Chronic disease is a serious problem for our healthcare system and the nation. Few communities have been more seriously impacted by the spread of chronic disease, and diabetes in particular, than the African American community. Diabetes now affects about 3.7 million African Americans, almost 15 percent of individuals over the age of 20, and it is responsible for one out of every five deaths.

In an effort to help fight this epidemic, Johnson & Johnson and its affiliates are supporting launch of the Spirit of Healthy Living (SoHL) program with the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.  The goal of SoHL is to promote diabetes education and awareness and give people the tools they need to prevent and manage this disease.

The SoHL educates community members about obesity, diabetes and the link between the two conditions.  The program also increases awareness of the benefits of healthy eating and exercise, encourages the use of local health and wellness resources to prevent and manage diabetes, and integrates online health coaching into health education sessions.

One other component of the Spirit of Healthy Living campaign that I really enjoy is our partnership with faith-based health ministries.  We know that supportive community based programs can have a positive impact on the way people behave, so we think this approach is very promising.

Our first SoHL event was held on June 26 at the Willing Heart Community Care Center in Newark, New Jersey.  It was an exciting event with dozens of people from the community coming out to hear presentations from leading health experts, watch cooking and fitness demonstrations, and participate in free health screenings.

I know personally the devastating impact diabetes has on families and friends after losing a brother last year to this disease, and that’s why I think this campaign is so important. The SoHL offers us the opportunity to address the healthcare disparities that affect African Americans and it’s an important part of our commitment to the prevention and management of chronic disease.  I’m excited to be a part of this program and I’ll be looking forward to more great events like the one we held in Newark.

If you’d like to learn more about the Spirit of Healthy Living Campaign visit their website.

In the U.S., 11,000 women under the age of 40 are diagnosed with breast cancer every year. Maimah Karmo was 32 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. While undergoing treatment, she launched the Tigerlily Foundation to raise awareness and help support young women who have received a diagnosis of breast cancer.

Our corporate website features the story of another incredible survivor. Jesica Harrington, a teacher who is now 35, was pregnant when she received a diagnosis of breast cancer. During her treatment, there was an outpouring of support from her students: The boys shaved their hair when Jesica lost hers and the girls colored their hair pink. Jesica delivered a healthy baby boy, completed her treatment and is in remission…and is also back to doing what she loves, teaching. You can read her story here.

With the launch of New Way RA^TM last year, our hope was to offer support to people living with RA, as well as their caregivers. Over the past ten months, we’ve continued to learn from the RA social community through their posts as well as direct conversations with authors of blogs such as RA Warrior, All Flared Up, and Arthritis is a Journey. Listening to their insights helped us understand the deeper impact of contending with unpredictable and untimely flares of stiff, swollen and painful joints – we learned that participating in everyday activities with family & friends and maintaining relationships can quickly become overwhelming.

Because of their insights and honest feedback, New Way RA^TM has evolved from one pilot episode to a second season of episodes that will run year-long.

Today, we’re pleased to announce the premiere of Season 2 with a new mix of experts having candid discussions about personal style, dating, intimacy and the myths of RA. We’ve also expanded the format to include two panelists living with RA – author and RA advocate Amye Leong, and Sara Nash, the blogger behind the Single Gal’s Guide to Rheumatoid Arthritis. And to give viewers a forum in which they can ask questions, we are sponsoring a live video web chat on May 24 with host Deborah Norville and relationship expert, Dr. Laurie Ferguson, Vice President of Research & Education at the advocacy organization CreakyJoints.

We hope that with the launch of each new episode this season, New Way RA^TM will continue to provide valuable information regarding aspects of life that are directly affected by this chronic condition and at the same time raise awareness about the disease. You can watch the show and learn more at http://www.newwayra.com/.

For more information about RA, check out CreakyJoints and the Arthritis Foundation.

Having worked for many years handling benefits for Johnson & Johnson, I can tell you that employee wellness and disease prevention is as important as to me as ensuring employees have access to different treatment options. For many years, we’ve been encouraging employees to develop healthy lifestyles, and one of the most pressing challenges we face is figuring out a way to address the impact that inactivity and obesity have on our workforce.

In that, of course, we aren’t alone. Did you know that about two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese in the US and the direct and indirect cost of obesity-associated conditions in the United States is estimated at nearly $80 billion a year? People who are overweight or obese are at a greater risk for developing diabetes, stroke, hypertension, high cholesterol and certain types of cancers – and for an employer, that can mean greater absenteeism and higher healthcare costs compared to non-obese employees.

