Pfizer Inc, has posted first quarter profit of $13.5billion in 2013- reflecting gains from Pfizer’s joint venture in China- and lowered its 2013 forecast.
The company’s quarterly profit surged to $2.75 billion from $1.79 billion in the year-ago period. Excluding one-time items, its adjusted earnings from continuing operations came in at $0.54 per share. Pfizer’s Inc has also shed businesses outside its core medicine franchise to focus on drug development.
In November 2013, Pfizer sold its nutrition business to Nestle for $11.85 billion in cash. The February 2013 initial public offering (IPO) of Pfizer’s animal-health unit Zoetis Inc. raised $2.2 billion in the largest IPO from a U.S. company since Face book $16 billion deal in May 2012.
The company’s profit for the first quarter of 2013 is coming at a period when stakeholders have been tasked to defend and improve the health status of the Nigerian child, in commemoration of the Children’s Day.
Speaking with Business Day, Kodjo Soroh, medical director, Pfizer Nigeria said there was urgent need for government, corporate organisations and the individual to explore partnership strategy for a better health care of the Nigerian child.
Lamenting on the prevalent cases of pneumonia and diarrhea among children in Nigeria, Soroh stressed that everyone, including the media have a prominent role to play in fighting the diseases while promoting a healthy nation.
“We need to work together to sensitise and vaccinate Nigerian children against these diseases, most of which are 100 per cent preventable. We are looking at prevention of preventable diseases, global vaccine action plan and universal accessibility to quality health care,” Soroh hinted.
The Medical Director charged Nigerians to move from mourning the country’s unpalatable health indices to taking drastic and collective steps in arresting the ugly trend.
s“There is need to continue to spread the message even to the rural areas. Ghana for example, had not recorded any case of measles for the past seven years, this is the disease that is still prevalent and remains the highest killer of children in Nigeria,” Soroh explained.
Margaret Olele, Director, Communication and Public Affairs, Pfizer Nigeria advised Nigerians to place their health as priority instead of other luxuries of life at the expense quality health status.
Olele stated that it is high time Nigeria tapped into public-private partnership and other models of improving health care delivery, most especially as Nigeria can no longer meet the 2015 Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target on health.
She however stated that there must be a comprehensive and long-lasting health packages through collaborations geared towards eradicating childhood diseases.
“If we must save our children from this unhealthy situation, Nigerians should shift from the tradition of only talking during world diseases celebration days to talking and acting every,” Olele added.
