Lilly wins global business coalition award for excellence in business action

The Lilly MDR‐TB Partnership is raising awareness about the symptoms of and treatment for TB among people in northwest China—a region that is at an elevated risk for TB infection due to higher‐than‐average rates of poverty. The Partnership’s three‐pronged approach in Qinghai targets school children, healthcare professionals and the community as a whole. IHF is a partner of the MDR-TB Partnership.

To reach primary and middle school students, the company worked with the Qinghai Center for Disease Control to train 9,000 teachers on TB prevention and treatment. The teachers integrated that training into their lesson plans, ultimately reaching more than 100,000 students. An additional 500 health workers were
reached using a proven training of trainer’s model. The initiative also trained 60 community leaders from key minority groups in the area—including the Tibetan, Buddhist and Muslim communities – reaching minority groups that prefer to receive health information from their own leaders. It’s estimated that, in total, 3.5 million people benefit from the community investment program.

The Lilly MDR-TB Partnership is a public-private initiative that encompasses global health and relief organizations, academic institutions and private companies, and is led by Eli Lilly and Company. Its mission is to address the expanding crisis of MDR-TB. Created in 2003, the Partnership mobilizes more than 20 global healthcare partners on five continents. The Partnership has implemented community-level programs to raise awareness about MDR-TB, increase access to treatment, ensure correct completion of treatment and empower patients by eliminating the stigma of the disease. The Partnership also trains healthcare workers to recognize, treat, monitor and prevent the spread of MDR-TB.

Tuberculosis (TB), often thought of as a disease of the past, continues to plague the world’s most vulnerable populations. The World Health Organization estimates there were 9.4 million new cases of TB globally in 2008; in the same year, 1.8 million people died of TB – equal to about 4,500 deaths each day.

In some areas of the world, one in four people with TB has a drug-resistant form of the disease. In sheer numbers, Asia bears the brunt of the epidemic. Almost 50% of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) cases worldwide are estimated to occur in India and China. In Africa, estimates show 69,000 cases emerged in 2008, the vast majority of which went undiagnosed. These dire statistics are even more dismal considering that TB and MDR-TB are treatable and curable. The real problem lays in the fact that TB – in all its forms – is a complex disease, one which is not only a medical problem; it is also a social and economic problem.

For more information: http://www.lillymdr-tb.com/

As a Lilly MDR-TB Partnership partner, the International Hospital Federation (IHF) has developed a comprehensive TB and MDR-TB-control training manual for hospital managers. The goal of the manual is to provide health care facility and hospital managers with an overview of the basics of TB control together with the appropriate expertise and necessary resources, to clarify the roles and skills they need to enable them to make informed decisions about the management of TB patients and participate effectively in developing and maintaining a successful and sustainable TB and MDR-TB control program in their facilities. The manual, which was pilot-tested in South Africa in 2006, will also serve as a valuable guide for infection control for patients and staff, helping to fight a growing health threat in hospitals and clinics in developing countries.

< Back to main