But employers can help make a difference.

We’ve found that employees who are inactive, overweight or obese, benefit greatly from company sponsored programs that focus on healthy living, eating, and exercise. In 1978, Johnson & Johnson launched “Live for Life,” a program tailored to address individual employee health needs. Since then, we’ve developed, launched and measured a number of successful wellness and prevention programs and as a result, our employees are motivated and encouraged to improve their health and reduce related health care issues. As National Employee Health & Fitness Day approaches, we invite you to check out the following video about one Johnson & Johnson employee – Jessica Empestan – who benefited from these programs:

As Mark explained in this post about his trip to Nicaragua, Johnson & Johnson partners with the The Task Force for Global Health on the program Children Without Worms (CWW) to donate a deworming medication, mebendazole, to treat infected children in eight countries.

Bill Lin is Director, Corporate Contributions, Johnson & Johnson and is passionate about this program and working to keep children free of infection. He talked about the importance of prevention education and how medication is only one component of improving the health of at-risk children:

Why does the program focus on children?

400 million children are at risk of being infected with intestinal worms. Infection is especially devastating in children because it occurs at a critical time in their physical and cognitive development. Severe infections not only cause malnutrition, anemia, and impair development but can also leave them susceptible to other diseases.

What is the link between intestinal worms and poverty?

Infection with intestinal worms is a disease of poverty, caused by lack of sanitation and hygiene. Kids can become infected by eating a piece of contaminated fruit or by penetration through the skin when walking barefoot. If children are infected with intestinal worms and don’t feel well, then they don’t go to school and learn. If they can’t go to school, they are less likely to reach their full potential and have a fruitful and productive life. This is a contributing factor to the vicious cycle of poverty.

Why is prevention such an important component of the CWW program?

Addressing the root cause of the disease is crucial to breaking the cycle of transmission and reinfection. If you treat children with medication but don’t teach them how to prevent infection and the prevalence rate is high, kids play with each other or with their siblings and they can become infected again.

We work to increase partner collaboration with governments and organizations to break the cycle of infection through hygiene education and access to improved sanitation and clean water. (You can read a story on JNJ.com about a young girl, Fernanda, who has learned to keep herself healthy and prevent reinfection through the CWW program.)

How does the program build partnerships to maximize impact?

We partner with organizations already working in hygiene education and sanitation to ensure that the medication is distributed in a context that maximizes positive impact.

For example, some countries make hygiene education a huge component of the health education curriculum, and it is part of a teacher’s responsibilities. In Lao People’s Democratic Republic, hygiene education is incorporated into the teachers’ training curriculum. They teach children how to wash their hands before meals and wash fruits before they eat them. We are partnering with Helen Keller International to replicate the model from Lao People’s Democratic Republic and work with the education ministry to institute it in Cambodia.

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.

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.

Recognizing this, my colleagues over at McNeil Pediatrics recently created a new mobile web service that people can access from their phones to text for information about ADHD by texting “ADHD” to 87415.

(BTW: It happens that this week is ADHD awareness week as well….)

Once again, it is all about making sure information is available to people when and where they are looking for it – in this case, on their mobile phones.

Now Davina is a frequent visitor to social media sites like YouTube, and when she saw that the video she was featured in was running on the Johnson & Johnson health channel, she felt compelled to leave a comment. When I saw her comment, I contacted her and asked if she was interested doing a follow up video. We decided that we would, and so I grabbed a cameraman and drove up to Dover, MA, to visit Davina at her home. She and her family were extremely gracious, and we did interviews with Davina, her husband, Hal, and her two boys Brad and George.

Subsequent to the original video two years ago, she also learned that George, her younger son, was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome as well as ADHD. Despite all the complications and challenges posed by this situation, what impressed me most was the openness, patience and understanding that Davina showed her two boys, always emphasizing and nurturing their creativity and expressiveness. Her husband Hal, the only member of the family without ADHD, showed a similar patience, embracing the situation, rather than resisting it.

I’m very happy with the video stories that were the result of this visit. And I left the two boys with flip cameras. I WAS going to leave one for both of them to share, but I found out VERY quickly that wasn’t going to work! The idea is for them to record a kind of video diary of their very interesting life, which I would then post on the JNJhealth channel. I’m looking forward to these, and I’m sure they will be as interesting and gratifying as our own experience videotaping this wonderful family. Here are the links to the current videos:

Davina, Part One
Davina, Part Two
Brad
George