WHO hails the role of business in polio eradication
Geneva, 24 July 2000 - The World Health Organization (WHO) has paid tribute to the corporate sponsors of its efforts to eradicate polio.
The programm
e - which has already seen the global incidence of polio decline in the past decade from more than 350,000 cases annually to only 7000 in 1999 - is striving to eradicate polio by the end of the year.
The achievements so far have benefited greatly from corporate contributions of volunteers, services, and funds according to the Dr. Bruce Aylward, the Polio Eradication Programme coordinator.
Detailing the extent of corporate involvement in the global initiative, Dr Aylward said companies were encouraged to make "in kind" donations as well as monetary ones.
"We weren't looking for money, but rather partnerships with these companies," he said. "We wanted long term commitments from each of them rather than a short term financial fix."
Examples of corporate contributions to the WHO's Polio Eradication Programme include:
- DHL - the express delivery company donated its services in the Philippines to fly stool specimens to labs for diagnosis.
- Coca-Cola - donated the resources of its distribution system in India - including vehicles and personnel - to facilitate the delivery of polio vaccine throughout the country.
- McDonald's - allowed their franchises in the Philippines to become temporary immunization clinics during that country's national days of immunization.
- Oderbrecht - the mining company made their corporate jets available when WHO personnel encountered difficulties distributing vaccine in Angola.
- Aventis Pasteur - the pharmaceuticals company contributed 50 million doses of polio vaccine for distribution in conflict-affected countries of Africa.
- FIFA and Puma - the world football association, together with the sports manufacturer, combined forces to donate staff, marketing clout and the participation of sponsored football players to the successful "Kick Polio Out Of Africa" campaign.
- De Beers - the diamond mining company sponsored a trip to Angola by British photographer Lord Snowdon during which he photographed WHO's polio eradication programme in action for a major exhibition in London.
"These are the kind of activities we simply couldn't afford," Dr Aylward said of the De Beers initiative. "Corporations can bring to our programme an expertise in marketing that we simply cannot match.
"They know how to create public awareness, they know how to get something in the public eye and they know how to brand it and make it a success."
Access to key decision makers in government was also identified as an area in which companies have helped in the crusade against polio.
"Corporate players can often be our most valuable advocates," said Dr Aylward. "Sometimes we need to get a message to the President of a country and to have that message delivered by a key business identity gives it added potency."
According to Dr Aylward, the polio eradication programme is attractive to corporations for three distinct reasons.
"It is transparent and therefore accountable, it is credible and, most importantly, it is successful," he said. "It's not a risk for companies to attac
h their name to it.
"They want to participate not just because they have a social conscience, but also because it gives them the opportunity to have their name on a poster and be seen by the governments of these countries to be involved.
"It's a trite and overused metaphor, but for all parties involved, it really is the rarest of the rare - a win-win situation."
The Global Compact