Research, Prevention and Training Programs

In the field, most of our subsidiaries are involved in preventive health care, health information and education campaigns. Always carried out with the approval of the country's authorities, our initiatives focus on the most vulnerable and/or exposed populations. They rely on the assistance of various institutions and the expertise of local and international NGOs.

A program conducted in partnership with the World Bank and the Angolan Ministry of Health seeks to reduce the infant and maternal mortality rate, one of the highest in the world.  Begun in September 2010, it will train 650 nurses and midwives, renovate or build childbirth centers and supply school kits over a five-year period. The initiative will help 1.9 million people.

Again in Angola, Total is working with the NGO Douleurs Sans Frontières to improve the health of rural communities.

In Myanmar, we are involved in tackling blindness with the NGO Helen Keller International.

Since 2005, the Total Foundation and the Pasteur Institute's international network have pooled their efforts to spur research, train more health care professionals in emerging economies and develop local capabilities to fight infectious diseases. In 2010, the Total Foundation and the Pasteur Institute renewed the corporate funding agreement originally signed in 2005. Over five years, a total of €10 million will be spent on:
- Creating the Françoise Barré-Sinoussi chair, named after the Total Foundation's scientific advisor at the Pasteur Institute and dedicated to research on preventing HIV/AIDS and training medical and scientific personnel.
- Financing research programs on infectious diseases.
- Funding public health initiatives.

 The Total Foundation's Health-Related Initiatives

Combating Pandemics

The Fight Against HIV/AIDS

We are involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS,  especially in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2006, we reaffirmed our commitment on World AIDS Day by signing a leadership statement on European Business and AIDS drafted by the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
The cornerstones of our HIV/AIDS strategy are education, prevention, voluntary, confidential testing, and funding for treatment.

A Few Examples

Cameroon

In 2007, the French agency for HIV/AIDS and viral hepatitis research (ANRS) began the ANRS 12140-Pediacam research program to improve the treatment of newborns exposed to HIV/AIDS.
The researchers are studying the feasibility of early administration of antiretrovirals to children infected with HIV/AIDS and the response to these vaccines. Initially restricted to newborns, the program has now been expanded to children aged up to five.

Coordinated by the Cameroon Pasteur Institute in Yaoundé, the study involves the pediatric centers at the Chantal Biya Foundation and Essos hospital in Yaoundé and the Laquintinie hospital in Douala.

The Total Foundation is also helping them to improve treatment of children living with HIV/AIDS, support for their families and working conditions for physicians and researchers. For this, the Foundation is receiving expert advice from Dr. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2008, based at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. The results speak for themselves: nearly 2,000 children have been helped, receiving milk, vaccines and food baskets; medical and social workers have been trained; and infrastructure has been built or refurbished.

Angola

From 2005 to 2010, Total supported a Luanda-based NGO, the Centro de Apoio aos Jovens (CAJ), founded in 2001 to assist young people by providing information about sexual and reproductive health and preventing sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV/AIDS. The partnership aimed to expand the CAJ's capacities and bring the center into line with international standards. Total helped to renovate the center and its laboratory; train health care professionals, social workers, health care mediators and peer educators; design teaching tools; increase the number of patient visits; improve the monitoring and evaluation system; and set up a discussion group for people living with HIV/AIDS. The Foundation's financial aid program ended in 2010 with the delivery of a fully-equipped mobile testing and treatment clinic.

Morocco

Since 2007, the Total Foundation has worked with the Pasteur Institute in Morocco and the Moroccan anti-HIV/AIDS association ALCS. Created in 1988, ALCS deploys programs to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS to vulnerable populations, with the support of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The program financed by the Foundation involves epidemiological monitoring and prevention of STIs in truck drivers. In 2010, 37,000 truckers were educated about HIV/AIDS, bringing the total to more than 80,000 since 2007. In addition, 4,000 people were screened for HIV/AIDS, with 545 medical visits for sexually transmitted infections.

The Fight Against Malaria

Malaria continues to be one of the principal global health scourges. One-third of the world's population is at risk from the disease. In 2010, there were 216 million cases of malaria and nearly 700 million deaths, mostly among children living in Africa, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Some 91% of all malaria cases are reported in Africa, a region in which we have strong presence.

Our Marketing subsidiaries in Africa have been actively involved in the fight against malaria for a number of years. In 2010, 7,000 prevention guides, 20,000 educational games and 700,000 informational brochures were distributed to employees and the general public, along with mosquito nets treated with repellent.
Awareness campaigns were also conducted in schools, hospitals and service stations. Such actions are always tailored to each local situation and have also been taken on board and deployed by several Exploration & Production subsidiaries, even on other continents, to reach the maximum number of people. The program is set to continue in the face of what remains one of the world's main public health problems today.

Tacking Tuberculosis

In Azerbaijan, Total has partnered with the Azerbaijan Health Communication Association to conduct communication drives concerning tuberculosis.