- Novartis organizes annual Community Partnership Day to commemorate the company's creation in 1996
- Over 10 000 associates worldwide engage in volunteer activities in their communities
- Novartis event emphasizes strong commitment to Corporate Citizenship
- Novartis launches new Corporate Citizenship website
Basel, April 26, 2007 - Thousands of Novartis associates worldwide are taking part today in the company's Community Partnership Day by engaging in volunteer activities to benefit people in their local communities. This year marks the 11th Community Partnership Day, established to commemorate the creation of Novartis in 1996.
In conjunction with this event, Novartis is launching its new Corporate Citizenship website (
www.corporatecitizenship.novartis.com). The site provides a comprehensive review of the company's citizenship activities and includes several case studies.
Ten thousand associates worldwide joined in the event in 2006, engaging in volunteer work for a wide range of charitable causes. More than 3 200 associates across Switzerland are expected to participate in the 2007 event. In Basel, the headquarters of Novartis, associates are working on more than 140 projects, such as accompanying elderly people on different excursions or reconditioning playgrounds in the region. In Bern, associates expect to plant reeds along the shores of the Lake Biel, build nests for ring snakes and recondition the dry stone walls in the vineyards. Associates in Nyon are helping teenagers to find apprenticeships and are gardening with handicapped people.
In Italy, the motto of this year's Partnership Day is "no-one excluded" to support people living in conditions of constraint and marginalization. Among the day's activities, Novartis associates will be visiting inmates at a prison near Milan to demonstrate their commitment to overcome barriers and combat social exclusion.
In Spain, Novartis is working with the Ibn Battuta Association, an organization specializing in integrating people from the North Africa Maghreb zone. In different workshops, associates will exchange traditions, culture, music and dishes with the immigrants.
In the US, associates are supporting local nonprofit organizations in various activities and assembling backpacks with school supplies for children with AIDS. Others are gathering coats for homeless people and business clothing for low-income women seeking to re-enter the workforce.
In Bangladesh, Novartis partners with a local nongovernmental organization called "The Dhaka Project" to support rehabilitated street children. Associates are planting trees, doing health checks and painting pots with children, and providing training for NGO workers.
In Venezuela, volunteer activities include maintaining emergency rooms in two public hospitals and the reconditioning of an orphanage.
In Germany, Novartis volunteers are supporting the redecoration of the exterior of a school. Together with children, associates will paint a fence, create a school logo and repaint the signs outside the school. Other projects in Germany include cleaning up storm damage around a Botanical Garden caused by the severe winter storm "Kyril" in January 2007.
Novartis was honored in 2005 with the Excellence in Corporate Philanthropy Award from the Committee to Encourage Corporate Philanthropy. In 2006, 33.6 million patients around the world benefited from Novartis access-to-medicines programs that were valued at USD 755 million. These initiatives range from drug donation and research programs to combat neglected diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and leprosy in developing nations, to patient assistance programs that help cancer patients receive the most innovative and effective treatments.
About Novartis
Novartis AG (NYSE: NVS) is a world leader in offering medicines to protect health, cure disease and improve well-being. Our goal is to discover, develop and successfully market innovative products to treat patients, ease suffering and enhance the quality of life. We are strengthening our medicine-based portfolio, which is focused on strategic growth platforms in innovation-driven pharmaceuticals, high-quality and low-cost generics, human vaccines and leading self-medication OTC brands. Novartis is the only company with leadership positions in these areas. In 2006, the Group's businesses achieved net sales of USD 37.0 billion and net income of USD 7.2 billion. Approximately USD 5.4 billion was invested in R&D. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis Group companies employ approximately 101,000 associates and operate in over 140 countries around the world. For more information, please visit
http://www.novartis.com.
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Media Contacts
Christine Elleboode-Zwaans
Novartis Global Media Relations
+41 61 324 3348 (direct)
+41 79 828 4718 (mobile)
Satoshi Sugimoto
Novartis Global Media Relations
+41 61 32 46129 (direct)
+41 79 619 2035 (mobile)
Attachments:
Media Release (PDF)
