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Corporate social responsibility in global health: the Pfizer Global Health Fellows international volunteering program.

Article Excerpt
Pharmaceutical companies are experiencing increasing pressures to act in ways that are socially responsible with regard to global health problems, particularly in light of the global AIDS pandemic. This article describes an approach undertaken by Pfizer Corporation, which uses international corporate volunteering to build capacity for service delivery in low-resource settings. An evaluation of the Pfizer Global Health Fellows program found that the program has had positive effects on recipient organizations, and has enhanced the personal and professional skills of participating employees. The authors discuss ways to leverage program outcomes for greater impact on employee motivation and professional development, corporate reputation, and accountability for company social performance.

Companies are increasingly being judged not only on "profits delivered, but in terms of principles lived" (Jackson & Nelson, 2004). Businesses and their leaders are being called upon to exercise virtue in fulfilling obligations to employees, communities, and the environment; in other words, to become responsible citizens of the world (Martin, 2002; Wilson & Lombardi, 2001). The need to restore public trust after the corporate accounting scandals of Enron and WorldCom is great. But restoring trust requires more than mere compliance with law (Zadek, 2004). Corporate social responsibility also requires a commitment to aligning corporate strategic goals with pressing societal issues.

The Millennium Development Goals have come to embody the principles of interdependence and vision of social responsibility in the international arena (United Nations General Assembly, 2000). The MDGs focus on reducing poverty, improving quality of life, and assuring environmental sustainability. The role of private commercial partners in assuring that countries make progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals is vital (Nelson & Prescott, 2003). With regard to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, pharmaceutical companies in particular have experienced the ramping up of global expectations for corporate social responsibility (Leisinger, 2005).

Michael Porter and Mark Kramer have noted that social and economic goals of industry are "not inherently conflicting but integrally connected" (Porter & Kramer, 2002). Corporate expenditures can bring benefits to industry while promoting social goals. Strategic philanthropy is suggested as a way to combine social and economic benefits within the framework of specific business markets. For the global pharmaceutical industry this has meant building bridges of understanding, communication, and relationships with NGO service delivery and advocacy organizations, local governments, citizens, and other key stakeholders living, working, and influencing health care markets in developing countries.

Public-private partnerships in developing countries have offered drugs and financial resources for disease specific interventions, including Merck's Mectizan (ivermectin) donation program to fight river blindness, and Boehringer Ingelheim's Viramune (nevirapine) drug donation program to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV (Ahn, et al., 2000; Peters & Phillips, 2004). These investments have strengthened distribution systems for donated drugs, and improved diagnosis and treatment protocols (Reich, 2002; Sekhri, 2006). Meanwhile, HR departments and philanthropy initiatives in many companies have expanded employee volunteering programs as a social responsibility initiative. Such programs have been successful in leveraging additional volunteer resources for local community programs, and have increased employee job satisfaction (Delaney & Gyles, 2006; Gilder, et al., 2005).

In 2002, Pfizer Corporation initiated a unique program of international corporate volunteering that attempted to integrate these two concepts, pairing international partnerships in capacity building with employee volunteering. From 2002 to present, Pfizer's Global Health Fellows (GHF) Program has fielded over 100 employees at program sites in 22 countries. Researchers at Boston University School of Public Health evaluated the GHF program from 2005 to 2006. This article reports on lessons learned for corporate citizenship and employee development.

Background on Global Health Fellows Program

The Global Health...

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