Santen’s Valuable 500 Commitment:
Santen, with a proud history over 130 years, is a Japan-originated company with a global footprint spanning 60 countries, uniquely positioned as a specialized company 100% dedicated to eye health. Our world is built on the ability to see, and vision is critical in every facet of life. At Santen, we aspire to achieve “Happiness with Vison”, to deliver the happiest life for every individual, through the “Best Vision Experience”.
Despite the progress and the pace of advancements in treatment, today 2.2 billion people globally suffer visual impairment, of which 43 million people are blind. The WHO estimates in at least 1 billion of these cases – or almost half – vision impairment could have been prevented or is yet to be addressed². Furthermore, vision impairment globally is predicted to grow significantly due to aging, increase digital usage and global life-style changes.
2021 was a landmark year for vision, with the World Health Organization (WHO) adopting global targets to increase coverage of critical eye health care interventions, and the United Nations adopting the first ever resolution on vision to directly address the eight Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) directly correlated with vision including eliminating poverty and hunger, improving education, and gender equality¹.
At Santen we aspire to be a Social Innovator for eye health. We recognize our unique position to deliver innovation to patients, medical professionals and communities by providing products and services which improve vision outcomes, contribute to developing the ophthalmology ecosystem and create an inclusive society.
Our new Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Strategy is comprised of three strategic focus areas – Our Diverse People, Our Inclusive & Equitable Practices and Our Partners & Communities. Through our strategy, we have expressed our commitment to ensuring a safe, inclusive, respectful and supportive physical and virtual work environment for every Santen employee. We encourage our 4,000+ team members around the world to bring their unique strengths to work and turn diversity into an organizational advantage. We are also firmly committed to the significant role we play in supporting the success of people with visual impairments both inside and outside our company to contribute to an inclusive society.
As part our additional commitments, as Valuable 500 founding members, and aligned with our 10-year partnership with the Japan Blind Football Association and the International Blind Football Foundation, we are also working to remove the emotional and societal barriers between those with and without visual impairment to make society a stage where everyone can play an equal and active role.
To achieve this, we have been contributing to a series of strategic projects that seek to understand individual character and strength through collective experience, create innovations related to vision and improve the quality of life for people with visual impairments.
References:
¹ The Lancet Global Health Commission on Global Eye Health: vision beyond 2020
² World report on vision. For more details, please see the WHO website
