Bayer is active worldwide with various programs to improve health care provision.

For example, Bayer HealthCare for over 30 years has worked to support more than 400,000 hemophilia patients around the world. With medical research, donations and the development of infrastructure, the company improves care for people with hemophilia. Through investment in research and development, Bayer for more than 20 years has compiled extensive data to continuously examine and improve the quality, effectiveness and safety of its biotechnologically manufactured hemophilia medicine Kogenate™. We promote further innovative research approaches with our Bayer Hemophilia Awards Program (BHAP). Since 2002, BHAP has provided total funding of more than US$20 million to 175 projects. In addition, Bayer makes available monetary and product donations to support the World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH), which used the donations to finance various therapy, care and training initiatives. Another program designed to promote optimal patient care is the Bayer European Hemophilia Nurses Scholarship (BEHNS). Through this scholarship program, hemophilia nurses from all over Europe are given the opportunity to gain experience at other hemophilia centers or implement their own scientific projects. Around the world, Bayer supports hemophilia camps for children and young people, such as with a project in Bogor, Indonesia.

One focus of our commitment to better medical care for neglected diseases is Chagas disease. This dangerous infection is widespread in many countries of Central and South America. In our efforts to combat Chagas disease, we are cooperating closely with the World Health Organization (WHO). In addition, our new “Bayer Fights Chagas” project aims to find innovative approaches to controlling this tropical disease. The initiative, which is starting with a pilot project in Argentina, was launched jointly by Bayer HealthCare and the Bayer Cares Foundation. “Bayer Fights Chagas” has a deliberate policy of deploying talented young individuals from various parts of the company and employees from the pilot country WHO volunteer their services. This is the first time that an international team drawn from the various subgroups has sought answers to the question of how Bayer, as a global company, can make a meaningful and lasting contribution to combating Chagas disease.

Our commitment goes beyond improving drug supplies. In line with the declared objective of China’s Ministry of Health to additionally boost medical care in the less developed western part of the country by improving the qualifications of medical staff, our “Go West” project aims to provide physicians from the rural regions of this part of the People’s Republic of China with further training. In cooperation with the Chinese government and local universities, Bayer is organizing continuing education for local physicians to improve diagnosis, treatment and advice for patients. Between 2007 and 2012, some 10,000 physicians from 330 rural districts are to complete three-month training courses in the fields of internal medicine, general surgery, gynecology and obstetrics, laboratory diagnostics and radiology. During the same period, around 600 hospitals are being linked to the leading hospital or clinic in their respective regions. Bayer is making available a total of approximately €2.3 million for “Go West” over this five-year period.

In the area of education and research, Bayer maintains various initiatives aimed at providing children and young people around the world with a good education. At Bayer’s site in Belford Roxo, Brazil, we support the “For a Better Future” project of the non-governmental organization AMAJA (Association of Residents and Friends of the Jardim Anàpolis). The program offers adolescent children from socially disadvantaged families out-of-school remedial teaching, thus improving their future vocational perspectives. At the same time, AMAJA encourages and empowers the youngsters to participate in cultural and social life.

In 2010, AMAJA supported a total of 76 young people with tutoring courses in the subjects of mathematics, Portuguese, natural science, music, computer science and sports. In instruction units lasting half a day each, the tutors not only taught the youngsters specialist knowledge, but also promoted their learning and concentration skills. The objective was to improve the young people’s self-confidence and thus strengthen their aptitude for daily school instruction. As part of the program, all children received school uniforms, instructional materials and meals free of charge. In 2010, Bayer provided the “Amaja – For a Better Future” project with funding of €34,000.

Bayer contributes to the conservation of natural resources with numerous projects and partnerships, thus strengthening awareness about environmental issues among young people in particular. At the Bayer International Summer Sustainability Camp 2010 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for example, 15 American and German schoolchildren together learned about modern water pollution control. Initiated by our USA Foundation and the Bayer Science & Education Foundation, the event was locally supported by the non-profit organization RiverQuest. Under supervision, the young people explored the aquatic realm and the riverbed in “nature classrooms” along the banks of the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio rivers. Experts from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission also showed them how to maneuver professionally on a ship and how to steer a canoe. The practical instruction was supplemented by courses on sustainability and environmental protection at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, as well as by a visit to Bayer headquarters in Pittsburgh.

“Simply Soccer” is the name of a new initiative to promote participation in that sport by schoolchildren with mental and learning disabilities. Together with the German Soccer Federation (DFB), Bayer initiates and supports partnerships between special schools and soccer clubs. The aim is to give more disabled children and young people access to club-level soccer and to promote mutual understanding between disabled and non-disabled people. Since the beginning of 2010, the first partnerships have been launched at Bayer’s German locations in Leverkusen, Berlin, Krefeld, Wuppertal and Dormagen, as well as in Cologne and other cities, with between 15 and 20 disabled youngsters regularly participating in the sport in each city. The patron of “Simply Soccer” is Hanno Balitsch, who plays professionally for Bayer 04 Leverkusen.