Social standards in the supply chain
In 2009, Merck was one of the first companies to join the internationally valid Compliance Initiative of the German Federal Association for Materials Management, Purchasing and Logistics (Bundesverband Materialwirtschaft, Einkauf und Logistik – BME). Its goal is to promote legally compliant behavior and social standards along the supply chain. We collaborated extensively on a supplier code of conduct. This code has created an international minimum standard that applies across different industries. It covers rules to fight corruption and child labor as well as minimum requirements regarding antitrust rulings and environmental protection by suppliers.
Fight against counterfeit medicines
We are continuing our work worldwide with the Global Pharma Health Fund (GPHF) in the fight against counterfeit medicines. The GPHF-Minilab®, a non-profit initiative supported by Merck, is a unique mobile compact laboratory used to reliably and rapidly test over 40 active pharmaceutical ingredients. Through this initiative, pharmaceuticals such as antimalaria medicines or antibiotics can be tested quickly, thus closing gaps in monitoring. To date, over 330 Minilabs are being used in 70 countries around the world to check the quality of medicines thanks to GPHF and its collaboration with international partners.
Children’s aid program to fight a serious tropical disease
The fight against the tropical disease schistosomiasis, an insidious life-threatening worm disease, is showing results. Together with the World Health Organization WHO, we have established in Africa the preconditions for the widespread treatment of infected school children. We have expanded our aid program to Nigeria, Malawi, Mauritania, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia, the Central African Republic, Angola, Senegal, Benin, and Cameroon. In 2009, 25 million tablets of Cesol® 600 were shipped to these countries, thus nearly doubling the amount shipped in 2008. More than 3.3 million children were treated for schistosomiasis. Worldwide, around 200 million people suffer from schistosomiasis, 200,000 of whom die each year. In total, Merck donated 200 million tablets of Cesol® 600, which contains the active ingredient praziquantel. This will enable around 27 million children to receive treatment by 2017.
back
