Novartis is committed to supporting research on diseases of poverty and has recently established the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases in Singapore. The new $122 million research center will focus exclusively on the discovery of innovative drugs for the treatment of diseases that are endemic to developing countries.

For its employees and their families in the developing world, Novartis has established a comprehensive program of medical services that includes free or heavily subsidized facilities for diagnosis, treatment, and psychosocial care of workers with HIV/AIDS or other poverty-related diseases such as TB or malaria.

In Southern and East Africa, the Novartis Foundation, in collaboration with terre des hommes Switzerland and The Salvation Army, supports different initiatives to improve AIDS-orphans' livelihood and future prospects through individual counselling to help them cope with their situation, capacity building of teachers, social workers and other care-givers as well as social and economic empowerment (skills development, access to credit and income generating activities).

In Mali, the Novartis Foundation, together with the Ministries of Health and Social Development, has initiated the setting up of a mutual health insurance scheme to improve access for rural populations. The principle of collective provisions makes it possible to save for health at a time when more resources are available and at the same time to pool the resources of several people.

In order to make the mutual health insurance scheme and its services attractive, the pilot project also improves the supply and quality of clinical care. Finally, the project contains a preventive component which should allow households - in conjunction with the mutual health insurance scheme - to reduce health care costs and thus those of the mutual health insurance scheme.

In order to strengthen human resource development in the health sector in Tanzania, the Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development and its partners are currently renovating and upgrading an Assistant Medical Officer Training Centre (buildings, training equipment, new specialized staff, etc). Assistant Medical Officers are a priority cadre for the Ministry of Health as they enhance the quality of essential primary health care services, especially at the district level. Thus an adequate teaching and learning environment will contribute substantially to improved medical expertise, which in turn is needed to improve the overall health situation of the population, especially in rural areas.

In Sri Lanka, the Novartis Foundation supports the efforts of the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement that is active in over 12,000 villages, applying a holistic and integrated approach to rural village development. In order to empower these communities on the basis of Buddhist principles, Sarvodaya has identified ten basic needs. Those ten elements include a clean environment (e.g. sewage and drainage system), adequate provision of clean drinking water, balanced nutrition and simple housing. Means to fulfill these basic needs are community activities to build the necessary infrastructure as well as training and education in nutrition and reproductive health for the younger generations.

For more information, visit: www.novartis.com and www.novartisfoundation.com