Environmental, Social, and Governance

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Sustainability

At BD, we view sustainability as a portfolio of complementary initiatives and actions that help us achieve our purpose of advancing the world of health. We see the modern social and environmental challenges our world faces as opportunities to make a difference while strengthening our company.

Strategy

Our 2030+ sustainability strategy, which focuses on five impact areas, addresses a range of challenges in our industry while helping to make a difference on relevant issues that affect society and the planet. Our strategy will ensure we remain focused on shared value creation — meaning how we address unmet societal needs through business models and initiatives that also contribute to the commercial success of BD.

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UN Sustainable Development Goals

At BD, we actively evaluate how we can mobilize and contribute to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), through our product and service offerings, as well as collaborative efforts across various sectors-most prominently around SDG3, for good health and well-being. The case study below demonstrates our efforts to advance the SDGs.

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Our 2030+ Impact Areas

Minimize our contribution to global emissions and utilize our capabilities to address unmet health needs for climate-vulnerable populations.

Reduce the environmental impact of our portfolio and address the sustainability needs of our customers.

Create a supply chain adaptable to disruption and able to contribute to strong environmental and social performance.

Maintain a healthy and thriving workforce that cultivates our culture of inclusion, safety, well-being and contributes to community health.

Invite trust across stakeholder groups through transparent performance reporting on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues relevant to our business.

Social Investing

At BD, we're passionate about advancing the world of health—and that passion extends through our approach to social investing. Our company values guide us to "do what's right," "take personal responsibility," and to "respect, collaborate with, challenge and care about each other." And those commitments apply not just to the way we do business—but also to the ways we give back to the local and global community.

We leverage our expertise to collaborate with leading nonprofit organizations to address unmet healthcare needs. We focus on improving healthcare access and strengthening the capacity of health systems to care for all patients, especially the most vulnerable. 

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Encouraging Associate Engagement and Volunteerism

BD encourages its employees to get involved and give back to their local communities. 

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Responding in Times of Disaster

Learn more about BD's approach to disaster response and product donation.

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Global Public Health

Our Global Public Health team collaborates with and empowers our government, community health, industry, and development partners, in underserved communities around the world, with meaningful tools, programs, and expertise to strengthen health systems, expand healthcare access and drive improved, equitable health outcomes for all. 
 

Health Equity drives our Global Public Health commitments

We know that health inequities contribute to global disease burden: they disproportionately impact marginalized or underrepresented populations and hold back economies and businesses from achieving growth. We believe that med-tech innovation is of no use if it does not reach the patients who need it. That’s why, at BD, we believe that we have an opportunity to improve health equity beyond developing leading healthcare technologies that solve healthcare’s greatest challenges. We can help ensure that our innovations are available to all people, regardless of geography, demographics, ethnicity, education, gender or socioeconomic status, as we help advance a healthier world for all. 

How we drive sustained Global Public Health impact:

•       Trusted partnerships: We collaborate with humanitarian organizations, governments, patient and industry groups, scientific associations and ministries of health to ensure the healthcare innovations and global public health programs we develop are equitable and accessible to all. We’re a proud member of many industry organizations including AdvaMed, APACMed and MedTech Europe as well as issue driven collaborations such as the Global HPV Consortium and the AMR Industry Alliance.

•       Global capabilities: We leverage BD’s global reach and diverse expertise in areas ranging from supply chain management and program implementation to health economics outcomes and medical affairs, to help our partners solve their most pressing public health challenges.

•       Advocacy & education: We advocate for the implementation of best practices that improve global health, patient access, and the strength of health systems, globally. We also train healthcare workers to address the most pressing healthcare needs their communities face, while empowering them to educate their communities about how to be active partners in driving improved health outcomes.

•       Scalable programs: We create flexible, scalable programs, fueled by time-tested best practices, that can be tailored to meet the unique needs of local communities.

Our Global Public Health Priorities:

AMR (Antimicrobial Resistance) // Infectious Disease // NCDs (Noncommunicable diseases) // Safety

AMR (Antimicrobial Resistance)

Decades of misuse have driven a sharp increase in the development of organisms that are resistant to life-saving antimicrobial medications. The World Health Organization now considers antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to be among the top 10 greatest threats to global health.1 More people die, each year, globally, due to drug-resistant infections, than to HIV, AIDS and Malaria, combined.2  Like most global public health threats, AMR also disproportionately impacts underserved populations, with Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia experiencing the highest AMR-related mortalities.

