Global Leadership in Addressing Chronic Disease

Chronic, noncommunicable diseases, such as diabetes and heart conditions, are surpassing communicable diseases as the world’s primary health concern. The World Health Organization estimates that national income losses associated with chronic disease could equal billions of dollars in developing countries from 2005 to 2015. In 2008, NCDs were responsible for 36 million deaths — more than 63 percent of all deaths worldwide — and are projected to reach 52 million by 2030.

At Medtronic, we are inspired to take action against the growing social and economic impacts of NCDs through our own initiatives and through support of the United Nations High-Level Meeting on global prevention and control (see story below).

By collaborating with healthcare professionals, policy makers, regulators, government agencies, patient advocacy groups, non-governmental organizations, and other private sector corporations, we are creating innovative solutions that bring effective ideas, training and treatments to those who need them.

In fiscal year 2011 our efforts included:

Global NCD Initiative

Eighty percent of people dying from NCDs reside in low- to middle-income countries without sufficient access to treatment. With nearly 50 percent of these individuals dying during their productive years, the impact on emerging economies is significant. Through our Global NCD Initiative, Medtronic is leveraging its product, people and philanthropy to lead private sector involvement in addressing this global crisis. We are devoting our resources to global policy and advocacy, strengthening health systems, and therapy and healthcare delivery innovation designed to alleviate the global burden of NCDs.

HeartRescue Project

This unprecedented initiative assembles leading U.S. emergency and resuscitation experts with a goal to improve out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival rates by at least 50 percent within pilot states of Arizona, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Washington. The HeartRescue Project's select non-profit partners will promote a recognized, replicable, and measurable model that coordinates training and technologies for the general public, first responders and EMS, as well as effective post-resuscitation care in the hospital, to maximize survival rates.

Partnership for Innovative Healthcare Delivery

Launched at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, the Partnership for Innovative Healthcare Delivery seeks to identify, replicate and scale up innovative models of healthcare delivery around the world. The partnership, of which Medtronic is a founding member, seeks to address the challenges that innovators face through four methods of industry support: knowledge and networking, mentoring of innovators by industry executives, annual innovator-investor conferences, and the establishment of an Innovators Regulatory Committee.

Private Sector Commitment

Medtronic took a leadership role in convening coalitions to define the private sector’s role in confronting the global NCD burden. Scheduled in conjunction with the World Health Organization’s global ministerial conference on healthy lifestyles (April 2011) and the Global Health Council annual conference (June 2011), the meetings helped identify four areas where the private sector can have a positive impact: promoting workplace wellness, improving access to diagnosis and treatment, creating healthy community environments and strengthening education, training and research capacity. Work is underway to explore ways to leverage the many successful programs run by corporations through strategic partnerships with governments and multilateral organizations.