Partnerships for progress
World leaders from rich and poor countries alike, representing all United Nations member states, have pledged to achieve the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the year 2015 – to significantly reduce poverty, illiteracy, inequity and disease in poor countries. Our experience has shown that reaching these markets requires tailor-made solutions, a different approach to marketing and distribution, and multi-sector partnerships. Taking into account the MDGs that relate to our expertise, we are focusing on projects that simply enhance life with light and simplify healthcare with a resolute focus on people’s needs.   Philips and Project HOPE are partnering to improve chronic disease management and patient outcomes in China, and reduce the burden on the country’s healthcare system. Launched in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Wuhan, this program is the first of its kind to target three chronic disease areas in China: heart disease, stroke and respiratory disease. It will link leading hospitals, community healthcare centers and home-based rehabilitative services in those four cities to enhance the care patients receive locally. Chronic diseases are major causes of death and disability in China, and their related healthcare services account for a significant portion of total healthcare expenditures. On average, chronic disease patients visit doctors three times a year. About 55% of them choose municipal hospitals, which are relatively crowded, inconvenient and expensive, while only 25% choose community healthcare centers. Sharing expertise, providing affordable care“By participating in the program, we hope to transfer our clinical expertise to community healthcare centers and enhance communication between big hospitals, secondary hospitals and community healthcare centers,” says Professor Deng Weiwu, Chief Physician, Honorable Director, Institute of Ruijin Infectious and Respiratory Diseases, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. “Under the new integrated model, patients will receive better education for self-care and risk factor reduction, in addition to easy access to more efficient and affordable care at community healthcare centers,” he explains. Philips will provide funding and technical support to this three-year program, announced in June 2009. Project HOPE (Health Opportunities for People Everywhere) will bring to the team more than 50 years of experience in international public health and developing healthcare training programs.
  We are making affordable, high-quality energy-efficient lighting available to people living without electricity. To meet the basic need for lighting it is essential that governments and international institutions, NGOs and companies like Philips work together. That’s why we have a public-private partnership with the Dutch government. Known as SESA (Sustainable Energy Solutions for Africa), this initiative is designed to provide affordable, appropriate and sustainable energy-saving solutions to off-grid consumers in sub-Saharan Africa. We also support projects with NGOs like World Vision and Light Up The World (LUTW). We presented our Uday Mini Solar lantern in September to the Dutch government as part of our SESA program. Developed in India, this robust product features enhanced battery and lamp life, fast battery charging and portability – all based on insights from rural consumers. The first SESA pilot was launched in Ghana and is slated for completion in early 2010, with roll-out to other sub-Saharan countries including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Mali. Lighting for literacyWorld Vision distributed the Uday Mini as part of its initiative to provide girls in deprived outskirts of Bangalore, India, with access to education and literacy training – cornerstones of women’s development. And as the largest supporter of LUTW to date, we are helping provide solar lighting for learning and literacy programs in developing countries. LUTW helped us test solar reading solutions in Sierra Leone and Honduras, providing valuable input to develop an optimal lighting solution for education in off-grid areas. More than 10,000 people in total now have access to solar lighting thanks to the LUTW-Philips collaboration.
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