 

BD has been named to Fortune’s list of companies that are Changing the World, in recognition of our global efforts and investments to combat AMR. BD is a member of multiple industry forums, partnerships and cross-sector consortiums that are committed to driving policy change and developing programs to address AMR.
 

 

Our Impact

  • To teach laboratory workers in low- and middle-income countries understand how to best use diagnostic testing to advance antimicrobial stewardship, BD collaborated with London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to develop a Massive Open Online Course on AMR and diagnostics. The course was designed with advisory consultation from 11 country governments and five non-profit organizations, and is now available to lab workers, free of charge, worldwide.
  • To help build the capacity of laboratories in low- and middle-income countries to address AMR, BD partnered with the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics to jointly develop and deploy the AMR Scorecard for Lab Quality Improvement. The scorecard uses step-by-step methodology to assess AMR-related lab capabilities, and then provides targeted training to help labs close the gaps. The scorecard has been piloted in several countries Africa and in India, with further expansion to come. BD is partnering with The Fleming Fund to strengthen laboratory systems in 16 developing and emerging countries, through the rollout of equipment, reagents and training.
  •  Understanding of the essential need for AMR awareness, BD facilitates the global Antimicrobial Resistance Fighter Coalition, which creates and shares podcasts, social media content, and educational tools that highlight researchers, scientists, healthcare providers and other advocates who are finding creative ways to combat AMR. BD also sponsored the launch of The Silent Pandemic, a documentary which explores the global fight against AMR and how countries, scientists, and private initiatives around the world are searching for solutions to global AMR pandemic.
     

 

Infectious Diseases

Infectious diseases are the leading cause of death for people living in poverty, globally.3 Lack of access to quality housing, safe water and sanitation – as well as lack of access to medical innovations that can detect, treat and surveil the impact and spread of infectious disease – are all factors that make underserved communities more vulnerable to infectious disease. Complex and chronic infectious diseases pose major challenges to improving the health of people in low- and middle-income countries – and they can have a profound impact on economic development, too.

 

At BD, we focus our Global Public Health programming and investments on two of the world’s most deadly infectious diseases – Tuberculosis (TB) and on Sepsis.  Sepsis is the body’s extreme, life-threatening response to an infection, has a disproportionate impact on people living with HIV and TB, and is the leading cause of death, worldwide.

 

Our Impact

  • Sepsis arises when an infection alters the body’s normal response, causing injury to tissue and organs. Every year, sepsis affects 30 million people, worldwide. It kills million people, annually, including up to 500,000 newborns, and causes one out of every 10 maternal deaths.4 The earlier sepsis can be diagnosed in a patient, the more likely it can be effectively treated. That’s why BD is committed to increasing access to tools and training that can help healthcare workers detect sepsis.
  • In Kenya, BD partnered with the Ministry of Health to provide training on the Best Practices for the collection of blood cultures.  Blood culture testing provides clinicians critical information on how manage patients with sepsis.
  • Approximately one fourth of the world’s population is infected with Tuberculosis (TB) bacteria; and 5-10% of those people are expected to develop TB in their lifetime. Without treatment, the mortality rate for TB can be as high as 70%.5 BD is working to deploy a strategic combination of resources and technologies aimed at strengthening health systems’ ability to conduct diagnostic testing to diagnose TB, so patients can receive early treatment.
  • Perhaps the best example of this work is our multi-year partnership with BD, the U.S. Agency for International Development and in-country Ministries of Health to improve access to and increase capacity for TB testing in India and Indonesia, through the Strengthening TB Resistance Testing and Diagnostic Systems (STRIDES) program.
  • BD has also partnered with Project HOPE to strengthen the national reference laboratory system in Indonesia, by training workers at 20+ public sector laboratories on best practices in TB culture and drug susceptibility testing.
 
  • BD responded with technology innovation and global health programming from the beginning of the AIDS epidemic and continues to support testing globally. Many of our Global Health programs are built on the learnings we gained from the HIV/AIDS response. BD’s 14-year partnership with the U.S. Centers of Disease Control, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and Ministries of Health in several African countries helped nearly 20 laboratories in Africa and India to strengthen their lab capabilities, build a more competent laboratory workforce and improve treatment efficiencies. BD lab technicians and microbiologists supported this partnership’s treatment of more than 7.7 million patients living with HIV/AIDS. We are developing free, online educational content about laboratory quality, which has been viewed by millions and cultivated 55,000 subscribers in 20+ countries.

