Beirut, Lebanon-November 2012- MSD in Lebanon, a leading pharmaceutical company, launched its employee volunteerism program, with employees donating a day of their time to renovate the Sid El Bouchrieh School. Part of a larger global MSD initiative, to support and contribute to development of local communities in each market that MSD works in, 80 of MSD employees, spent the day painting the school, which is expected to benefit more than 415 girls, from the Jdeideh residential area, who attend the school. The MSD Lebanon team provided the manpower for the project, the funding for the paint, in addition to providing much needed school equipment.
Talking about the project and the impact it is expected to have, Dr. Omar Rifi, Managing Director, MSD Levant, said, "Projects such as this one, offer us a unique opportunity to give back to the local community we both live and work in. To be able to brighten the day of children who attend this school and offer them a positive and cheerful learning environment is extremely rewarding, and we are proud to have been given the opportunity to undertake such a project.
One of the cornerstones of MSD is its commitment to supporting the development of local communities especially in the area of education, so for us choosing to work with the Sid El Bouchrieh School was a natural choice."
MSD is renowned for its CSR initiatives across the globe. A year ago the company launched MSD for Mothers globally; a 10-year program that seeks to develop new medicines and technologies to reduce the 287,000 women whose lives are lost each year, during childbirth. In a partnership with the NGO PATH, the organizations focus on the leading causes of maternal death and ways to prevent it. As part of this global initiative, the MSD Lebanon office recently secured a grant to start implementing this initiative locally, with the aim of doing their part to help the United Nations to meet their millennium goal of reducing maternal mortality by 75% by 2015.
In Lebanon specifically, MSD supports a number of important CSR initiatives and recently partnered with the Red Cross to raise awareness of HIV in the country. The virus which in 2010 was reported to affect over 1,346 citizens has become a growing problem, with studies estimating that real figures may be much higher. Given the enormous stigma that still surrounds HIV, in addition to raising awareness; the project will help patients in making health related decisions and raise their self-esteem. Additionally, MSD in Lebanon works closely with the local authorities and NGO's to help raise awareness of the growing prevalence of diabetes and hepatitis C through free screenings offered across the country at various times throughout the year.
This most recent initiative in Lebanon highlights the company's staunch commitment to community development.
