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Robin Hood Foundation Honors Heroes in Fight Against
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Cause-Related Marketing Catches on During Holiday
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New Report Grades States on College Opportunities
World Health Organization and OSI Launch Health Network
for Developing World
International Trachoma Initiative Expands Efforts
British University to Establish Research Center on
Corporate Social Responsibility
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PHILANTHROPY NEWS DIGEST
A bacterial infection of the upper eyelid, trachoma has
caused blindness in six million people worldwide, with
another 150 million people currently infected.
"These results demonstrate that we are truly
revolutionizing the control of this blinding disease,"
said ITI executive director Joseph Cook, M.D. The
organization will report its results this week at the
World Health Organization's Alliance for the Global
Elimination of Trachoma by 2020 (GET 2020) conference.
The dramatic drop in the prevalence of the disease is
largely due to the program's distribution of Pfizer Inc.'s
antibiotic Zithromax on a massive scale in remote
villages, as well as the initiative's support for an
innovative health education strategy that emphasizes
facial and community hygiene.
Based on its success in Morocco and Tanzania, the
initiative will be expanded to reach 30 million people at
risk of trachoma-related blindness worldwide. To support
the program's expansion, Pfizer
will donate approximately 10 million doses of Zithromax
(valued at $14 per dose) and $6 million in funding for
ITI's operating expenses over three years. Pfizer's
partners in the efforts, the Edna McConnell Clark
Foundation and the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation, will
also increase their funding, with the former contributing
an additional $6 million over three years and the latter
adding $20 million over five years.
"Anti-Blindness Campaign Cuts Disease Prevalence in Half
Among Millions in Poorest Regions of Tanzania, Morocco."
International Trachoma Initiative News Release 12/4/2000.
Ngowi, Rodrique. "Fight Against Forgotten Cause of
Blindness Expands." Associated Press 12/5/2000.
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