PRNewswire - December 1, 2002

On the second anniversary of their innovative Diflucan Partnership Program, Pfizer and the South African Ministry of Health have concluded an agreement to extend the program indefinitely. Now operating in 12 African nations and Haiti, the program provides free doses of the anti-fungal drug Diflucan to treat cryptococcal meningitis and oesophageal candidiasis, two life-threatening opportunistic infections associated with HIV/AIDS.

"At Pfizer, we know that the battle against HIV/AIDS must be fought on many fronts," said Hank McKinnell, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Pfizer Inc. "Through new and expanded programs, we are helping get medicines to those most in need, showing Pfizer employees how they can help fight the pandemic, and partnering with international organizations to provide care, treatment and prevention in the countries hardest hit by HIV/AIDS."

Since the program launched in South Africa two years ago, Pfizer has distributed over 1.5 million free doses of Diflucan, processed more than 50,000 prescriptions and trained over 10,000 health professionals in 317 hospitals. Pfizer is committed to expanding the program to the world's least developed nations with the highest incidence of HIV/AIDS.

The Diflucan Partnership Program recently won the National Corporate Social Investment Award for the best contribution to Primary Healthcare in South Africa from Professional Management Review, a publication that recognizes corporate and government initiatives in Southern Africa.

Pfizer will also launch a new Employee HIV/AIDS Education and Awareness program on World AIDS Day. The goals of the program are to help employees better understand the HIV/AIDS pandemic, increase their understanding of HIV/AIDS issues, expand employee awareness of Pfizer's actions in the fight against HIV/AIDS and equip employees with useful resources so that they can make individual contributions to the world's most pressing health challenge.

"This new education program will increase colleague awareness of HIV/AIDS and its effect on patients, their families and our society," said Mr. McKinnell. "It will also help them take effective action, locally and globally, to help prevent and treat HIV infection."

The program will disseminate statistics on the spread of HIV/AIDS on a global basis and in the United States, answer questions about the disease and work-related issues, and guide human resources responses to HIV-related questions from employees. Local, national, and global employee communications vehicles will continue to provide stories and information on various HIV-related topics throughout the year and Pfizer's intranet resource center will be continuously updated to include information on new Pfizer HIV/AIDS programs, volunteer opportunities and useful links.

Finally, The Pfizer Foundation announced the award of $1.8 million to twelve organizations through its new International HIV/AIDS Health Literacy Grants Program. These partner organizations are conducting innovative HIV/AIDS health literacy programs in countries hardest hit by HIV/AIDS. The initiative was designed in partnership with Pfizer Inc to compliment the Diflucan Partnership Program.

"The Pfizer Foundation is pleased to partner with these outstanding international organizations that are doing extraordinary work in HIV/AIDS care, treatment and prevention," said Chuck Hardwick, Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Pfizer Inc and President of The Pfizer Foundation. "Each of the programs receiving funding demonstrates a commitment to strong partnerships, hosts essential experience and expertise, and offers strong potential for replication."

The goal of the Pfizer Foundation's International HIV/AIDS Health Literacy Grants program is to strengthen existing health promotion programs and/or develop new programs to improve patients' and communities' understanding of their health, self management of health, treatment adherence, and quality of life. (Please see attached list of grant recipients.)

The Pfizer Foundation also supported Doctors of the World in the development of educational materials to accompany PANDEMIC: Facing AIDS, a documentary film produced by Rory Kennedy that focuses on the stories of people living with HIV/AIDS in Brazil, India, Russia, Thailand and Uganda.

The film goes beyond the horrifying statistics and provides a moving account of the human tragedy of the disease.

The goal of the film is to strengthen US support of HIV/AIDS programs around the world. The film debuted at the Barcelona World AIDS Conference in July 2002 and recently, at the United Nations for World AIDS Day 2002. For more information on this project, please visit http://www.pandemicfacingaids.org .

The Pfizer Foundation, Inc. is an independent charitable foundation established by Pfizer Inc in 1953. The Foundation's mission is to promote access to quality health care and education, to nurture innovation and to support the community involvement of Pfizer people. The Pfizer Foundation is committed to a comprehensive approach to combat the devastating HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Pfizer Inc discovers, develops, manufactures and markets leading prescription medicines for human and animals, and many of the world's best know consumer brands.

The following organization were selected to receive grants from The Pfizer Foundation's International HIV/AIDS Health Literacy Grants:

* Africa Alive (Johns Hopkins Centre of Communications) - Supports youth organizations that will disseminate HIV/AIDS prevention material to rural populations in Kenya.

* American Jewish World Service - Grant will help strengthen five innovative programs to expand peer education and home-based care services in Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

* Columbia University - Grant will help to recruit and train women in the MTCT program as peer educators in HIV prevention in Kenya, South Africa and Zambia.

* EngenderHealth - Grant will enable agency to reach out to young Cambodians with creative HIV prevention messages through Comedy for Health performances, HIV/AIDS health contests and other educational materials.

* Family Health International - Grant supports a health literacy campaign to increase patient compliance with antiretrovirals and medicines treating opportunistic infections in Rwanda.

* Global Dialogues Trust - Grant will launch a contest for young people to write screen plays on HIV/AIDS in West Africa.

* Laubach Literacy - Grant will provide training and materials to enable grassroots education organizations in these countries to develop, improve and expand effective programs.

* PACT - Grant will strengthen the quality of HIV/AIDS education and awareness materials for People Living With AIDS (PLWAs) in Cambodia.

* Park Nicollet and Shape Zimbabwe - Grant will support creation of programs to change sexual behavior using popular university events, radio programs and student-to-student education programs.

* Pathfinder - Grant will enable organization to increase awareness of preventive health care among at-risk youth using varied approaches to change behavior: film, essay writing competitions and peer education in Tanzanial.

* Population Services International - Grant used for social marketing campaign using local celebrities to promote safe sex in Mozambique.

* World Vision - Grant will support the training of health care providers and church leaders to share health information in community settings in Mozambique.

SOURCE Pfizer Inc

Web Site: http://www.pfizer.com

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