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Snow in my back yard...
It is December, and we are having a very snowy winter here in Sweden. The year-end is approaching and you cannot avoid looking back on the year that has passed and the year that will come.
Professionally for me, 2010 has been dominated by discussions about the MPA report on “stricter environmental standards” from December 2009. I have discussed the report here on the blog several times during 2010, e.g. May 31, May 5, April 27, Feb 8, and Jan 28. And as you may recall, the topic became more widely discussed, i.e. outside the community of “stakeholders in the pharma and health care sector”, through the articles in Forskning och Framsteg and Veckans Affärer in August and September. As you understand if you read my blog posts regarding these articles (Aug 16 and Sept 10 respectively) I was very happy to see that those articles did not take the “easy way out” just blaming the industry, but actually clearly pointed to what I believe is a major root cause, namely the never-ending increased pressure on price…
We have from the industry been very clear that we like to participate in all discussions with MPA and other relevant stakeholders regarding legislative initiatives as propsed by MPA in their report from Dec 2009 (e.g. environmental requirements in GMP). However, we do strongly believe that market driven measures are more efficient and much faster to implement. Hence, an overview of the reimbursement system and the generic reform, is high on our list. I am sure that 2011 will include a lot of discussions on this topic. I know that industry will discuss it with MPA as a follow up on their report, but also as an important part of the Swedish National Pharmaceutical Strategy, which will be developed during spring 2011. You can read more about the Pharmaceutical Strategy on my blog post from Dec 12 and via this link.
It will be an interesting process to work with all different stakeholders in Swedish health care on Sustainable Development, one of 5 focus areas in the Pharmaceutical Strategy. We will look into not only the environmental perspective on sustainability, but also the social perspective. One part of the social dimension is health promotion and illness prevention, topics that I have discussed at the blog during 2010, e.g. Nov 16, Aug 24, June 9, and March 29. The discussion will be intensified during 2011.
What more to remember from 2010? Well, of course what probably can be seen as a life changing experience for me. In October, I spent a week in Uganda looking into three of our global core CSR-programs, namely Infectious Diseases Institute, International Trachoma Initiative, and the Diflucan Partnership.
Infectious Diseases Institute
It was extremely interesting and I was deeply touched by the people we met and the things we saw. I hope that you followed my trip via the blog. If you didn’t, or if you want to recall what happened, read the blog posts from Oct 19, Oct 20, Oct 21, and Oct 24. I have to admit that I was very proud of the difference that Pfizer makes for the people in Uganda and other third world countries that do not have a functioning health care systems in place. It is literally the difference between life and death.
Another thing that made me proud during 2010 was the award presented to me by Pharma Network, “Pharma Person of the Year“.
Proud award winner
The nomination read as follows:
“Bengt Mattson receives the award due to his work during several years to put the environmental issue as a more and more important topic on the pharmaceutical industry’s agenda”
Of course, that makes me proud. And 2010 became even more satisfying when I in addition to the Pharma Network award also bacame the “Bengt Danielsson lecturer 2010“. An award established by the Swedish Academy of Pharmacutical Sciences (in Swedish: Apotekarsocieteten) in 1989 to recall Professor Bengt Danielsson’s long commitment to pharmaceutical education.
Being proud again...
I cannot summarize the year 2010 without mentioning Dizza Tobak. The tobacco prevention project, that we run together with our partners SAMBA and A Non Smoking Generation is fun and so rewarding. To work with kids, and being infected by their energy and enthusiasm is a privilege. Their task is to produce the best anti-tobacco campaign ever, and looking into some of the uploaded contributions from 2010, they are definitely on their way. Do not forget to view our flash-mob from the central station… It will be so fun to see what they come up with during 2011.
Obviously 2010 was a year when a lot of things happened. I have probably forgot several things worth mentioning, but I just have to stop sometime… 2011 will probably be as interesting. But before entering into 2011, let me close 2010 by showing two drawing from two kids in Solletuna, taking part in the traffic safety program we sponsor (in Swedish: Skolbarnens Trafikkalender). I ended my blogging in 2008 and 2009 in a similar way. So with the experiences and wisdom of Viktor Oroug and
Watch out for cars...
Kajsa Alexandersson I wish you all a good ending of 2010 and a Happy New Year 2011.
30 km per hour, fast enough
And as always,
…För övrigt anser jag att hälsa bör finnas med på schemat…
Pfizers miljö- och ansvarsblogg kommer att ta upp aktiviteter som vi själva gör inom ramen för det vi kallar ”ansvarsfullt företagande” men som i den vardagliga debatten ofta benämns CSR. Jag som bloggar heter Bengt Mattson och arbetar som CSR- och miljöchef på Pfizer AB. 