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6th Roche Children’s Walk: some 14’000 employees from 100 sites worldwide walk today to support children in need


WEBWIRE

On 1st December for the sixth consecutive year, Roche will be holding a sponsored worldwide walk to raise money to help orphans and children in need. With their participation, the Roche employees demonstrate their solidarity and ongoing commitment to help support children in Malawi and childrens’ organisations in their own countries. All funds raised by employees are matched by Roche.

Roche CEO Severin Schwan said: “Roche is all about improving people’s lives and we are in a unique position to do so. Our Childrens’ Walk is also unique, as it brings together colleagues from all over the world, from different functions and teams. I will be participating in the Children’s Walk this year and will be joined by many colleagues to help children in need”.

In collaboration with the European Coalition of Positive People (ECPP), Roche is supporting day care centers in Malawi, looking after more than 3000 children orphaned by AIDS. Part of the money raised will also be used to fund the project “Schools for Africa”, established by UNICEF in collaboration with the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Hamburg Society to improve education and the schools the children attend in Malawi. As orphans, these children are often excluded from education and vocational training because of their poverty.

In 2007, 12’000 Roche employees from 95 Sites worldwide completed the walk. Since the walk was founded in 2003 around 5 million Swiss francs have been raised for the ongoing support of AIDS orphans in Malawi.
Partnership between Roche and the European Coalition of Positive People (ECPP)

Roche and ECPP have agreed to work in partnership to directly benefit orphaned children in Malawi. The partnership is designed to construct, equip, monitor and help maintain orphan centres in rural, Southern Malawi and offer secondary school costs and care to orphans. Roche organises and bears all costs associated with conducting the Roche Children’s Walk fundraising events.
About the initiative “Schools for Africa”

UNICEF, the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Hamburg Society believe that education is key to development, and have launched together the initiative “Schools for Africa”. In Rwanda, Angola, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique and South Africa, 2 million children will have access to education in the next three years, 4000 schools will be renovated or built, sanitary infrastructure will provide clean water in 1800 schools, and 35000 teachers will receive special training
About Roche

Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world’s leading research-focused healthcare groups in the fields of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. As the world’s biggest biotech company and an innovator of products and services for the early detection, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases, the Group contributes on a broad range of fronts to improving people’s health and quality of life. Roche is the world leader in in-vitro diagnostics and drugs for cancer and transplantation, and is a market leader in virology. It is also active in other major therapeutic areas such as autoimmune diseases, inflammatory and metabolic disorders and diseases of the central nervous system. In 2007 sales by the Pharmaceuticals Division totalled 36.8 billion Swiss francs, and the Diagnostics Division posted sales of 9.3 billion francs. Roche has R&D agreements and strategic alliances with numerous partners, including majority ownership interests in Genentech and Chugai, and invested over 8 billion Swiss francs in R&D in 2007. Worldwide, the Group employs about 80,000 people. Additional information is available on the Internet at www.roche.com .

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