Astellas Pharma Inc. (“Astellas”) today announced its expanding commitment to improving access to health by providing donations to four charitable organizations serving patients in need in countries where Astellas has a presence. The newly initiated support includes two donations in cancer care and the others focused on eye care and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). These donations, the first global access to health funding since the launch of Astellas’ Corporate Strategic Plan 2021, align with Astellas’ strategic goal centered on deepening the company’s engagement in sustainability for maximum societal impact. The charitable funding is intended to help strengthen healthcare systems and health literacy and benefit more than three million patients.
Astellas support includes the following commitments:
- City Cancer Challenge Foundation (C/Can): In response to locally defined needs, strengthening the health system infrastructure for more than 2,500 patients, in Arequipa, Peru. Through capacity-building efforts, education and mentorship programming for 450 cancer professionals, C/Can’s city engagement process will lead to improved patient access to quality cancer care and support city-led interventions to have sustainable impact.
- National Cancer Society Malaysia with Asia Cancer Forum: Reaching more than one million Malaysian residents with cancer control efforts that include the development of a cancer educational database repository, cancer preventative registry, and community engagement sessions to stimulate discussion on cancer awareness within local communities. Asia Cancer Forum (Japan) provides the operational advice to National Cancer Society Malaysia
- The Fred Hollows Foundation: Helping nearly 150,000 people and training more than 4,400 healthcare workers by establishing and strengthening a rural comprehensive eye care model focused on improving the availability, affordability, accessibility, and effectiveness of ophthalmologic health services in rural areas of Anhui Province, China.
- World Vision: Helping efforts to eliminate NTDs with health system strengthening and improving health literacy to benefit more than 2.5 million people in Bihar State, India, where numerous NTDs are highly prevalent.
Donations are planned to be distributed in March 2022 following a rigorous request for proposal process with criteria that included alignment with the company’s sustainability focus on access to health, including strengthening healthcare systems and/or improving health literacy. The programs will be implemented over the next few years.
For more information about the company’s sustainability approach please visit www.astellas.com/en/sustainability/sustainability-approach.
