2 %, and had gained 49% of the market in the month of July 1999, according to Susan E. Peterson, “Pretty Price for Recovery Engineering,” Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 27 August 1999, 1-D.

  51. 51.

    Peterson.

  52. 52.

    Peterson.

  53. 53.

    Peterson.

  54. 54.

    Coolidge, Alexander. 2003. P&G water purifier aids third world. Cincinnati Post, 19 June 2003, B6.

  55. 55.

    Procter & Gamble Press Release, “New P&G Technology Improves Drinking Water in Developing Countries,” 24 April 2001, http://www.pginvestor.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=104574&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=628966&highlight=. Accessed 25 Feb 2008.

  56. 56.

    “Global Joint Program Partners,” Health Communication Partnership, http://www.hcpartnership.org/Partners/gjpp.php. Accessed 25 Feb 2008.

  57. 57.

    “Mission,” P&G Health Sciences Institute, http://www.pghsi.com/pghsi/mission/. Accessed 25 Feb 2008.

  58. 58.

    “Universal Access to Clean Water,” ICN Position Statement, 1995, http://www.icn.ch/pswater.htm. Accessed 25 Feb 2008.

  59. 59.

    “Safe Water System,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, http://www.cdc.gov/safewater/. Accessed 25 Feb 2008.

  60. 60.

    Crump, John A., Peter O. Otieno, Laurence Slutsker, Bruce H. Keswick, Daniel H. Rosen, R. Michael Hoekstra, John M. Vulule, Stephen P. Luby. 2005. Household based treatment of drinking water with flocculant-disinfectant for preventing diarrhoea in areas with turbid source water in rural western Kenya: Cluster randomised controlled trial. British Medical Journal (BMJ) 331; 478, published on-line July 26, 2005. http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/331/7515/478. Accessed 19 Feb 2008.

  61. 61.

    Coolidge, B6.

  62. 62.

    “Financial Express: P&G May Test Waters With PUR,” Financial Express, 26 May 2004.

  63. 63.

    “Children’s Safe Drinking Water,” Procter & Gamble, http://www.pg.com/company/our_commitment/drinking_water.jhtml. Accessed 25 Feb 2008.

  64. 64.

    “About PSI,” Population Services International, http://www.psi.org/about_us. Accessed 21 Nov 2007.

  65. 65.

    In 2006, PSI estimated that it had treated over 8.6 billion liters of water, averted 4.1 million cases of diarrhea, and prevented 6,000 child deaths that year. “Water/Child Survival: Safe Water and Diarrheal Disease Control,” http://www.psi.org/child-survival. Accessed 18 Dec 2007.

  66. 66.

    “Aquaya to Assist PSI in Community Targeting for the Social Marketing of PUR in Kenya,” Aquaya Institute press release, http://www.aquaya.org/news.php#010807. Accessed 4 Dec 2007.

  67. 67.

    “Household Water Treatment Options in Developing Countries,” Centers for Disease Control, January 2008, http://www.ehproject.org/PDF/ehkm/cdc-options_pur.pdf. Accessed 15 Feb 2008.

  68. 68.

    Source: Greg Allgood blog at http://childrensafedrinkingwater.typepad.com/pgsafewater/2007/11/boiling-in-born.html. Accessed 20 Nov 2007.

  69. 69.

    A video of a typical PUR product demonstration, produced by members of the nonprofit, Other Paths, may be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mij0-3hBKs8&feature=related (accessed 25 February 2008).

  70. 70.

    The public sector included public health agencies, city and state health departments, university health centers, and nonprofit health care advocacy groups such as Planned Parenthood. The words “private” and “commercial” are used interchangeably to include all non-public-sector businesses and organizations.

  71. 71.

    These statistics should be interpreted with caution because collection of demographic and risk information varies among states.

  72. 72.

    U.S. CDC, HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report (1994): 6, no 2, http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pdf/statistics_hivsur62.pdf. Accessed 1 May 2013.

  73. 73.

    Gilbert, Lisa K. 1999. The Female condom (FC) in the US: Lessons learned. University of Idaho.

  74. 74.

    The subsidiary was named WPC Holdings.

  75. 75.

    The words “private” and “commercial” are used interchangeably to include all non-public-sector businesses and organizations.

  76. 76.

    Sources consulted while researching this section include Country: Zimbabwe, History (Kaleidoscope. 2001); Doing Business in Zimbabwe (New York: PriceWaterhouse, 1995).

  77. 77.

    Compare that with 1994 U.S. life expectancy at birth for females (79 years) and males (72 years).

  78. 78.

    Altman, Lawrence K. 1998. Parts of Africa showing HIV in 1 in 4 adults. New York Times, June 24, A-1.

  79. 79.

    Cowley, Jeffery. 2000. Fighting the disease: What can be done. Newsweek, January 17, 38.

  80. 80.

    Altman, A-5.

  81. 81.

    Altman, A-5.

  82. 82.

    “Women and HIV/AIDS,” WHO Fact Sheet No. 242, June 2001, http://www.who.int/mip2001/files/2271/242-WomenandHIVAIDSforMIP.pdf. Accessed 1 May 2013.

  83. 83.

    “Leaders: The Battle with AIDS,” Economist, July 15, 2000, 17.

  84. 84.

    “Women and HIV/AIDS.”

  85. 85.

    The Female Health Company 10-K, 2012, 7–8.

  86. 86.

    FHCO 10-K, 2012, 5, 16.

  87. 87.

    FHCO 10-K, 2012, 10.

  88. 88.

    FHCO 10-K, 2012, 13.

  89. 89.

    Femy, Femidom, and Reality are three of the patented names FHCO owned for its product.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Management and Business, St. Edward’s University, Austin, TX, USA

    Pauline J. Albert

  2. School of Business, De Paul University, Chicago, IL, USA

    Patricia Werhane & Tim Rolph

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  1. Pauline J. Albert
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  2. Patricia Werhane
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Management and Business, St. Edward's University, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Pauline J. Albert

  2. De Paul University School of Business, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Patricia Werhane

  3. De Paul University School of Business, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Tim Rolph

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Albert, P.J., Werhane, P., Rolph, T. (2014). Health. In: Albert, P., Werhane, P., Rolph, T. (eds) Global Poverty Alleviation: A Case Book. The International Society of Business, Economics, and Ethics Book Series, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7479-7_3

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