Access to Healthcare
Medical breakthroughs improve the lives of people with serious health conditions. Without access to these therapies, however, patients cannot realize these benefits. This problem is particularly acute in developing countries, where poor infrastructure, political instability, poverty, lack of education, restrictive regulatory frameworks and inadequate availability and affordability of medical products can limit access. Addressing this challenge requires cooperation among governments, non-governmental organizations, corporations, medical professionals and others.
Baxter works to improve access to healthcare globally through product development, strategic philanthropic giving, and product donations and grants.
The Baxter International Foundation Awards
Each year, The Baxter International Foundation sponsors prizes that recognize excellence in community service and healthcare research. These prizes are among the most prestigious in the healthcare field.
The Baxter International Foundation, in conjunction with the American Hospital Association and the Cardinal Health Foundation, presented the Foster G. McGaw Award for 2008 to St. Mary’s Health System in Lewiston, Maine. Each year, this $100,000 award is presented to a healthcare organization that provides innovative programs that improve community health and well-being. St. Mary’s exceptional programs include a neighborhood affordable housing initiative, an outreach health and community service center, a community garden and green-space project, and one of the largest emergency food pantries in New England. St. Mary’s B Street Health Center provides affordable behavioral medicine and dental services on a sliding price scale to the area’s poor and rapidly growing immigrant community. Each month, this center provides affordable care to more than 525 patients who would not have access otherwise.
Working with the Association of University Programs in Health Administration, the foundation awards the William B. Graham Prize for Health Services Research to recognize major contributions to public health through innovative research. Professor Sir Michael G. Marmot, MBBS, MPH, PhD, FRCP, FFPHM, FmedSci, received the award in 2008 for his research into health inequalities and policies designed to reduce them. Professor Marmot and a nonprofit institution that supports his work will split the $50,000 award.
