Novartis wins corporate citizenship award in Spain

May 07, 2007 - Novartis recently won the sixth Spanish-based Fundamed-El Global Award for Corporate Citizenship for its commitment to ethical management and social action.

Created by Fundamed, the Foundation for the Sciences of Medicines and Health Products, and Spanish newspaper, El Global, the award recognizes organizations or personalities active within the health sector.

Novartis was rewarded for its “One Euro in Solidarity” campaign which it runs in collaboration with the Spanish non-profit organization Barcelona Acció Solidària. Through this initiative Novartis participates in the Western African Solidarity Convoy project which supplies materials to projects being run by Spanish and Moroccan-based NGOs operating in Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia and Guinea Bissau.

To contribute to the “One in Euro Solidarity”, Novartis associates in Spain donated one euro from each of their pay slips to the initiative. The company then equaled the amount collected and donated these funds to Barcelona Acció Solidària. In 2006, 68 projects benefited from “One in Euro Solidarity”, which assisted 30 NGOs and delivered over 90 tones of material to the developing world.

The Fundamed-El Global Awards committee aimed at giving more recognition to corporate citizenship activities this year. They evaluated all 50 submissions received and divided them into 12 different categories with the objective of determining which healthcare or pharmaceutical entity was strongly contributing to improving public health on the whole. The “One in Euro Solidarity” initiative was selected for its significant contribution to improving the lives of patients in Africa.