Co-Funders Join Merck for Mothers to Support
Newly Formed City-Based Coalitions
Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and
Canada, announced today its funding support of projects in nine
cities across the country to help end preventable maternal deaths.
Each project will be tailored to the needs of pregnant women in
their respective city, focusing on reducing barriers to prenatal
and postpartum care and addressing both the health and social
factors that affect a healthy pregnancy and childbirth.
The vision for the Safer Childbirth Cities Initiative is to
foster local solutions that help cities become safer – and more
equitable – places to give birth. It is part of Merck for Mothers,
Merck’s global initiative to help end preventable deaths of women
from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. For the
inaugural class, Safer Childbirth Cities will also be co-funded
with the Burke Foundation, The Nicholson Foundation, the Community
Health Acceleration Partnership, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Rhia
Ventures, and others.
“Safer Childbirth Cities builds on the insights gained and work
implemented through Merck for Mothers over the past seven years,”
said Dr. Julie L. Gerberding, chief patient officer at Merck.
“Together with our current and future collaborators, we aim to
foster community engagement and reverse the deeply troubling trends
in U.S. maternal health.”
The U.S. is the only high-income country where maternal
mortality is on the rise. Additionally, racial disparities are
stark and persistent – a Black woman is three to four times more
likely to die from a pregnancy or childbirth complication than a
White woman, according to the CDC.
“Each of the selected coalitions is pursuing solutions that are
most impactful for their communities,” noted Dr. Mary-Ann Etiebet,
lead and executive director of Merck for Mothers. “In addition to
the local outcomes, I’m excited to see what learnings the
coalitions can incorporate from each other – and how we can take
these findings to greater scale and impact.”
“We envision a world where all Black Mamas have access to the
respectful care they need,” said Angela D. Aina, interim director,
Black Mamas Matter Alliance. “We’re thrilled to be a part of the
Safer Childbirth Cities Initiative, through which we plan to create
a model for women in Atlanta, GA to get the care they need during
pregnancy and beyond with specially trained para-professionals and
other social support resources.”
“At the Kellogg Foundation, our goal is that every child
thrives. That starts with a healthy pregnancy and birth,” said Rhea
Williams-Bishop, director of Mississippi and New Orleans programs
for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. “We are excited to partner with
Merck for Mothers and join the growing number of natural birth
advocates and doulas in the community to better support Black women
and low-income women in Mississippi, ensuring every child has a
healthy start in life.”
“New Jersey’s infant and maternal mortality rates are startling,
and for women and babies of color the statistics are even more
dire,” said Tammy Murphy, First Lady of New Jersey. “Through our
statewide Nurture NJ campaign, we are simultaneously working to
combat implicit bias in our health care systems and on the economic
and social factors that contribute to the disparities. Our goal is
to make New Jersey the safest place in the United States to give
birth and I applaud the Safer Childbirth Cities Initiative and
organizations like the Greater Newark Healthcare Coalition and
Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers who are working with us to
make that a reality.”
City-Based Projects Include:
- Atlanta, GA: Black Mamas Matter Alliance and its
partners are creating a social safety-net model to link women,
particularly Black women, to care and critical services that could
be scaled to other communities where access to health care is
limited.
LEAD ORGANIZATION: Black Mamas Matter
Alliance
- Baltimore, MD: Baltimore Healthy Start and its partners
are enhancing the State of Maryland’s Maternal Mortality Review
process with Severe Maternal Morbidity reviews, elevating patient
experiences to improve quality care, and encouraging postpartum
care services to be provided alongside pediatric visits.
LEAD ORGANIZATION: Baltimore Healthy
Start
- Camden, NJ: Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers and
its partners are strengthening citywide data infrastructures to
improve connection to services and care coordination for pregnant
and postpartum women.
LEAD ORGANIZATION: Camden Coalition of
Healthcare Providers
- Chicago, IL: AllianceChicago and its partners are
improving the quality and coordination of care to serve women at
highest risk, and empowering families and social service providers
through community outreach.
LEAD ORGANIZATION: AllianceChicago
- Columbus, OH: ROOTT and its partners are creating a
model of community-based full-spectrum perinatal support doula
care, with focus for Black women who have limited or no access to
insurance, to ensure that they receive relevant, consistent, safe
and equitable care.
LEAD ORGANIZATION: ROOTT
- Jackson, MS: Mississippi Public Health Institute and its
partners are reducing unnecessary caesarean sections, providing
community-based support to pregnant and post-partum women, and
decreasing adverse maternal health outcomes through specially
trained doulas.
LEAD ORGANIZATION: Mississippi Public Health
Institute
- Newark, NJ: Greater Newark Healthcare Coalition and its
partners are educating health care providers on the best practices
for maternity care, developing a public education campaign to
increase women’s awareness of serious complications associated with
pregnancy and the post-natal period, and disseminating
recommendations to local stakeholders.
LEAD ORGANIZATION: Greater Newark Healthcare
Coalition
- New Orleans, LA: The Institute of Women and Ethnic
Studies and its partners are identifying and linking birthing
people who have unmet health needs and are disconnected from
support to quality care and policy solutions.
LEAD ORGANIZATION: The Institute of Women and
Ethnic Studies
- Philadelphia, PA: Health Federation of Philadelphia and
its partners will strengthen surveillance and reporting, improve
clinical care, integrate community voices in developing solutions,
address racial disparities in maternal health outcomes, and
increase community-based support for childbearing women through
development of a community action team.
LEAD ORGANIZATION: Health Federation of
Philadelphia
To learn more about the selected organizations, or how to get
involved in the future, please visit
MerckforMothers.com/SaferChildbirthCities
About Merck
For more than a century, Merck, a leading global
biopharmaceutical company 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.
Through our prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies
and animal health products, we work with customers and operate in
more than 140 countries to deliver innovative health solutions. We
also demonstrate our commitment to increasing access to health care
through far-reaching policies, programs and partnerships. Today,
Merck continues to be at the forefront of research to advance the
prevention and treatment of diseases that threaten people and
communities around the world - including cancer, cardio-metabolic
diseases, emerging animal diseases, Alzheimer’s disease and
infectious diseases including HIV and Ebola. 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
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.
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