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GSK COMMITS RS 39 MILLION TO EMPOWER THE DISABLED IN SRI LANKA

Global pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has committed Rs 39 million to a new project to empower persons with disabilities in southern Sri Lanka.

The project will be planned and executed over three years by the Leonard Cheshire Disability Resource Centre (LCDRC) in partnership with GSK Pharmaceuticals Sri Lanka, the country's leading pharmaceuticals and vaccines company. This is the first project involving GSK and the Leonard Cheshire Disability Resource Centre in Sri Lanka.

The project is intended to help about 700 persons with disabilities living in the divisional secretariat of Habaraduwa in the Galle District by promoting several key aspects. These include vital health and rehabilitation programmes that meet a wide range of needs of people with disabilities to reduce the impact of disability; innovative community based services that support persons with disabilities to live inter-dependent lives with others; disabled children's right to a meaningful education; and sustainable livelihood programmes that focus on economic empowerment and self reliance.

The project also seeks to promote awareness and capacity building among rights holders and duty bearers on disability and development, and advocacy and campaigning to ensure, protect and promote the rights of persons with disabilities.

Commenting on the company's latest corporate social responsibility initiative, GSK Pharmaceuti-cals Sri Lanka Managing Director, Stuart Chapman said: "We are pleased to extend financial assistance and the equally-important moral support to efforts that seek to empower persons with disabilities in our community to live independently. GSK strongly believes that persons with disabilities also have the same rights to equal opportunities and access to be useful members of society."

"We are confident that this project will help eliminate some of the attitudinal, environmental and institutional barriers to pave the way for a better quality of life with self esteem for persons with disabilities and their families," he said.

Jeevan Kodithuwakku, the Programme Director for the Leonard Cheshire Disability Resource Centre in Sri Lanka said the organisation is grateful for the support of GlaxoSmithKline for this thoughtfully-structured project at a time when many corporate entities are scaling down their commitments in the face of the global economic downturn.

He said that the vision of LCDRC is to create an inclusive, barrier free and rights -based society for persons with disability. One of the key aspects of the project will be to empower 200 young persons with disabilities, to ensure, protect and promote the rights of persons with disabilities, to lead a life of dignity through the 'Young Voices' project that seeks to open thedoor to tomorrow's leaders.

He explained that it had been decided to select about 700 people as beneficiaries in this project to be empowered through the widely-accepted Community-Based Rehabilitation approach (CBR) over a three year period.

According to the figures in possession of the Leonard Cheshire Disability Resource Centre, 5 to 6 per cent of the Sri Lankan population represent persons with disabilities. Only 30 per cent of children in the category receive proper education and about 60 per cent of them remain unemployed.

The Leonard Cheshire Disability Resource Centre was established in Sri Lanka in 2005 to support persons with disabilities affected by the 2004 tsunami. The Disability Resource Centres (DRCs) located in the Colombo, Trincomalee and Galle districts work in the areas of education, livelihoods, health and rehabilitation, advocacy and campaigning and support for everyday living. These DRCs act as information and resource centere and run projects in nearby communities.

Globally, GSK was one of the first recipients of the prestigious "CommunityMark" awarded by the UK's Business in the Community (BITC) for worldwide initiatives that have a positive impact on society. The company has implemented numerous CSR projects in Sri Lanka. Its recent CSR projects include the refurbishment of a ward at the Welisara Chest Hospital, renovation of a ward at the Lunawa District Hospital and the donation of a fully equipped High Dependency Unit (HDU) to the Lady Ridgeway Children's Hospital. In the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami, GSK spent Rs 29 million to help restore healthcare systems and improve service capacity in the affected areas in Sri Lanka.

A world leading research-based pharmaceuticals and vaccines company, GSK operates in 114 countries and employs over 100,000 people. Every day, more than 200 million people around the world use a GSK brand. GSK is also the only pharmaceutical company to tackle the three "priority" diseases identified by the World Health Organization (WHO): HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

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