NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (September 20, 2016) – Johnson & Johnson announced a new five-year commitment to help advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to help improve the health and well-being of men, women and children around the world. Johnson & Johnson is dedicating its expertise and innovations to ignite global partnerships and catalyze efforts through a variety of new implementation plans, targets and metrics. The announcement comes along with an expanded commitment by Johnson & Johnson to further strengthen the resilience of refugee and displaced children and their families in Syria and its neighboring countries where the need is greatest.
“Johnson & Johnson is committed to creating greater access to quality health care across the globe,” said Johnson & Johnson Chairman and CEO Alex Gorsky. “Beyond developing medicines, equipment and vaccines, we’re in communities helping expectant mothers take better care of themselves and their babies during pregnancy. We’re training nurses and doctors to identify and treat diseases, and also funding medical research. We’re proud to take a leading role with the world community in this effort, which will go a long way toward creating a healthier society.”
PLEDGE TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Johnson & Johnson announced its pledge of support of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals at an event hosted Monday in conjunction with the United Nations General Assembly in New York entitled “A Roadmap to Advance Human Health.” Johnson & Johnson convened more than 150 key thought leaders in global health and development to explore the importance of an integrated, multi-sector approach to improve the course of human health.
This commitment to advance the Sustainable Development Goals focuses on five key areas where Johnson & Johnson can optimize its diverse expertise, capabilities, collaborations and resources to make scalable and sustainable impact in promotion and advancement of the health workforce, women’s and children’s health, ensuring access to essential surgeries, environmental health and global disease challenges.
The initial five-year phase of this commitment will include work to specifically ensure:
- 175 million individuals will benefit from Johnson & Johnson solutions that prevent, control and eliminate global diseases.
- 650,000 health workers will receive development and training from us and our partners to enable delivery of better quality health care.
- 50 million people will have access to safe, essential and timely surgical care.
- 60 million women and children will receive support and tools to enable a healthy future.
- The one billion people we touch every day who inspire our action will benefit from our improvements to the sustainability of our business, products and solutions.
Johnson & Johnson will work with partners across its global network to implement the plans to meet these targets over the next five years. The commitment further aims to mobilize and inspire our employees, consumers, partners and communities across the world to improve health globally.
These efforts will build on the success of the Company’s previous commitment to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and Every Woman, Every Child which has helped improve the lives of more than 400 million people from 2010 to 2015 by working on the front lines of care with numerous partner organizations. These include Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, CARE, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, mothers2mothers, Save the Children, The Task Force for Global Health, UNICEF, and the United Nations Population Fund.
The Johnson & Johnson commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals and continued efforts toward greater world health and well-being also will be spotlighted at the fifth Global Citizen Festival on September 24 in New York City’s Central Park.
Visit http://www.abetter2030.jnj.com/ for more information on the Johnson & Johnson commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals.
AID FOR REFUGEES
Johnson & Johnson has been helping to improve the lives of refugees around the world by addressing immediate humanitarian needs such as access to quality health care and clean water. The Company’s support focuses on the sustainable long-term recovery of impacted communities, and is grounded in educational programming and community-building initiatives for displaced families.
Today in New York, Mr. Gorsky participated in The White House Leaders’ Summit on the Global Refugee Crisis. Hosted by United States President Barack Obama, this CEO roundtable meeting aimed to galvanize significant new commitments to increase funding of international organizations leading humanitarian efforts and appeals to help refugees find safe resettlement opportunities through legal pathways and to increase refugees’ transitions to self-reliance through education and employment opportunities.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Johnson & Johnson announced another expansion in its support for the Syrian refugee crisis. The Company committed an additional $1 million to support “resilience activities” to be partly managed in collaboration with global partner, Save the Children on the ground in Syria and neighboring countries. Resilience activities include programs that support educational and life skills for children, mental health (psychosocial) support for children and families to help them heal from traumatic events, and the building resiliency of adult care-givers through community-building initiatives and programs for parents. This expanded commitment builds on a $1.75 million commitment made in November 2015 to support the humanitarian needs of refugee children and families in neighboring country Lebanon along the transition routes into Europe.
Johnson & Johnson’s summit participation comes on the heels of Stories of Human Kind, an awareness campaign launched with Save the Children on Facebook. The multimedia project depicts the struggles of refugee families through a series of short films called “Searching for Home.” The project documents stories from the Tempelhof Airport Refugee Camp as families work to navigate a new reality and attempt to normalize their lives. Stories of Human Kind expands on the long-standing partnership between Johnson & Johnson and Save the Children, and the ongoing work to support refugee children and their families through quality medical care, educational programming, community-building activities, access to food and clean water and advocacy for the establishment of child protection standards.
To view the Stories of Human Kind videos, visit https://www.facebook.com/jnj/.
ABOUT JOHNSON & JOHNSON
Caring for the world, one person at a time…inspires and unites the people of Johnson & Johnson. We embrace research and science - bringing innovative ideas, products and services to advance the health and well-being of people. Our approximately 126,500 employees at more than 250 Johnson & Johnson operating companies work with partners in health care to touch the lives of over a billion people every day, throughout the world.
ABOUT SAVE THE CHILDREN
Save the Children gives children in the United States and around the world a healthy start, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We invest in childhood — every day, in times of crisis and for our future. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Press Contacts:
Ernie Knewitz
Johnson & Johnson
732-524-6623
eknewitz@its.jnj.com
Samantha Gilham
Johnson & Johnson
732-220-4965
sgilham@its.jnj.com
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