Learn more about how BD is fighting https://www.bdbiosciences.com/en-be/learn/clinical/immune-deficiencies

 

Non-Communicable Disease

Non-communicable diseases tend to be of long duration, and are the result of a combination of genetic, physiological, environmental and behavioral factors, and disproportionately impact people in low- and middle-income countries. When individuals with NCDs face tremendous healthcare costs and a restricted ability to work, their households struggle with increased financial risk. These factors, especially when combined with lack of access to NCD screening and treatment services, can lead to high rates of NCDs, which in turn can perpetuate poverty, strain economic development, and burden fragile health systems, making countries less resilient when emergencies like infectious disease outbreaks of natural disasters occur.
 

At BD, we focus our Global Public Health programming and investments on cancer, peripheral arterial disease (PAD), and kidney disease. Each of these conditions carries high morbidity and mortality rates6 that disproportionately impact communities already facing health disparities due to lack of screening and access to treatment. 7, 8

Our impact

  • Cervical Cancer caused by the human papillomaviruses (HPV), an estimated 342,000 women died from cervical cancer, worldwide, in 20209 – even though the disease is preventable and curable when detected early and managed effectively. About 90 percent of cervical cancer deaths occur in low and middle-income countries, where screening, prevention and treatment are almost non-existent.10 Research shows that in the U.S., 60 percent of cervical cancer cases occur among unscreened women, with Hispanic women experiencing the highest rates of cervical cancer; and Black women experiencing the highest rates of dying from the disease.11 That’s why BD is supporting the World Health Organization in its goal to eliminate cervical cancer with a comprehensive approach to prevention, screening and treatment. Key BD Global Public Health efforts to eliminate HPV include:
  • BD is supporting access to HPV self-collection to reach underserved communities and increase screening rates in a variety of settings. Screening programs offering self-collection provide women the option to either visit their healthcare practitioner for a traditional exam, or to take their own sample in the comfort of their own home or in a private area of a clinic. This removes many workforce constraints and has also proven to be highly accepted across many different communities. 
  • In the U.S., BD supports the goals of the White House Cancer Moonshot initiative, which seeks to reduce the death rate from cancer, by expanding access to HPV screening, particularly among underserved communities. 
  • In Kenya, BD collaborated in 2023 with the Ministry of Health to launch a pilot program that provides end-to-end cervical and breast cancer awareness, screening leveraging self-collection, early diagnosis and timely linkage to care. We plan to scale this program to additional underserved nations in 2024 and beyond.
  • In Colombia, BD is working across the public and private sector to promote awareness of HPV screening best practices. We’re also supporting a study conducted by Javeriana University to assess self-HPV-collection in underserved communities.
  • Recognizing the need for data to understand how vulnerable populations are impacted by drug-resistant infections, BD initiated the Cancer & AMR Consortium, which seeks to fill the data gap to accelerate advocacy, policy, and innovation.
  • Over 800 million people worldwide suffer from chronic kidney disease – 10% of the world’s population12 Kidney disease represents an especially large burden in LMICs.13 Kidney diseases are a leading cause of death in the United States, impacting 37 million U.S. adults, or one in seven people.14 Every 24 hours, 360 people in the United States begin dialysis for treatment for kidney failure. Kidney disease also disproportionately impacts historically underserved communities. One third of U.S. kidney disease patients in the U.S. are Black, and the disease also disproportionately impacts Hispanic and Native American patients.15  This is an area where BD is developing partnerships and programs.
  • Over 200 million people worldwide and around 8.5 million in the United States are affected by peripheral artery disease (PAD)16 In the United States, patients of low socioeconomic status, those residing in rural areas, and those of Africa-American or Native American ethnicity are at the highest risk of amputation.17 For patients who undergo amputation, the 5-year mortality rate of PAD patients has been estimated to be 50-74%.18 Driving awareness of PAD for both patients and healthcare professionals is key to getting ahead of disease progression.
  • BD’s Love Your Limbs program provides important disease information and support to help educate patients, and BD supports efforts to expand access to PAD screening and diagnosis.

