Hundreds of millions of people around the world will be participating in Earth Hour 2010 on Saturday, March 27^th at 8:30pm local time by turning off the lights for one hour. Organized by the World Wildlife Fund, Earth Hour is meant to bring awareness to the issue of climate change and encourage people to make steps towards a sustainable future.

I learned that our world headquarters in New Brunswick, New Jersey is once again participating in Earth Hour by turning off all non-essential lighting. In 1999, Johnson & Johnson became a founding member of WWF Climate Savers and committed to reduce CO2 emissions from facilities worldwide by 7%, in absolute terms, by 2010, compared to 1990. You can find out more about the company’s environmental goals and performance here.

Since finding out about Earth Hour, I’ve been thinking about my own energy consumption. At my house, we have solar panels which supplement our heating system and use compact fluorescent light bulbs in our lighting fixtures. Since I tend to be online and plugged in during most of my waking hours, I know there is much more that I can do to reduce my own energy use. I am committed to turning off the lights, and my laptop, on Saturday night and plan to sit outside on my back porch to enjoy the darkness.

You might not know that individuals living with psoriasis face an increased risk of developing other health conditions such as heart disease, obesity and diabetes. Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease in which an overactive immune system causes inflammation and an accelerated growth of skin cells which cause red, scaly plaques.

A new health and fitness program, Fit in Your Skin, was designed to help people living with psoriasis to adopt and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Archie Franklin has committed to doing just this, and is participating in Fit in Your Skin as a Program Leader. He’s lived with psoriasis for nearly 30 years, and is an energetic guy with a great outlook on living with the disease and being an advocate for others. I asked him to share his experience living with psoriasis and getting healthy through the Fit in Your Skin program:

What is it like to live with psoriasis?

What people might not know is that there is a heavy emotional burden with this disease. People feel embarrassed when they have large plaques covering their body, or have generalized psoriasis. At one point I had 50% coverage on my body.

You are involved with the National Psoriasis Foundation and the Walk to Cure Psoriasis. Why is it important to you to be an advocate for people with the condition?

There is a great healing component to being an educated patient and helping to educate others, getting out into the community and being involved in charities.

Rather than hiding behind my clothing and keeping myself away from people, I thought it was important to make others aware of this disease. I coached soccer for my children’s teams, and I was never embarrassed to wear shorts on the field. I would answer, and even anticipate people’s questions and explain that psoriasis is an immune-related disease.

How do you think the Fit in Your Skin program will help you, and others living with psoriasis?

It is a program that is easy to follow and designed specifically for the 7.5 million people living with psoriasis. Working out with the trainer, Jackie Warner, was great. Her grandmother had psoriasis, and she remembers how it affected her physically and emotionally. Jackie was really focused on our specific needs and helping us get fit. The website also helps to keep you motivated and offers tools to get started. In the beginning, I couldn’t complete the 30 minute workout, but after consistently training, I now can. I’ll also be making video updates on the website where people can watch and stay motivated as they work towards a healthier and more active lifestyle.

What’s great about the eating plan is that everyone in the family can participate. I can also track what I eat through the website. Monitoring is such a big part of it. Since beginning the program about one month ago I’ve lost 10 pounds. I’ve started wearing a smaller suit size. Those are big moments.

What types of health habits have you adopted since beginning the program?

I now eat a lot of lean meat, low fat foods, grains, and nuts for snacks. I also drink a lot more water than soft drinks. I travel a lot, so it was hard for me to maintain a diet. I am eating more salads on the road, and incorporating more fruits and vegetables into my lunches.

I follow the fitness routine while I am traveling. The program is moderate enough that even a small gym at the hotel has what you need. I’ll do some cardiovascular exercises in the gym and stretches in the room with the DVD.

What advice would you give someone who is dealing with psoriasis?

Taking charge of your health is so important, and so is working with your doctor to find the right treatment and lifestyle plan.

I think it is important for patients with psoriasis to order the Fit in Your Skin DVD and track their eating and health habits. The website offers support for the emotional aspect of dealing with psoriasis.

And for people that don’t have psoriasis, I would like them to learn more about the disease and recognize that psoriasis is more than skin deep.

