Malaria is a disease that particularly affects the poorest in the world. Due to this disease the hopes and expectations of escaping the poverty trap are diminished for entire countries. The most dangerous form of malaria is Malaria tropica that is caused by the parasite Plasmodium falciparum. In 2006 there were 247 million of registered cases of malaria and according to the estimations of WHO the actual numbers may have been double. In accordance with different sources of information approximately 900,000 to 2.7 million people died from the disease.
Every 30 seconds a child dies from malaria in Africa and people surviving malaria often suffer from permanent impairments and damages, mothers will often give birth to children with too low birth weight and the children will develop severe anaemia.  

sigma-tau participates in two projects for the control of malaria. The development of a medication product against this disease is a good example for successful cooperation between a privately run industrial company and the public. The aim is the development and facilitation of an antimalarial drugs. The antimalaria medication of Eurartesim® is currently under submission of EMA and is expected to be launched end of 2010.  

The second project is concerned with severe malaria. In collaboration with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research sigma-tau (US) works for the development of an Artesunate preparation that is administered intravenously. 

sigma-tau actively takes up the task to make affordable medication against malaria, HIV and tuberculosis available in Africa. For this purpose, sigma-tau Sudan Ltd. was founded in Khartoum as early as the 1980s. In addition to local production of affordable and life-saving medication sigma-tau also created a number of jobs in one of the poorest countries in the world. People in these countries also have a right for health and good quality of life. Every life is precious.   

For us at sigma-tau people with so-named rare diseases are of particular concern. According to statistical figures, few people are affected by such individual orphan diseases. In Europe these diseases are defined as „rare“ if they affect less than 1 in 2,000 people. However, the total number of people suffering from a "rare disease" is not low and therefore rare diseases in their entirety are not rare, at all. 
All in all the picture of „rare diseases” is quite contrary: In the European Union alone, as many people as 30 million suffer from a rare disease. Children are affected in 75% of the cases. If therapy is not available 30% of the patients die before completing their fifth year. 

The patients and their families often have to undergo an odyssey of diagnoses until the actual disease is found. And although the correct diagnosis has been made, it is often the case that no effective treatment is available. Situations like these are particularly demanding and strenuous for patients and their families. The cause of such a disease often is a genetic defect, treatment of which is particularly costly and complicated. In addition, many patients suffer from multimorbidity thus, it is often the case that treatment and care also represent a financial burden for the families. It is common for parents having to give up their occupation in order to share and appropriately organise care and corresponding therapies for the diseased child.  

In order to supply effective therapies for such diseases sigma-tau provides particular commitment through its American subsidiary but also in other locations and subsidiaries of the company.
sigma-tau's commitment focuses exclusively on research, registration and distribution of orphan drugs (medication for rare diseases). In order to make such medication available worldwide, sigma-tau makes use of the company's global network.  

sigma-tau GmbH gladly follows the recommendations of the German Association of Pharmaceutical Industry, BPI (Bund  der Pharmazeutischen Industrie) to back and support the initiative "Kinder auf Schmetterlingsflügeln e.V." ('children on butterfly wings'). The ultimate goal of this initiative is to provide extensive and profound help and support to children that are confronted with death and terminal illnesses. In their work the association concentrates on under-age children from families in which a family member, most time themselves,  suffers from a terminal illness, such that no curative therapy can help and life expectancy is foreseeably limited. The first family hospice is to be established in Schleswig-Holstein and the name for the hospice will be "Schmetterlingshof" (butterfly court).  

sigma-tau supports the initiative „Kinder auf Schmetterlingsflügeln“ with their project „spend-a-cent" by saving 1 cent per package of medicine sold and donating that money to the initiative. „Kinder auf Schmetterlingsflügeln“ was founded in March 2006 and in addition to the planned family hospice the association offers various services in this field, including an outpatient hospice service, assistance of children and young people during the process of mourning, palliative care teams for children.  

Even in developed countries, such as Germany, highly qualified women fail to climb the career ladder within companies or organisations due to the so-named "glass ceiling". Services and companies dedicated to healthcare are also male-dominated. Few women have the opportunity to advance to top management positions. And similar to other areas, remuneration of women in the healthcare sector is lower in comparison to their equally qualified male colleagues.  

For this reason, in 2007 female executives and managers in leading positions from various fields of the healthcare sector founded the network “Healthcare Frauen e.V." ('Association of Healthcare Women'). The aim of this association is to offer women from top positions within the healthcare sector a platform for trustful and sincere exchange of ideas and for mutual help and support. The association makes special efforts for the support and assistance of female junior staff in the health care sector by a mentoring program, to encourage them to aim for leading positions, and to help them on their way by providing experiences and know-how.  

Requests from other countries asked for internationalisation of the association after only one year of existence.