For the first time, Roche Children’s Walk 2014 received combined support from the company’s employees in UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman.

• Employees across offices organized various fund raising activities internally to raise donations which will go towards the company’s global efforts to support day-care centers for orphans and educational initiatives in Malawi, as well as children’s charities
• This year marks the 11th anniversary of the walk which has seen participation from 120 company sites and 132000 employees walking to raise funds
• Till date the program has been able to support 17,000 orphan children

Dubai, United Arab Emirates: To support the global initiative of Roche Children’s Walk 2014, Roche employees across UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman came together to undertake various internal fund raising activities, the collects from which will go towards supporting day-care centres for orphans and educational initiatives in Malawi, as well as children’s charities in their own countries. Employees undertook activities like home-made bakery sale, games, children activities, artistic activities, drawing exhibition etc. to encourage donation towards the cause.

This year marks the 11th anniversary of the Roche Children’s Walk. Over 132,000 walking employees have participated over the years and joined efforts for a common cause. With the donations raised, Roche was able to support to date 17’000 orphan children in cooperation with ECPP (European Coalition of Positive People) and UNICEF Switzerland.

“The Roche Children’s Walk is a sustainable, long-term philanthropic project and each year an important event in our calendar”, says Severin Schwan, CEO of Roche. “Thanks to the continued support of our employees, we have been able to touch and improve the lives of many children who are in need and have to rely on the assistance of others. Because we know that the projects make a real difference, Roche doubles the amount of money raised.”

“Our participation in the global initiative is a part of our continued commitment towards the welfare of the community, in this case, children who are in need. We are thankful towards our employees for their efforts towards supporting this cause and enthusiastic participation to make this activity a grand success”, said Ehab Yousef, Sub-Region Head for Roche Middle East.

Since Roche also assumes all walk and funding administrative expenses, no donations are spent on bureaucracy or fundraising costs.  External audits ensure that all funds are used to benefit the children.

A representative group of employees who have led the fundraising are given the opportunity to travel to Malawi to see first-hand how the funds are used to help support and improve the lives of the children.

About Roche:

Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is a leader in research-focused healthcare with combined strengths in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche is the world’s largest biotech company, with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, immunology, infectious diseases, ophthalmology and neuroscience. Roche is also the world leader in in vitro diagnostics and tissue-based cancer diagnostics, and a frontrunner in diabetes management. Roche’s personalised healthcare strategy aims at providing medicines and diagnostics that enable tangible improvements in the health, quality of life and survival of patients. Founded in 1896, Roche has been making important contributions to global health for more than a century. Twenty-four medicines developed by Roche are included in the World Health Organisation Model Lists of Essential Medicines, among them life-saving antibiotics, antimalarials and chemotherapy.

In 2013 the Roche Group employed over 85,000 people worldwide, invested 8.7 billion Swiss francs in R&D and posted sales of 46.8 billion Swiss francs. Genentech, in the United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group. Roche is the majority shareholder in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan.