Novartis provides science-based, innovation-driven healthcare solutions that address the evolving needs of patients and societies to prevent and treat diseases, ease suffering and enhance quality of life. The Novartis portfolio focuses on growing healthcare sectors that reward innovation: pharmaceuticals, eye care, generic medicines, over-the-counter medicines, vaccines and animal health. Novartis is the only company with leading positions in each of these areas. Research at Novartis is driven by a distinctive clinical and scientific strategy to address unmet medical needs and advance knowledge of disease. Corporate responsibility is an integral part of how Novartis operates and is key to its success. The company works to improve access to healthcare, and its Malaria Initiative has become one of the largest access-to-medicine programmes in the healthcare industry, as measured by patients reached. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis Group companies employ approximately 127,000 associates and operate in more than 140 countries.