Fit in Your Skin is a free fitness program developed in partnership between the National Psoriasis Foundation and Centocor Ortho Biotech Inc.

Many people think tuberculosis (TB) is a disease of the past. However, TB kills someone every 20 seconds – nearly 5,000 people every day, or approximately 1.8 million each year. 

More than a century after Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb), the bacillus that causes TB, was discovered and a half-century after the discovery of antibiotics to treat the disease, TB is second only to HIV as world’s deadliest infectious disease.

World TB Day speaks to a desperate need for acceleration leading to new therapies that work even when resistance is present.   

New drugs to control TB are an imperative to ending the epidemic. The current TB drug regimen requires six months of treatment with four antibiotics. Unfortunately, many patients do not or cannot complete this treatment. Poor adherence and prescribing practices have led to the emergence of drug-resistant TB strains that increasingly defy current medicines and are spreading throughout many regions of the globe.

In 1999 scientists at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development discovered a compound that appeared to be active against the bacillus that causes TB. The compound, known as TMC207, showed a unique mechanism of action that makes it active against drug-resistant TB strains. TMC207 moved into full development at Tibotec in 2004.

In June 2009, Tibotec signed a collaboration agreement with the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance), a not-for-profit, product development partnership to develop and provide access to TMC207. Since then, Tibotec is sharing expertise and resources in the fight against TB and collaborating with the TB Alliance on a discovery research program to identify new compounds for the treatment of TB.

The Stop TB Partnership has more information about worldwide efforts to combat TB.

From Mark Krajnak, Manager, Corporate Communication, Johnson & Johnson

Around the world, the scarcity of water is increasing. This is especially evident in India, where a few months ago I had the opportunity to visit a Johnson & Johnson Consumer manufacturing facility located in Baddi, in the Himachal Pradesh region of India, nearly at the base of the Himalaya Mountains. While there, I got the chance to meet one of my colleagues, Achal Gupta, who is Manager of Environment, Health & Safety (EH&S) at the facility.

One of the stories in the Johnson & Johnson 2009 Annual Report focuses on Achal, and what he and his colleagues are doing to help conserve water in the region. Achal and the rest of the team work hard at harvesting rain water and runoff from the mountains. The facility also sees to it that every drop of treated water is reused for actions like irrigation and toilet flushing. Their water conservation efforts also extend beyond this facility, as the team collaborates with other companies in the region to share best practices.

It was one thing to hear about what the facility was doing and to see the goals and successes in a Power Point presentation. What I wasn’t prepared for was just how passionate Achal and others were when I spoke to them. I doubt I’ll ever forget speaking with Achal as he led me to a mountain stream where we were going to shoot some photos, and the reverence in this voice when he talked about their water conservation efforts.  He told me that their goal was to figure out how to harvest all the water that fell during the monsoon season, and then what to do with the water as the snow melted off the Himalayas. Then he said something that really surprised me: “The sound of water is like music. You just have to listen to it.”

As a way to illustrate the water conservation story that we were working on for the annual report story, I asked him if he would mind rolling up his pant legs and getting into the stream for the photo. “Oh sure,” he said. “Not a problem.  I do this every chance I get.”

“What do you mean,” I asked.

“Water revitalizes the body. It’s peaceful. It’s very important in Indian culture and being in it helps us to become closer to this earth. When I’m standing in the water, I feel my stress leave my body. I feel good,” he said.

As he was talking he was already stepping into the lake. There was a shepherd woman and her cows nearby.

“You should join me,” Achal said.

I felt honored by that. So I sat down on a rock, removed my boots and my socks, rolled up my pants legs and stepped in. It was about 97 degrees that day and the water felt cool and crisp.

But more so, Achal was right. I did feel better. I did stop to listen. And it made me realize that water is one natural resource that we really can’t live without.

Click here to view Achal’s story.

As we enter the season fondly referred to by sports fans as “March Madness,” or the NCAA basketball tournament, we’re pleased to have posted a video on the J&J health channel about Mike Krzyzewski, or Coach K. Legendary men’s basketball coach at Duke University, 63-year-old Coach K has coached the Duke Blue Devils for 30 years, and has amassed an amazing 859 wins! He also began suffering from osteoarthritis in his 50s, and his debilitating pain and lack of mobility led him to contemplate an early retirement from the game he loved.

