From the Chairman and CEO

At Baxter, sustainability is our approach to integrate our social, economic and environmental responsibilities among the company's business priorities. These efforts align with and support our mission of saving and sustaining lives. Each year, we reaffirm our commitment to sustainability through our annual sustainability report. And, each year, we strive to make our reporting more robust.

As a global healthcare company, Baxter takes seriously the health of the planet. It is within this context that we look at our business and challenge ourselves as to how Baxter can utilize its assets, expertise and influence to best contribute to a more sustainable world.

One thing we have done is align our business and sustainability strategies. Baxter's executive-level Sustainability Steering Committee, established in 2006, leads the company's efforts to integrate sustainability into our long-term strategic planning as well as our daily activities. Since its inception, this group has made significant progress in assessing our global sustainability challenges and opportunities, establishing and tracking progress against Baxter's sustainability priorities and goals, and elevating accountability for sustainability to the highest levels of management.

Increasingly we are integrating sustainability considerations into our product development, from product planning throughout the product life cycle. We are implementing green principles into our manufacturing and other operations. We are using our global scope and industry leadership to help increase access to healthcare in developing countries, where people with life-threatening conditions are often untreated or undertreated. We adhere to the highest standards of ethics and compliance wherever we do business, embrace an inclusive culture and diverse workforce, and contribute in other ways to the health and welfare of people in need in communities worldwide.

Baxter operates in an increasingly challenging business environment, which has motivated us to intensify our efforts to become more innovative, productive and efficient. Sustained financial strength is critical to our ability to achieve both our business and sustainability goals, and to fund innovation, which is the real key to creating solutions for today's and tomorrow's challenges.

Baxter is in a unique position to make an impact due to the industry we are in, our strong global presence and reputation, the sustainability progress we have made and the experience we continue to gain. While we have made great strides in many areas of sustainability, we clearly need to improve in others. I look forward to reporting further progress in next year's sustainability report.

Robert L. Parkinson, Jr.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
June 2011