Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health Announces Sponsorship Supporting Milk Producers In Malawi

Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health Announces Sponsorship Supporting Milk
Producers In Malawi

BOXMEER, Netherlands, Oct. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health today announced that it has initiated a
multi-year sponsorship project, supporting the Shire Highlands Milk Producers
Association (SHMPA) in Malawi, a developing country in southeast Africa. The
primary objective of the project is to support smallholder dairy farmers in
the Shire Highlands to improve their capabilities to manage the milk
production process.

Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health will provide financial and in-kind
support that can annually be adapted as specified by SHMPA. Support will
initially focus on increasing milk production by improvement of animal health
and infrastructure. Short-term projects include the provision of funds to
build and equip a veterinary laboratory as well as the supply of some urgently
needed veterinary diagnostics and medicines. The scope of the support may also
be extended to the improvement of milk quality, animal husbandry (nutrition,
reproduction and breeding) and farm management. In-kind support may consist of
the sharing of veterinary expertise as well as offering education and
training.

"The challenges in dairy farming in this part of the world are many, and the
road to progress is far from smooth, but most of the time in the right
direction. Some of our biggest challenges are making sure that milk farmers
have access to artificial insemination and veterinary services. We hope that
through our links with Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health we will improve
these services," commented SHMPA Dairy Development Advisor Brian Lewis.

"We are proud to be able, with the help of veterinarians who purchase our
products, to assist milk farmers in the Shire Highlands in a sustainable
manner that contributes to economic improvement in Southern Malawi," said
Edival Santos, vice president, Global Ruminant Business Unit at
Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health.

Materials will preferably be sourced on site, thereby sustaining the local
economy. The funds are earmarked for specific objectives and SHMPA management
will be responsible for using these resources efficiently and reporting on
their allocation.

Funding will be generated by customer-focused, sales-related incentive
programs linked to the cattle business of participating country operations.
This model is already being used successfully by Intervet/Schering-Plough
Animal Health to support the Afya Serengeti project, a dog rabies eradication
program in Tanzania (www.afya.org).

About Shire Highlands Milk Producers Association (SHMPA)
The Shire Highlands Milk Producers Association (SHMPA) is a farmers'
cooperative that was founded in 1985 and offers support to small-scale dairy
farmers in the Shire Highlands region of Malawi. SHMPA provides its members
with veterinary services (medicines, artificial insemination, feed), training
and education, credit facilities as well as milk collection logistics.

About Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health
Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health is focused on the research,
development, manufacturing and marketing of animal health products. The
company offers customers one of the broadest, most innovative Animal Health
portfolios, spanning products to support performance and to prevent, treat and
control disease in all major farm and companion animal species. The company is
based in Boxmeer, The Netherlands. For more information about
Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health visit: www.intervet.com

Schering-Plough is an innovation-driven, science-centered global health care
company. Through its own biopharmaceutical research and collaborations with
partners, Schering-Plough creates therapies that help save and improve lives
around the world. The company applies its research-and-development platform to
human prescription, animal health and consumer health care products.
Schering-Plough's vision is to "Earn Trust, Every Day" with the doctors,
patients, customers and other stakeholders served by its colleagues around the
world. The company is based in Kenilworth, N.J., and its Web site is
www.schering-plough.com

SOURCE Schering-Plough

Paul Geurts, +31-485-587893, paul.geurts@spcorp.com, or Investors, Janet Barth
or Joseph Romanelli, +1-908-298-7436