Safety

According to World Health Organization estimates, approximately 3 million health care workers globally experience bloodborne pathogen exposure due to needlestick injuries every year19 Yet needlestick injuries remain a starkly underrecognized global issue. Most injuries happen in the patient and exam rooms, the emergency department, and intensive care units, where health care workers are under stress to perform procedures quickly. This can lead to underreporting of injuries because there is more pressure to pay attention to the care of the patient rather than self-care of the health care worker. Whether due to a lack of training, an absence of safety protocols, or limited access to post-exposure care, these injuries pose substantial risk of infection. It is estimated that such exposures result in thousands of new infections each year, with more than 90% in low- and middle-income countries.20 Needlestick injuries expose healthcare workers to more than 20 dangerous bloodborne pathogens, including hepatitis B, C and HIV.21

At BD, we focus our patient and healthcare worker safety Global Public Health programming and investments on reducing needlestick injuries. Bloodborne pathogen exposure from needlestick injuries creates a significant safety burden to healthcare workers, patients, hospitals and health systems. 

Our Impact

  • In select hospitals in Kenya, BD launched an infection and prevention control program, which trained hundreds of healthcare workers on peripheral intravenous catheter and central venous catheter insertion best practices. The program also provided hospitals with IV catheter safety devices to support clinician training, and taught participants how to use mobile surveillance systems to monitor occupational exposures.
  • BD has been a pioneer and world leader since 1988 in developing safety-engineered devices designed to protect health workers and patients from exposures to bloodborne pathogens. BD has been partnering with the International Safety Center to continue drive advocacy and policy considerations on the issues of health worker safety as there are still substantial opportunities to improve safety around the world.

 

 

References

1 https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/antimicrobial-resistance; accessed 11/3/2023

Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance in 2019: a systematic analysis. Lancet. 2022;399(10325):629-655.

3 Bhutta ZA, Sommerfeld J, Lassi ZS, Salam RA, Das JK. Global burden, distribution, and interventions for infectious diseases of poverty. Infect Dis Poverty. 2014 Jul 31;3:21. doi: 10.1186/2049-9957-3-21. PMID: 25110585; PMCID: PMC4126350

4 https://www.paho.org/en/topics/sepsis#:~:text=Each%20year%2C%20approximately%2031%20million,of%20maternal%20and%20neonatal%20death; accessed 11/03/2023

5 https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tuberculosis, accessed 11/03/2023

6 Demsas F, Joiner MM, Telma K, Flores AM, Teklu S, Ross EG. Disparities in peripheral artery disease care: A review and call for action. Semin Vasc Surg. 2022 Jun;35(2):141-154. doi: 10.1053/j.semvascsurg.2022.05.003. Epub 2022 May 8. PMID: 35672104; PMCID: PMC9254894.

7 Zavala, V. A., Bracci, P. M., Carethers, J. M., Coggins, N. B., R., M., Davis, M., De Smith, A. J., Dutil, J., Figueiredo, J. C., Fox, R., Graves, K. D., Gomez, S. L., Llera, A., Neuhausen, S. L., Newman, L., Nguyen, T., Palmer, J. R., Palmer, N. R., J., E., . . .  Fejerman, L. (2021). Cancer health disparities in racial/ethnic minorities in the United States. British Journal of Cancer, 124(2), 315-332. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-020-01038-6

8 GBD 2013 Mortality and Causes of Death Collaborators. Global, regional, and national age–sex specific all-cause and cause-specific mortality for 240 causes of death, 1990–2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013. Lancet 2015; 385: 117–71.

9 https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cervical-cancer; accessed 11/03/2023

10 Sung H, Ferlay J, Siegel RL, Laversanne M, Soerjomataram I, Jemal A, et al. Global cancer statistics 2020: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA Cancer J Clin. 2021:71:209–49. doi:10.3322/caac.21660.

11 Benard VB, Jackson JE, Greek A, Senkomago V, Huh WK, Thomas CC, Richardson LC. A population study of screening history and diagnostic outcomes of women with invasive cervical cancer. Cancer Med. 2021 Jun;10(12):4127-4137. doi: 10.1002/cam4.3951. Epub 2021 May 21. PMID: 34018674; PMCID: PMC8209614.

12 Kovesdy CP. Epidemiology of chronic kidney disease: an update 2022. Kidney Int Suppl (2011). 2022 Apr;12(1):7-11. doi: 10.1016/j.kisu.2021.11.003. Epub 2022 Mar 18. PMID: 35529086; PMCID: PMC9073222

13 Same as xii

14 https://www.kidneyfund.org/all-about-kidneys/quick-kidney-disease-facts-and-stats#:~:text=37%20million%20Americans%20have%20kidney,are%20living%20with%20kidney%20failure.&text=Kidney%20disease%20is%20growing%20at,greater%20risk%20for%20kidney%20failure.; accessed 11/03/2023

15 https://www.kidney.org/atoz/content/minorities-KD#:~:text=Yes%2C%20one%20in%20three%20people,increased%20risk%20for%20kidney%20disease.; accessed 11/03/2023

16 Garba Rimamskep Shamaki, Favour Markson, Demilade Soji-Ayoade, Chibuike Charles Agwuegbo, Michael Olaseni Bamgbose, Bob-Manuel Tamunoinemi,  Peripheral Artery Disease: A Comprehensive Updated Review,Current Problems in Cardiology, Volume 47, Issue 11,2022,101082,ISSN 0146-2806, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpcardiol.2021.101082.

