Global Access Initiatives

Diabetes Education, Care and Counseling in Bolivia

In Bolivia, more than 7 percent of the people have diabetes; in Cochabamba, the country's third-largest city, more than 10 percent of the residents suffer from the disease, according to a 2005 article, "A Holistic Approach to Diabetes Care in Bolivia," published by the International Diabetes Foundation (www.diabetesvoice.org). In response to this growing health problem, the Abbott Fund partnered with Direct Relief International to support the education and outreach activities of El Centro Vivir Con Diabetes, a nongovernmental organization in Cochabamba dedicated to the education, care and counseling of low-income adults and children living with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.

In the first six months of the program, product contributions were used to screen more than 6,000 people – an increase of 25 percent versus the six months prior.

Additional product contributions will be used to screen another 6,000 people for the disease and monitor the condition of thousands more. Abbott support has also helped train 604 people, ranging from diabetes patients to biochemists and pharmacists, to become diabetes educators. Ultimately, hundreds of thousands of people will be assisted through these programs.

Improving Neonatal Survival in Kosovo

Kosovo is a province located in southern Serbia that has been under United Nations administration since the end of the war in 1999. Well before then, the province's health sector suffered from long-term underinvestment in human resources development, infrastructure and modern medical equipment. As a result, the province experiences a shockingly high infant mortality rate of 49 per 1,000 live births, according to UNICEF. The University Clinical Center in Kosovo (UCCK) in Pristina is the only tertiary care facility in Kosovo, and the only hospital equipped to treat very sick or premature newborns. To help improve neonatal survival, The Abbott Fund partnered with AmeriCares, neonatal specialists from Dartmouth Medical College and UCCK to conduct Neonatal Respiratory Assistance staff training, and to donate new medical supplies and equipment to the hospital.

The Abbott Fund provided AmeriCares with a grant of $86,800 to purchase advanced ventilators, 15 CPAP machines, incubators, pulse oximeters and gas analyzers to equip four patient units within the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The grant also supported an education exchange at UCCK that trained 52 health professionals on respiratory care interventions, specifically neonatal resuscitation and stabilization, and the treatment of infant Respiratory Distress Syndrome, caused by the developmental lack of surfactant in the lungs of premature babies. Additionally, health professionals received training on how to administer Survanta, Abbott's surfactant replacement therapy, used to prevent or treat respiratory distress syndrome in premature infants. We also donated over $257,000 worth of Survanta. At the end of 2007, declines in neonatal mortality were noted among all weight ranges, but the most significant was documented among the target population of infants between 1,000 and 1,499 grams where there was a 17 percent reduction compared to 2006.

Operation Smile

For more than 13 years, Abbott has supported the work of Operation Smile, a global organization dedicated to improving the health and lives of children and young adults suffering from facial deformities. The organization's volunteer medical professionals travel the globe to help strengthen health care systems for both children and families. Since Operation Smile's inception in 1982, volunteers have provided free reconstructive surgery to more than 100,000 children and young adults around the world.

Since 1993, Abbott has donated more than $3 million in grants and products. In 2002, Operation Smile elected to use sevoflurane, our leading anesthesia product, for all of their missions, and since that time, our donations of the product have helped treat more than 20,000 patients in 25 countries. In 2007, in celebration of Operation Smile's 25th anniversary, Abbott donated product, valued at almost $500,000, that was used to treat over 3,000 children during a two-week, 25-country event.

In 2005 The Abbott Fund expanded its partnership with Operation Smile by supporting the Pediatric Advanced Life Support and Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support training program, conducted in nine developing countries. The goal of the program is to help strengthen the expertise of pediatricians and anesthesiologists in the developing world and provide quality services for children and adults requiring emergency critical care. To date, Operation Smile has been able to train more than 1,600 medical professionals in critical lifesaving techniques and purchase related training equipment.

Improving Health Care for Women and Children in Afghanistan

According to the World Health Organization, Afghanistan has the second-highest maternal mortality rate in the world, second only to Sierra Leone. In 2005, the Abbott Fund partnered with Direct Relief International and the Afghan Institute for Learning (AIL) to help lower the country's high maternal mortality ratio and increase the survival and overall health of women and children. Read more about our joint effort in Afghanistan.

Treating Malnutrition in Vietnam

Children in rural areas of Vietnam are afflicted with some of the most severe forms of malnutrition, often as a result of limited access to nourishing food and a lack of nutritional education. According to UNICEF, 30 percent of the country's children under five years of age suffer from malnutrition. In 2005, Abbott and the Abbott Fund worked with AmeriCares and Gao Diem Humanitarian Foundation to launch a rural school program to improve the nutritional status of children through the consumption of local foods, vitamins and Abbott nutrition supplements. Read more about our joint effort in Vietnam.