In TB fight, business and society gain from corporate responsibility
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Keith Mitchelson of CapitalBio and Eric Zhao of American biotech giant Becton Dickinson, outlined recent innovations in tuberculosis detection and treatment now in trial stage which could benefit rural and migrant worker populations.
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Dr. Keith Mitchelson , Vice President of CapitalBio Corporation talks to China.org.cn reporter Corey Cooper at the TB Forum hosted by the Global Business Council on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Beijing on March 22, 2011. [Pierre Chen / China.org.cn] |
Becton Dickinson has pioneered new liquid culture technology that reduces the time needed to detect the disease, and also has invested in local research and development efforts.
Mitchelson said his firm's new technology helped confront the issue of increased resistance to traditional TB medications in China, and expressed a desire to work with the government and the GBC to increase access.
"We want to find a way to help across the board," Mitchelson said. "We'd like to get a feel of the breadth of what other companies are doing and see how we can be relevant."
John Tedstrom, president and CEO of the GBC, said strategic corporate social responsibility investments in workers and communities can help firms increase profits as well as market share.
"Private companies have already created vast channels across China for production and distribution of their products. We can use these channels to fight TB," Tedstrom said. "When [firms] invest in the health of their consumers and their workforces, they're investing in their own companies."
Corporate social responsibility is still a relatively new phenomenon in China, especially in public health, which has traditionally been a government concern. Tedstrom stressed that as members of GBC, Chinese companies could learn from best practices of other firms participating in CSR projects across the globe.
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