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ACTIVE SINCE: 2006

Johnson & Johnson Mebendazole Donation Program

For more than 15 years, Johnson & Johnson has been at the forefront of global efforts to beat NTDs, proudly donating more than two billion doses of mebendazole for the treatment of intestinal worms to field partners in more than 50 countries.
SDGS CONTRIBUTING TO:
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MEMBER COMPANIES:
Local NGOs 1
Intergovernmental Organizations and Multilaterals 1
Objectives

Johnson & Johnson’s longstanding donation program aims to help children and young people live healthier lives by providing free access to its medicine for intestinal worm infections.  

Johnson & Johnson has an enduring commitment in the fight against neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) through its mebendazole donation program to tackle intestinal worms, or soil-transmitted helminths (STH), the most widespread of these diseases.  

Intestinal worms are common in areas without adequate access to clean water and sanitation. Despite being treatable, intestinal worms infect more than 1.5 billion people worldwide, including more than 800 million children. Without treatment, infection can result in malnutrition, delayed physical growth and impaired cognitive development and often impacts children’s ability to go to school.  

Johnson & Johnson launched its donation program in 2006 with a pledge to donate 50 million doses of mebendazole, developed by the Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V., part of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, each year to vulnerable communities in high-burden countries. In 2012, the Company quadrupled its commitment, pledging to donate 200 million doses annually as part of the London Declaration on NTDs, an unprecedented public-private effort involving the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 12 other pharmaceutical companies, aimed at reducing the global burden of NTDs. 

In 2019, Johnson & Johnson extended its commitment through 2025, and in 2021, fully transitioned the donation program to the chewable mebendazole tablet, which can be easily administered to children as young as one year. 

Results and milestones

2.2 billion cumulative doses donated since 2006 to 61 countries 

Geographic Reach
  • Global Commitment
Disease Area
  • Infectious and Parasitic Disease
See Disease Areas
Partner organizations
Local NGOs

Children Without Worms

Intergovernmental Organizations and Multilaterals

World Health Organization (WHO)

Additional resources

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