United Nations Foundation gives Global Leadership Award to Walgreens Boots Alliance
NEW YORK — Walgreens Boots Alliance will be honored with the Global Leadership Award at the United Nations Foundation’s 2016 Global Leadership Awards Dinner Wednesday evening, Walgreens Boots Alliance announced.
Walgreens Boots Alliance’s co-COO Ornella Barra will accept the Global Leadership Award on behalf of the company.
“I am deeply honored to accept the Global Leadership Award from the United Nations Foundation on behalf of all of my dedicated colleagues and the customers who make the program possible,” Barra stated. “While much work remains, we are very proud of the progress we have made, in partnership with our customers and the UN Foundation, to ensure that millions of children are immunized against diseases that could cost them their lives. Walgreens Boots Alliance is committed to helping people around the world lead happier, healthier lives and this program is an important part of our mission.”
“The world has set ambitious goals to improve lives and livelihoods around the world, including by achieving health and well-being for everyone by the year 2030,” stated Kathy Calvin, UN Foundation president and CEO. “Walgreens Boots Alliance has raised the bar through its strong commitment to the world’s most vulnerable citizens, who are often protected from a lifetime of deadly or debilitating diseases, including children who benefit from the Get A Shot. Give A Shot. campaign.”
Walgreens Boots Alliance is being recognized for its commitment to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals through its support for wellbeing around the world. The award recognizes, in part, the accomplishments of Walgreens' highly successful Get a Shot. Give a Shot initiative, which provides life-saving vaccines to children in developing countries through the Foundation’s Shot@Life campaign.
Get a Shot. Give a Shot is one of a range of programs that Walgreens Boots Alliance champions to improve health and wellbeing around the world. This month, through a partnership with Vitamin Angels, Walgreens reached its goal set two years ago of helping to provide 100 million children and mothers in at-risk populations with essential vitamins and minerals to help combat malnutrition.
Through a partnership with the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer, the company has funded a pan-European biobank for colorectal cancer to find new ways to treat this deadly disease. In addition, as the exclusive retailer of Red Nose Day in the United States, Walgreens has helped raise more than $31 million to benefit children’s health through Comic Relief USA. And a partnership between Boots UK and Macmillan Cancer Support helps provide access to the best cancer information for patients and caregivers across the U.K.