Abbott Fund and the Government of Tanzania Celebrate Milestone in Strengthening Nation's Health Care System

Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania (ots/PRNewswire) -

- Partnership Will Modernize All Regional Hospital Laboratories
to Improve Access to Care Across the Country

At a ceremony today, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare,
United Republic of Tanzania, and Abbott Fund commemorated the latest
step in a nationwide initiative to upgrade Tanzania's health care
system, laying the cornerstone for the first of 23 hospital
laboratories to be built or modernized across the country. The
laboratory at Amana Regional Hospital is the first of four
laboratories targeted in 2008, with the remaining laboratories
scheduled for completion by 2010.

"We have ambitious treatment goals for the more than 2 million
people living with HIV in Tanzania, as well as broader challenges in
meeting the needs of people who require long-term monitoring and care
for diseases like diabetes," said Hon. David Mwaykusa, Minister of
Health and Social Welfare, United Republic of Tanzania. "Modern
hospital laboratories are the building blocks for successful
treatment, and we are grateful and excited to work with Abbott Fund
on this project."

The Regional Laboratory Modernization Project is an innovative
partnership between Abbott Fund and the Government of Tanzania that
will construct a flexibly designed, standardized modern lab in 23
regional and district hospitals across Tanzania. These larger
laboratories provide support for 77 district hospitals, improving
health care for millions of people across the country.

"This laboratory improvement project is an important part of our
continued partnership with the Government of Tanzania to make
sustainable improvements to the health care system in Tanzania," said
Catherine V. Babington, president, Abbott Fund. "We're improving the
delivery of quality care for Tanzanians by upgrading testing services
that are critical for the prevention and treatment of diabetes, heart
disease, HIV/AIDS and many other conditions."

Resource-limited health care systems, including a lack of modern
hospital laboratories, continue to be a key barrier to providing
quality care for hospital patients across Tanzania. A 2002 public
health assessment conducted by the Ministry of Health and the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) found that the limited capacity of
laboratories in Tanzania was one of the weakest links in the
provision of quality HIV/AIDS services.

Ground was broken in mid-July to begin construction of the new
laboratory at Amana Hospital. More than 1,500 patients are seen each
day at this busy city hospital. Space in the existing laboratory is
extremely limited, making it difficult to meet growing patient needs
and forcing staff to put in significant overtime to process the
average daily workload of tests for up to 500 patients. It is
estimated that the new laboratory capacity will be tripled following
improvements, allowing patients and physicians same-day access to lab
results.

In addition to the work being conducted at Amana, it is
anticipated that modernization will be completed at regional
laboratories in Dodoma, Kagera and Tanga by the end of 2008. The
project is estimated to cost more than U.S. US$10 million by its 2010
completion.

Public-private partnerships have been an essential part of the
program. Abbott Fund and Design 4 Others (D4O), a U.S.-based
not-for-profit initiative of the global science and technology design
firm CUH2A, are working together with the Government of Tanzania to
provide a standardized design that will ensure that patients across
the country have the same quality of diagnostic testing. Consulting
input is also a key to the program's success, with important
expertise provided by the U.S. CDC - Tanzania and the Association of
Public Health Laboratories (APHL).

"The health care system improvements supported by the Abbott Fund
will help extend U.S. Government efforts to improve the health of the
Tanzanian people," said Hon. Mark Green, U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania.
"The modernized laboratory at Amana will serve patients seen at the
new HIV care and treatment center funded by PEPFAR, which is a clear
reflection of how governments and the private sector can work
together for the common good."

The nationwide Regional Laboratory Modernization Project expands
on extensive earlier lab work by Abbott Fund at Muhimbili National
Hospital in Dar es Salaam, and the work completed in 2007 to
modernize the laboratory at Mt. Meru Regional Hospital. The
improvements and training at Mt. Meru have resulted in a tripling of
the laboratory's testing capacity from 45 to 150 patients per day, a
nine-fold increase annually in number of tests processed, a dramatic
reduction in turnaround time and increased health worker
productivity. The work at Mt. Meru provided a model and proof of
concept that a nationwide laboratory modernization program was
possible.

About Abbott Fund in Tanzania

Improving hospital laboratories is the latest effort in the
ongoing partnership between Abbott Fund and the Government of
Tanzania, which began in 2001. To date, Abbott Fund has invested more
than US$50 million to strengthen Tanzania's health system.

In 2007, the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis
and Malaria (GBC) honored Abbott Fund with an Award for Business
Excellence for National Action for its public-private partnership
with the Government of Tanzania to fight HIV/AIDS. Key results to
date include:

-- At Muhimbili National Hospital, the national teaching and reference
hospital for Tanzania, Abbott Fund built a new outpatient center that
serves hundreds of patients each day and integrates HIV care with
other services, and renovated, automated and computerized the central
pathology laboratory;
-- Trained more than 10,000 health care workers;
-- Provided HIV counseling and testing for more than 150,000 people, and
donated one million rapid HIV tests to the Tanzanian national HIV
testing initiative; and
-- Helped more than 150,000 children and families by providing access to
health services, education and training, and pioneering legal
protection for orphans and widows affected by HIV/AIDS.

Because of the significant work being conducted in Tanzania, in
2007 Abbott Fund opened its first satellite office in Dar es Salaam.

About Abbott Global AIDS Care Programs

For more than 20 years, Abbott has made a significant
contribution to the fight against HIV/AIDS through the development of
innovative tests and medicines. Expanding on its scientific
contributions, Abbott and Abbott Fund have invested more than US$100
million in developing countries to improve the lives of people
affected by HIV/AIDS through programs targeting critical areas of
need, including strengthening health care systems, supporting
children affected by HIV/AIDS, preventing mother-to-child
transmission of HIV, and advancing HIV testing and treatment. For
more information on these programs, please visit
http://www.abbottglobalcare.org.

About Abbott and Abbott Fund

Abbott Fund is a philanthropic foundation established by Abbott
in 1951. Abbott Fund's mission is to create healthier global
communities by investing in creative ideas that promote science,
expand access to health care and strengthen communities worldwide.
For more information, visit http://www.abbottfund.org.

Abbott (NYSE: ABT) is a global, broad-based health care company
devoted to the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of
pharmaceuticals and medical products, including nutritionals, devices
and diagnostics. The company employs more than 68,000 people and
markets its products in more than 130 countries. Abbott's news
releases and other information are available on the company's Web
site at http://www.abbott.com.

Web site: http://www.abbott.com

ots Originaltext: Abbott Laboratories
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Contact:
East Africa Media, Prateek Patnaik of Cooney Waters Group,
+255-786-008-220, for Abbott; or International Media, Scott Gilmore
of Abbott, +1-847-936-1192