COMMUNITY

As a part of its core business values, MSD is committed to doing good while doing well.  An integral part of this approach is the very basis of our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme that drives us to engage in activities to expand access to quality healthcare, and make a positive and sustainable impact on communities in the regions we work in.

CSR Programme

Our CSR programme is aimed at:

  • Addressing the regional strategic priorities in emerging and developing markets, to build and strengthen relationships with regional and country-level stakeholders; and
  • Focussing on a few key areas through a targeted approach that aspires to making a greater difference in the lives of people and communities.

MSD's CSR Programme works through two key areas:

Health Literacy

  • Promote the ability to gain access to, understand and use health information
  • Improve the population's access to health literacy and its capacity to use it
  • Increase uptake and efficacy of healthcare

Access to Health

  • Address inadequate health and supporting infrastructural resources with poor availability, including medicines and health services
  • Bridge the urban/rural divide, and gender inequality
  • Directly support India's efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals

These values are embodied in the following Strategic Grants Programme projects that are currently being implemented in India.

In the focus area of Health Literacy, MSD is supporting the following projects: Eradicating Malnutrition in Madhya Pradesh Tribal Regions

One in every three malnourished child in the world is Indian. An estimated 46 percent of children under the age of five in India are underweight - a burden of approximately 60 million malnourished children.

The Real Medicine Foundation (RMF) and MSD have come together to challenge these daunting statistics, with MSD contributing US$91,739. RMF is identifying children under five with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in some of the country's most hard hit regions and referring them for treatment. Within the first year of the project, RMF is reaching over 80,000 children and successfully treating over 4,000 children with SAM.

Reduction of Maternal Mortality Rates in Assam

India has an exceedingly high Maternal Mortality Ratio that accounts for more than 20 percent of the global burden. Nearly 70 percent of these deaths are avoidable through the provision of proper care and healthcare services provided during pregnancy. MSD has pledged US$36,765 to support Drishtee's efforts to increase ante-natal care (ANC) coverage and institutional deliveries, increase access to the ANC and post-natal care, and refer complicated cases to larger, partner hospitals. Drishtee will reach approximately 10,575 women through regular village outreach and local maternal health clinics alongside routine visits.

LV Prasad: Building Human Resources for Eye Care

Research in India and globally has shown that nearly 75 percent of all blinding conditions can be prevented or treated with simple cost-effective interventions, many of which can be implemented at the primary level.

MSD has partnered with LV Prasad with a grant of US$50,000 to support the human resource demands at the village level to assure that all of the rural population in Andhra Pradesh has access to the eye services essential to avoid preventable blindness. Each village volunteer team covers the needs of up to 15 villages, reaching a population of nearly 50,000 rural residents.

PHFI: Health Literacy Project on Diabetes and Cervical Cancer

Diabetes and cervical cancer awareness is being promoted in rural, tribal and at-risk populations, through a collaboration between MSD and Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) to which MSD has contributed US$50,000 to PHFI.

PHFI propagates health messages to encourage health seeking behaviour in Gujarat, Orissa, and Delhi and works closely with experts in the medical field to assure that the correct health messaging is disseminated

Bombay Veterinary College: Pilot Rabies Control Project

India continues to report the highest incidence of human rabies with an estimated 20,000 deaths reported annually. Approximately 75 percent of these deaths occur in rural areas, and the highest rates are among the poor. Rabies continues to cause nearly 100 percent fatality due to treatment mismanagement and the failure to seek post-exposure treatment from a qualified health official. MSD has partnered with the Bombay Veterinary College (BVC) and other lead stakeholders to initiate work in this neglected disease through a multiple year, multilateral initiative. BVC aspires to reduce the incidence of human and animal rabies through improved educational awareness and mass vaccination of pets, determine the benefit of improving rabies prevention education, create awareness at a local level, and further utilise these data for advocacy purposes.