17 Epidemiology and Risk of Amputation in Patients With Diabetes Mellitus and Peripheral Artery Disease

J. Aaron Barnes, Mark A. Eid, Mark A. Creager and Philip P. Goodney; Originally published25 Jun 2020https://doi.org/10.1161/ATVBAHA.120.314595Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. 2020;40:1808–1817

18 Norgren, L., Hiatt, W. R., Dormandy, J. A., Nehler, M. R., Harris, K. A., & Fowkes, F. G. R. (2007). Inter-society consensus for the management of peripheral arterial disease (TASC II). Journal of vascular surgery, 45(1), S5-S67., 4. Yost, ML. The Sage Group (2017). Critical Limb Ischemia by Rutherford Category: Prevalence and Markets in Patients and Limbs.

19 Prüss-Üstün A, Rapiti E, Hutin Y. Sharps injuries: global burden of disease from sharps injuries to health-care workers. Geneva, World Health Organization, 2003 (WHO Environmental Burden of Disease Series, No. 3).

20  https://pages.devex.com/safetyfirst.html; accessed 11/03/2023.

21 Beltrami EM, Williams IT, Shapiro CN, Chamberland ME. Risk and management of blood-borne infections in health care workers. Clin Microbiol Rev. 2000 Jul;13(3):385-407. doi: 10.1128/CMR.13.3.385. PMID: 10885983; PMCID: PMC88939.

Overview

We are the Makers of Possible:

Inclusion, Diversity and Equity at BD

We are the people who give possibilities purpose, and our Purpose serves as a foundation for who we are as a company. Our inclusion, diversity and equity (ID&E) goals fulfill our Purpose, empower our workforce, drive innovation, and create a more inclusive environment. And we’re always working to reinvent the future of healthcare, to discover possibilities that once seemed unimaginable. This has enabled us to establish ourselves as the backbone of healthcare on which many health systems depend.

We are committed to maintaining a healthy and thriving workforce that cultivates our culture of inclusion, safety and well-being. Our inclusion, diversity and equity efforts, supported by our Associate Resource Groups, policies and programs, facilitate an environment where our associates are included in key decisions and play a crucial role in developing the transformative solutions that impact lives around the globe. Our progress in ID&E drives our culture, differentiates us as a company, and is vital to our ability to achieve dynamic leadership in the MedTech industry.

2022 Global Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Report

Notes

Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements

This report contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws regarding the BD ID&E strategy, goals, commitments and objectives. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed, projected, anticipated or implied in such statements. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, may be forward-looking statements. Some forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as “plan,” “expect,” “believe,” “intend,” “will,” “may,” “anticipate,” estimate,” “target,” and other words of similar meaning. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are, and will be, based on management’s then-current views and assumptions regarding future events, developments and operating performance, and speak only as of their dates.

Statements regarding the company’s goals, commitments and objectives may include statistics or metrics that are based on estimates and assumptions. Such goals, commitments and objectives are not intended to be promises or guarantees, and actual results may differ, possibly materially. It is not possible to predict or identify all of these risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ, many of which are beyond the company’s control, including, without limitation, challenges relating to economic, competitive, governmental and technological factors affecting the company’s operations, markets and products, and other factors listed in the BD 2022 Annual Report on Form 10-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). BD expressly disclaims any undertaking to update or revise any forward-looking statements set forth herein to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof, except as required by applicable law or regulation.

The inclusion of information in this report should not be construed as a characterization regarding the materiality or financial impact of that information. For additional information regarding BD, please see our 2022 Annual Report on Form 10-K and other filings with the SEC.

This report contains links to external websites or references to third parties. Such links or websites are not endorsements of any products or services on such sites, and no information in such site has been endorsed or approved by BD or incorporated into this report.

To find our more about ID&E and sustainability at BD or to provide feedback on our reporting, please contact BD_Sustainability_Office@bd.com.

BD, the BD Logo and Advancing the world of health are trademarks of Becton, Dickinson and Company. ©2022 BD. All rights reserved.

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