After two successful hip replacements and rehabilitation, Coach K said, “I wish I had made the decision to have hip replacement sooner. I had exhausted all the non-surgical options, but still put off the surgery. This cost me some quality of life and it almost cost me the joys I continue to experience as a coach.”

Duke is seeded number one in the Southern Region of the NCAA tournament this year, and we wish him the best of luck!

Disclosure: Coach K is a paid spokesperson for DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc.

As if working moms don’t have enough to manage, a recent survey found that 86% of women over the age of 35 are concerned that their vision is getting worse as they age, and 74% say they have problems with near vision. According to the women surveyed, these vision challenges can have physical as well as psychological effects on their daily lives.

An estimated 90 million people in the US have presbyopia, which is a common vision condition that makes it difficult to focus on close objects. Presbyopia is disruptive because it can affect a person’s ability to read clearly, work on a computer, or use a cell phone or PDA.

To gain some insight into all of this, I asked Dr. Colleen Riley, Vice President of Professional Development for Vistakon, to share her perspective as an optometrist and a working mother who is also affected by presbyopia. Here’s what she had to say about her experiences and what you can do if you think you might be developing presbyopia:

What are some of the signs of presbyopia?

As many moms know, when your children want to show you something, like a picture they painted at school, they hold it about two inches from your face. If you have presbyopia, you might not be able to see the picture clearly and would have to back up or hold it out further away from you. Or, for example, you are out to dinner on a Friday night at a restaurant and the light is dim. You can’t see the menu and might need to adjust the light in order to read. As the condition progresses, you can’t work through it anymore and have to wear glasses or contact lenses in order to focus properly.

What is the most difficult part of living with presbyopia?

For me, the most difficult part was dealing with the headaches and fatigue caused by not being able to see clearly. I was frustrated, because like many working moms I was used to doing anything and everything from early in the morning until I went to bed at night. At home, I had a difficult time focusing my eyes at the dinner table while interacting within a close proximity to my family. Being an optometrist, I knew the diagnosis was presbyopia and that it was time for vision correction.

What advice would you give working moms who think they might have presbyopia?

My advice for working moms dealing with similar symptoms or others who think they might have presbyopia is to see an eye care professional early on. Many people tend to use readers, like the type that you can buy at the drugstore. Don’t do that. Instead, make an appointment for a comprehensive eye exam. The optometrist will look for other health issues, such as diabetes, in addition to helping you choose the best option for vision correction. Many people don’t realize that multifocal contact lenses are available and can be a good option for active people, like working moms, because you don’t have to worry about glasses sliding off of your face or getting lost.

Many working moms take care of themselves last and wait until something is completely broken before seeking help. Make it easier on yourself. As one of my colleagues expressed in a recent post about eye health, you should treat eye exams like you do dental exams or physicals and have your eyes checked every year.

From Imani Davis, Rutgers University Corporate Social Responsibility Fellow

As part of my responsibility as the Corporate Social Responsibility Fellow, I had the opportunity to travel to Washington D.C. this past October for the 13th annual Alliance Building & Training Session (ABTS)— a professional development and networking opportunity that brought together all Bridge to Employment (BTE) programs. Johnson & Johnson established the BTE program to help young people build solid futures by introducing them to a broad array of careers in health care.

This session allowed partners from around the world to share best practices as well as plan the next steps of their respective programs. The session also allowed interaction between students, mentors, school administrators, and corporate partners.

At this conference, I served two roles: student ambassador chaperone, which allowed me to work with a student group on their case study (they won best overall presentation, by the way!), and “roving” reporter, which allowed me to interview partners within every role of the BTE program; these interviews gave great insight from a variety of perspectives on how BTE impacted not only students’ lives, but also left a great impression on the mentors, administrators, and staff that worked with students.

This impression was also imparted on me. While playing the role of reporter was a fantastic experience, I really enjoyed working with and helping students with their case studies. Their energy and eagerness to learn were super inspiring and kept me enthused through a jam-packed conference schedule. While I was happy to have helped them with their presentation, I was also grateful for the opportunity to meet young people who will surely be our future leaders, and hear first-hand how BTE has shaped their college and career interests.

To hear it in their own words, check out the videos I shot below: