Building on Merck for Mothers’ Efforts,
Initiative Bolsters Support for Locally Created Solutions to
Improve Maternal Health and Narrow Disparities During the COVID-19
Pandemic and Beyond
Merck (NYSE:MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and
Canada, announced today it was expanding its Safer Childbirth
Cities initiative, a multi-year effort to improve U.S. maternal
health outcomes. Safer Childbirth Cities is part of Merck for
Mothers, the company’s $500 million global initiative to help
create a world where no woman has to die giving life. With the
latest call for proposals, Safer Childbirth Cities aims to add to
current efforts in 10 cities by expanding geographically to other
U.S. cities and catalyzing solutions that will have the greatest
impact on vulnerable populations in U.S. maternal health.
The U.S. is the only high-income country where maternal
mortality is on the rise. According to the CDC, Black, American
Indian, and Alaska Native women are two to three times more likely
to die from pregnancy-related causes than White women. These racial
disparities are stark and persistent, and further heightened by the
impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Maternal mortality review
committees across the U.S. found that maternal mortality is not
just a medical issue. Community factors - the conditions in which
people live and work - contribute to poor maternal health
outcomes.
Launched in October 2018 by Merck for Mothers, Safer Childbirth
Cities supports community-based organizations in U.S. cities with a
high burden of maternal mortality and morbidity to implement
locally responsive, evidence-based interventions and test
innovative approaches to help their cities become safer – and more
equitable – places to give birth.
Merck for Mothers is now inviting organizations to apply for
funding as part of the second cohort of Safer Childbirth Cities.
Projects funded by Safer Childbirth Cities are intended to help
cities establish specific goals to improve maternal health based on
identified community needs, advance evidence-informed solutions to
meet these goals, and track progress by demonstrating impact with
their population.
The deadline for proposals is Aug. 24, 2020. Upon review of
proposals by an expert committee, a limited number of applicants
will be selected to receive grants of up to $1 million over 2-3
years; recipients will be announced in late 2020. More information
about Safer Childbirth Cities and the application process and
eligibility may be found here.
To date, Merck for Mothers and a growing group of co-funders
have provided Safer Childbirth Cities grants in 10 cities as part
of the first cohort to improve maternal health and promote health
equity: Atlanta, GA; Baltimore, MD; Camden, NJ; Chicago, IL;
Columbus, OH; Jackson, MS; Newark, NJ; New Orleans, LA;
Philadelphia, PA and Pittsburgh, PA. Community-based coalitions in
each of these cities are leading holistic approaches to support
women before, during and after childbirth to help improve maternal
health outcomes.
“Community organizations form the frontline of women’s health,
but all too often struggle to find the support they need. Our first
grantees have already demonstrated that strong local leadership, a
woman-centered approach and coordinated action can translate
promising ideas about how to reduce maternal health disparities
into meaningful patient impact,” said Dr. Julie L. Gerberding,
chief patient officer at Merck. “By supporting these critical
organizations, we hope to help strengthen maternal health systems,
improve the quality of maternal health care and ensure women are
getting the support they need throughout their pregnancy and
childbirth journey.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic has increased our collective
understanding of how social and community factors can drive poor
health outcomes. Through Safer Childbirth Cities, our aim continues
to be to fuel broad-based action that improves health equity by
addressing the effects of systemic racism and ensuring all women
have access to respectful, high quality maternal care and support,”
said Dr. Mary-Ann Etiebet, lead and executive director of Merck for
Mothers.
Safer Childbirth Cities builds on Merck for Mothers’ investments
to help make pregnancy and childbirth safer in the U.S., including
during COVID-19. In total, Merck has contributed more than $30
million to COVID-19 relief efforts thus far, $10 million of which
has been committed to support COVID-19 relief efforts to help
disparately impacted patients and communities in the U.S. and
globally and $3 million committed to help health systems tackling
COVID-19 better meet the needs of pregnant women before, during and
following delivery.
About Merck For more than 125 years, Merck, known as MSD
outside of the United States and Canada, has been inventing for
life, bringing forward medicines and vaccines for many of the
world’s most challenging diseases in pursuit of our mission to save
and improve lives. We demonstrate our commitment to patients and
population health by increasing access to health care through
far-reaching policies, programs and partnerships. Today, Merck
continues to be at the forefront of research to prevent and treat
diseases that threaten people and animals – including cancer,
infectious diseases such as HIV and Ebola, and emerging animal
diseases – as we aspire to be the premier research-intensive
biopharmaceutical company in the world. For more information, visit
www.merck.com and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram,
YouTube and LinkedIn.
About Merck for Mothers Merck for Mothers is our
company’s $500 million initiative to help create a world where no
woman has to die giving life. Applying Merck’s business and
scientific resources, we collaborate with partners to improve the
health and well-being of women during pregnancy, childbirth and the
postpartum period. For more information, visit
www.merckformothers.com.
Forward-Looking Statement of Merck & Co., Inc.,
Kenilworth, N.J., USA This news release of Merck & Co.,
Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., USA (the “company”) includes
“forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the safe harbor
provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. These statements are based upon the current beliefs and
expectations of the company’s management and are subject to
significant risks and uncertainties. If underlying assumptions
prove inaccurate or risks or uncertainties materialize, actual
results may differ materially from those set forth in the
forward-looking statements.
Risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to, general
industry conditions and competition; general economic factors,
including interest rate and currency exchange rate fluctuations;
the impact of the recent global outbreak of novel coronavirus
disease (COVID-19); the impact of pharmaceutical industry
regulation and health care legislation in the United States and
internationally; global trends toward health care cost containment;
technological advances, new products and patents attained by
competitors; challenges inherent in new product development,
including obtaining regulatory approval; the company’s ability to
accurately predict future market conditions; manufacturing
difficulties or delays; financial instability of international
economies and sovereign risk; dependence on the effectiveness of
the company’s patents and other protections for innovative
products; and the exposure to litigation, including patent
litigation, and/or regulatory actions.
The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any
forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise. Additional factors that could cause
results to differ materially from those described in the
forward-looking statements can be found in the company’s 2019
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Media: Pamela Eisele (267) 305-3558 Pamela.Eisele@merck.com
Carol Richardson (908) 740-1526 Carol.Richardson@merck.com
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