Merck Sharp and Dohme publishes corporate responsibility update for 2013

Merck Sharp and Dohme has published its 2013 global corporate responsibility report, highlighting the progress it made towards some of its key goals during last year.

The report outlined the company's efforts to improve its overall performance across four key areas – access to health, environmental sustainability, employees and ethics, and transparency.

During 2013, the firm was able to reach more than 340 million people through programmes and partnerships addressing barriers to access and making vaccines available to poorer nations. It played a key role in helping Colombia to become the first country to eliminate river blindness.

A new streamlined environmental strategy was also introduced to ensure more of a focus on the areas of greatest importance, with positive results expected in the next few years.

Thanks to these and other efforts, the organisation was ranked as a top 50 company for workplace diversity by DiversityInc and topped the CPA-Zicklin Index of Corporate Political Disclosure and Accountability for the third straight year.

Merck Sharp and Dohme as a whole is currently attempting to implement and pursue a new, more focused business strategy, following on from the sale of its consumer care division earlier this year.