Working alongside more than 180 collaborators, Merck for Mothers has reached over 10 million women in 48 countries around the world.
We collaborate with governments, NGOs, patient groups, professional associations, entrepreneurs, UN agencies, research institutions, other businesses and other pharmaceutical companies. We are focused on strengthening health systems to sustain the delivery of high-quality services that benefit women and their communities.
With our global partners, major achievements include:
- Advancing a heat-stable uterotonic: We collaborated with the WHO and Ferring Pharmaceuticals to advance a heat-stable uterotonic (carbetocin) that can help prevent women from hemorrhaging after childbirth – the #1 cause of maternal death worldwide. Following a global clinical trial of 30,000 women across 10 countries, heat-stable carbetocin was added to the WHO’s Essential Medicines List in July 2019.
- Achieving dramatic reductions in maternal and neonatal mortality in Nigeria: As part of Saving Mothers, Giving Life, Merck for Mothers’ support has contributed to a 66% reduction in the maternal mortality ratio and a 47% reduction in the neonatal mortality rate across 108 facilities in Cross River State, Nigeria in only three years. Today, more than 90% of women in the state now have access to quality emergency obstetric care within two hours.
- Improving the quality of maternity care in India through quality certification: We continued to support the expansion of Manyata, a model that helps private maternity providers improve their care and certifies those who consistently meet WHO-aligned quality care standards. To date, over 600 private providers serving over 350,000 women have become Manyata-certified. With stakeholders in India, the model is being scaled across six states, and has expanded through India’s first maternal health development impact bond.
- Digital innovations for maternal health: We expanded the reach of the digital innovations Merck for Mothers has invested in. For example, In Kenya and India, we are supporting the development of Nivi — a mobile phone-based service that helps women learn about family planning options and find local providers who offer quality services. To date, over 300,000 individuals in Kenya and 1 million individuals in India have used this AI-enabled platform to learn about and receive referrals for quality family planning services.
- Collaborating to finance innovation in maternal health: Merck for Mothers is a founding member of The MOMs (Maternal Outcomes Matter) Initiative, a $50M effort to stimulate, and scale innovations that contribute to a healthy pregnancy and safe childbirth. Launched along with the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, Credit Suisse, and USAID, The MOMS Initiative will provide debt and grant capital to local businesses in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia that are working to improve maternal health.
- Improving health equity in the United States: Merck for Mothers through its Safer Childbirth Cities initiative, is currently helping U.S. cities become safer and more equitable places to give birth. The initiative is supporting community-based organizations in U.S. cities with a high burden of maternal mortality and morbidity to improve maternal health and address racial disparities in maternal health outcomes.
