Johnson & Johnson giving $200M to boost health of women, children in poor countries

J&J giving $200 million for health of women, kids

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Health giant Johnson & Johnson is donating about $200 million in cash and medicine to a United Nations program aimed at improving lives of people in poor countries.

J&J is launching a five-year program called “Every Mother, Every Child,” meant to help almost 400 million women and children in developing countries. The maker of No More Tears Baby Shampoo will donate medicine for treating intestinal worms in children, send pregnant women messages on prenatal health and work to make childbirth safer.

The effort addresses part of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals. That’s an ambitious international effort, begun in 2000, to bring everyone in the world basic needs and rights, from good health, shelter and education to equality between men and women.