JULY-AUGUST , 2022 | THE HEALTH
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BY KIMBERLY GOAD
IMPROVING THE trajectory of health for everyone , everywhere , might sound overly ambitious , but that mission is the driving force behind everything Johnson & Johnson does . It reflects a commitment outlined in Our Credo , the mission statement the company has followed since 1943 : “ We are responsible to the communities in which we live and work and to the world community as well .”
In 2021 , Johnson & Johnson launched its latest public commitments , known as the Health for Humanity 2025 Goals . These 21 goals represent the areas of corporate citizenship and sustainability where the company believes it can make the greatest impact — ranging from health equity to environmental health — and support 11 of the 17 United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals ( SDGs ).
“ As the most broadly based healthcare company , our commitment to creating a healthier society is foundational to our business ,” says Joseph J . Wolk , Executive Vice President , Chief Financial Officer , Johnson & Johnson .“ How we deliver meaningful impact to human health is correlated with generating long-term business results , which are complementary to environmental , social and governance actions that create accountability and value .”
The company has just released its 2021 Health for Humanity Report , which details the progress it has made in the past year toward meeting those 21 goals — including supporting frontline healthcare workers , increasing access to crucial medications and achieving carbon neutrality at its facilities worldwide . Learn how far Johnson & Johnson has come this past year in its mission to make the world a better place .
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. The goal : Support at least one million nurses , midwives and community health workers with skills , tools and growth opportunities by 2030 The progress so far : More than 731,000 of these healthcare providers around the world have already been reached through the Johnson & Johnson Center for Health Worker Innovation , supported by the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies and Johnson & Johnson Foundation .
How Johnson & Johnson is making it happen : As the world ’ s largest and most broadly based healthcare company , Johnson & Johnson has a unique ability to advance health equity by creating stronger healthcare systems — and that begins with bolstering those on the front lines . Even before Covid-19 hit , the World Health Organisation ( WHO ) projected a shortfall of 18 million health workers by 2030 .
Now , in the context of the pandemic , health workers are facing increased levels of burnout . Indeed , a review of studies published in 2021 in Frontiers in Public Health found that one in three healthcare providers is experiencing work-related physical and mental stress .
To support these frontline caregivers and the organisations that care about them , the Center launched a global learning community called The Resilience Collaborative . The Collaborative ’ s Toolkit ( designed to highlight evidencebased strategies that can be adapted , implemented and tested to improve health worker resilience ) and the Resilience Message Program ( a free , evidence-based and adaptable set of SMS messages intended to improve health worker resilience ) help give health workers the knowledge and resources to not only
Tackling the world ’ s most urgent healthcare needs
Johnson & Johnson reveals just how far it ’ s come towards working to help improve the well-being of people around the world
recover from stress but also adapt and grow from it . Research shows that resilience can act as a buffer during high periods of stress and protect against burnout .
So far , the Resilience Collaborative has reached people from nearly 300 organisations aiming to improve health worker resilience and well-being across 40 countries .
The Center has also supported the digital training of more than 200,000 frontline health workers on Covid-19 response and vaccination through partners like the World Continuing Education Alliance , reach52 , VillageReach and UNICEF . And its work with Praekelt . org has supported the WHO in its efforts to provide real-time alerts on vaccine registrations , adverse event reporting , rumour tracking and more — all to help provide education and advice so that frontline health workers can focus instead on providing urgent treatments .
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. The goal : Make our medication available to 700,000 people living with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis ( MDR-TB ) by 2025 , potentially averting six million new MDR-TB infections The progress so far : In 2021 alone , 137,000 patients received access to our medicine for MDR-TB , which is recommended by the WHO as a core component of all-oral drugresistant TB ( DR-TB ) treatment regimens .
How Johnson & Johnson is making it happen : Tuberculosis is preventable and curable — yet it remains one of the top causes of deaths worldwide , claiming 1.5 million lives in 2020 alone . Why the disconnect ? In addition to a growing
resistance to the most frequently used firstline TB medicines , the Covid-19 pandemic presented a two-year hurdle in diagnosing people living with TB and DR-TB and getting medicines to those in need .
According to the WHO , only about one in three people with drug-resistant TB accessed treatment in 2020 , a drop of about 15 per cent from 2019 . Among the most vulnerable people in need of medication : children .
In 2021 , Johnson & Johnson marked an important step towards making its medicine available to younger patients with MDR-TB when the WHO added the scored 20 mg pediatric formulation of the drug to the Essential Medicines and Essential Medicines for Children lists , which helps more than 150 countries prioritise medicines for their own national needs . This milestone built on prior health authority approvals of the 20 mg tablet as part of combination therapy for children with MDR-TB five years and older and weighing at least 33 pounds .
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. The goal : Achieve carbon neutrality for all Johnson & Johnson operations by 2030 The progress so far : Currently , 52 per cent of the electricity at the company ’ s facilities around the world is produced or procured from renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power , which helps reduce its carbon footprint .
How Johnson & Johnson is making it happen : Healthy people need a healthy planet . In fact , research published in The Lancet shows that failure to address environmental risk factors threatens to undermine the last half-century of gains in global health — a concern Johnson & Johnson has long understood . That ’ s why it continues to push for ways to improve the environmental footprint of its operations .
In 2021 , the company signed two Utility Green Tariff contracts in the US and four new renewable power purchase agreements ( one in North America and three in Europe ). These agreements , which allow Johnson & Johnson to purchase electricity directly from a renewable energy generator , along with its prior renewable electricity efforts , are expected to provide the equivalent of 100 per cent renewable electricity for the company ’ s operations in the US , Canada and Europe by 2023 .
As a result of these agreements Johnson & Johnson Vision will be run with 100 per cent renewable electricity and all ACUVUE ® contact lenses are now produced with renewable electricity .
That ’ s not all : In 2021 , seven of the company ’ s facilities achieved the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design ( LEED ) certification — meaning , among other things , that their buildings have a lower carbon footprint and use less energy and water than the standard — bringing its total number of LEED-certified facilities to 67 . — The Health
This article appeared recently on Johnson & Johnson ’ s website .