CARING FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin is Executive Director of UNFPA. “Our greatest hope for the H4+ collaboration is that we will make a difference in the lives of the people we serve,” he says. “If we bring all our efforts together in synergy, we can do a lot more than we can as individual organizations.”
This story appears in the Johnson & Johnson 2011 Annual Report
When you look after a woman, when you look after mothers, you look after the family,” says Babatunde Osotimehin, M.D., Executive Director of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund. “It is important that we have a holistic way of dealing with poverty and other factors that make women and children vulnerable, particularly in program countries where these woman and children live.”
While global mortality has been reduced by one-third in the past 20 years, approximately 1,000 women die from pregnancy complications and childbirth, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
UNFPA, together with UNAIDS, UNICEF, the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO), make up the H4+ partnership, a coordinated initiative that ensures these international organizations work together for women’s and children’s health through local programs. In 2011, Johnson & Johnson became the first private sector partner to support the H4+.
“We are happy to have Johnson & Johnson as the first private sector organization coming forward as a true partner on this initiative,” says Dr. Osotimehin. “I believe that with the support from Johnson & Johnson, we can make an even bigger difference on the ground and save more lives.”
BUILDING ON A LEGACY OF CARING
“The partnership with the H4+ is one component of our response to the United Nations Secretary General’s call to action for a renewed global effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015,” says Joy Marini, Director, Corporate Contributions, Johnson & Johnson. “Our efforts are in keeping with our long-standing commitment to the health and well-being of mothers and children.”
While global maternal mortality has been reduced by one-third in the past 20 years, H4+ members report that every day, approximately 1,000 women die from pregnancy complications and childbirth—most of them in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. For every woman who dies, around 20 more are seriously injured or suffer disabilities. And every day, about 10,000 newborns die within their first 28 days of life.
Most of these deaths can be prevented. Factors including poor health infrastructure and a lack of qualified health workers can mean the most basic and natural act of giving life instead becomes a cause of death—a time of hope for the future instead becomes a time of family crisis and despair.
Ethiopia and Tanzania are areas where the risk to mothers and newborns is high, and the governments’ commitments to improving maternal-child health are strong. H4+ and Johnson & Johnson are providing training programs in these areas for health care workers so critical care can reach mothers and newborns.
WORKING WITH COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS
Johnson & Johnson is inspired by Our Credo to partner with hundreds of organizations in caring for people throughout the world. The Company works with partners on over 700 programs in more than 50 countries, helping to implement new approaches that often enable these programs to expand and reach more people. Employees around the world volunteer their time, skills and passion in order to make a difference to local organizations.
“With a private sector perspective, we bring an enthusiasm for strategic planning and a willingness to try and implement innovative approaches,” says Sharon D’Agostino, Vice President, Worldwide Corporate Contributions & Community Relations, Johnson & Johnson. “We bring a rigor for metrics and evaluation, and our work to help programs demonstrate measurable outcomes provides organizations with data that can attract additional sources of funding.”
The Company’s diverse partners are aligned with the strategic mission of making life-changing, long-term differences in human health. “We recognize that those closest to the most pressing health care concerns are best able to address local needs,” says D’Agostino.
For example, in Japan, Johnson & Johnson supports an organization called Resilience that provides assistance to women who are involved in or have gone through abusive relationships. Resilience offers a 12-session series of workshops and lectures that aim to educate survivors of abuse and enable them to heal, so that they will be better equipped to re-enter the community, start working or build new relationships. “If we could get connected to others who are able to provide support when it is needed, then I think we could change this world bit by bit,” says Sachi Nakajima, the organization’s founder and herself a survivor.
DOING MORE AS RELATIONSHIPS GROW
Many partner relationships grow over time in ways that contribute to people’s lives, our planet and our business. One such longstanding collaboration is with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). More than 10 years ago, Johnson & Johnson became an early adopter of the WWF Climate Savers program. The Company set a goal to achieve a 7 percent absolute reduction in CO2 emissions from 1990–2010. As of 2010, Johnson & Johnson surpassed the goal, achieving an absolute reduction of more than 23 percent.
“Johnson & Johnson set a really high bar at a time when other companies were not setting greenhouse gas reduction targets,” says Suzanne Apple, Vice President, Business & Industry, WWF. “It sent a strong message to other companies to participate.”
The collaboration expanded to include a philanthropic commitment to WWF’s “Healthy Communities, Healthy Ecosystems” program in Africa, which links the health of the environment to the health of local people. Johnson & Johnson was also an early participant in WWF’s Global Forest & Trade Network, focused on reliable, sustainable sourcing of paper and wood products. While the Company is not in the paper or pulp business, Apple says Johnson & Johnson again sent a strong message, this time to suppliers that came to the table. In the same way, WWF has provided critical input about a responsible sourcing policy for palm oil. Johnson & Johnson is working with WWF to identify opportunities to support projects that promote sustainable practices in the field.
“With Johnson & Johnson we are working in a number of areas that are important to both of us,” says Apple. “By joining forces, we can have a bigger impact on creating a more sustainable future for our planet.”
Watch an interview with Dr. Osotimehin
To Learn More
Our Caring
2010 Contributions Report
UNFPA
World Wildlife Fund