The pandemic has forced every one of us to question nearly every aspect of our lives: how we live and work, and how we connect with our communities and the planet. It has also exacerbated and highlighted existing inequalities.
We at Sanofi, a global biopharmaceutical company focused on human health, stay strongly committed to the Corporate Social Responsibility strategy and embed it even more into our mission to transform lives and our vision for a better future.
Rooted in a long-term strategy, Sanofi’s social commitment is based on four essential pillars: access to medicines, support for vulnerable communities, preservation of the environment, and inclusion and diversity of its employees.
CSR is Essential to Sanofi’s Strategy in Ukraine
Sanofi, as a leading international healthcare company in Ukraine, is making a sustained contribution to meeting health challenges in the country by bringing a diversified portfolio of medicines and vaccines for a wide range of diseases that threaten the lives of people. At the same time, we know that providing health products and services is just one part of the solution. For this reason, our strategy spans the continuum of care from prevention to diagnosis and treatment, including disease monitoring and education.
Providing access to healthcare
Chronic conditions remain the leading cause of death in the world and in Ukraine in particular, placing enormous pressure on individuals and healthcare systems[1]. 1.23 million people in Ukraine are diagnosed with diabetes, while an estimated 3.5 million more have diabetes but have not yet been diagnosed [2]. Given the urgency of the problem, aggravated by the Covid-19 pandemic, Sanofi aims to address this growing health concern by raising awareness about the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diabetes; providing education of healthcare professionals and patient empowerment; delivering innovative treatment solutions that meet the needs of the patients, improving their daily lives and help them to manage their condition.
Twenty patients with rare diseases are currently receiving free therapy through Sanofi Genzyme Humanitarian Program in Ukraine. The mission of the program is to provide access to vitally important therapy to eligible rare disease patients when this access is limited at a certain stage of their life. Additionally, the program is helping build the capacity of the Ukrainian healthcare system to properly diagnose, refer and manage rare disease patients, and is contributing to worldwide understanding of the rare diseases.
Supporting communities
In the frame of our long-termed social strategy, Sanofi continues to support vulnerable communities in Ukraine. Even though the pandemic year 2020 had made corrections in CSR plans of many organizations, we kept dedication to our mission – to serve our best to the communities where we live and operate.
According to the recent data, about 10,000 children annually receive the status of an orphan and those deprived of parental care in Ukraine. These figures enable Sanofi, as a responsible corporate citizen, to go beyond what is required of a pharmaceutical company, finding possibilities to support and encourage the children who are in need. In 2020-2021, the company initiated a charity donation of corporate iPads to orphans and students from underprivileged families to allow access of children to education, providing them with such necessary equipment for distance learning in times of COVID-19 pandemic.
The company’s employees are the key driver of many charitable projects implemented in Ukraine. Along with the company’s CSR ambition, they are highly committed to support local communities – starting from helping elderly people with primary needed goods and stuff, when the latest found themselves in difficult life situations because of pandemic, to organizing educational workshops and masterclasses or online city tours for underprivileged kids.
Protecting our environment
For several years, Sanofi has been implementing a global environmental protection program, Planet Mobilization. Today, the company is amplifying its actions to further reduce the environmental footprint of its products and activities. Among the global KPIs are reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 and contributing to better resource conservation. For this, Sanofi plans to remove all pre-formed plastic packaging for its vaccines by 2027. The company is also committed to eco-design all its new products by 2025, use 100% renewable electricity and set a target of a carbon-neutral car fleet, both by 2030.
At each step of our activities in Ukraine, we seek to reduce the direct and indirect impacts on our activities on the environment. As a part of ecological strategy Planet Mobilization, Sanofi started planting trees on the territories of the Ukrainian hospitals. This year, we have planted 1442 saplings in 13 regions of Ukraine, making 66 hospitals greener and contributing to a more comfortable outdoors environment for the patients. Over the last years we have also achieved around 20% reduction in CO2 emissions and fuel consumption by sales force vehicles due to the implementation of an eco-driving program, while the waste sorting program in the office allowed us to recycle 2,500 kg of paper and 1,100 kg of plastic in 2020-2021.
Building an inclusive workplace
Finally, because the backbone of our commitment to society has always been our people, our CSR strategy pushes us further to build a workforce that fully reflects the society we live in and the patients we serve. Working Flexibility, Employees Environment and Social Connection are things that gain more and more practical sense in Sanofi. Recent examples include the Wellness Marathon, immediately organized during the Covid-19 lockdown, with a series of physical, psychological, and emotional well-being classes to support employees in Ukraine in pandemic time. Another step by the company is to introduce hybrid ways of working to adapt to the “new normality” while ensuring safety of our employees as a paramount importance.
“While this pandemic has put many companies under test for its commitments, and to CSR in particular, in Sanofi it is precisely the pandemic that showed us even more the need and purpose for sustainability. We have not only demonstrated the sense of unity, mutual support, and unprecedented stamina during this crisis, but also have proactively engaged in various local CSR activities, particularly those that can offer immediate help and assistance to the most vulnerable populations. Because at Sanofi, we always strive to do the right thing, going beyond what is required ”. — said Adrien Delamare-Deboutteville, Country Lead Sanofi Ukraine.
[1] https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/noncommunicable-diseases;
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/diabetes
[2] https://moz.gov.ua/article/health/chi-mozhna-uniknuti-diabetu-i-jak-otrimati-liki-bezoplatno-u-razi-hvorobi
