Morocco

Sanofi-aventis, one of the major actors in the central nervous system therapeutic field in the developed world, is developing new programs to help provide better care for schizophrenia - one of the most severe mental disorders - in developing countries. There, these psychotic patients not only suffer from the disabling and potentially life-threatening symptoms of their illness, but they are also victims of ignorance, discrimination and social stigma.

The Pfizer Global Health Fellows program utilizes the professional expertise of Pfizer employees through specialized volunteer assignments with nonprofit organizations to improve health care services for underserved communities around the world. Since 2003, more than 230 employees with a range of technical skills have served in 39 nations for 3-6 month assignments investing nearly 200,000 hours of skills-based service to help increase the capacity of nonprofits organizations providing health care to the underserved (in the reporting period, 54 Global Health Fellows were deployed).

In 2009, with support from The Merck Company Foundation, the Earth Institute at Columbia University launched a community health worker training program to strengthen community health services for over 400,000 people in 10 African countries as part of the Millennium Villages project. The initiative aims to develop a professional cadre of 800 community health workers to fill a critical gap in primary healthcare provision for rural communities throughout Africa.