Environmental, Social, and Governance

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.