Our Approach
Our approach aims to tackle the two leading causes of maternal mortality: post-partum hemorrhage (bleeding after childbirth) and preeclampsia (hypertensive disorders). We are also focusing on family planning, which is known to play an important role in reducing maternal mortality.
The three main pillars of our strategy are:
Product Innovation
We are evaluating and advancing the development of new technologies and innovative products that have the greatest potential to save women's lives in developing countries.
Accelerating Access
We are supporting programs in countries with the highest rates of maternal mortality that expand access to proven maternal health solutions and services and help establish models for care that are both effective and long-lasting.
Advocacy and Awareness
We are joining leading maternal health efforts to help shape national and international policymaking, enhance public awareness of maternal mortality, and further engage the private sector around this vital issue.
Product Innovation
There are many maternal health innovations that hold great promise to help save women's lives. However, many women do not have access to these life-saving technologies because they are too costly, difficult to use, of poor quality, or limited in supply. We could prevent thousands of deaths every year by advancing technologies that are affordable, readily available, commercially sustainable, and appropriately designed to meet the needs of women in the poorest regions of the world.
In 2011, Merck awarded a grant to PATH to evaluate a wide range of existing maternal health innovations and determine their potential to save the lives of the world's most vulnerable women. We are looking specifically at innovations that prevent, diagnose, and treat the leading causes of maternal mortality-postpartum hemorrhage and preeclampsia. The goal of the collaboration is to accelerate access to these maternal health technologies so that health care workers and women have them when they need them, especially during an emergency. We plan to share the results of this evaluation with national governments, donors, and other organizations to help guide their decisions about investing in accessible and affordable solutions to save women's lives.
Accelerating Access
Private healthcare providers and health businesses play a vital, but often overlooked, role in delivering health care in local communities. In fact, roughly half of all families in Africa and up to 80% of families in South Asia receive their care from the private health sector. Independent midwives, private clinics, and local pharmacies are often based in the communities they serve, and have high levels of trust among their patients and customers. They have the potential to play a greater role in improving maternal health and helping governments reach international targets established by the United Nations in their Millennium Development Goal 5, which calls for a 75% reduction in maternal mortality by 2015 and universal access to reproductive healthcare.
Merck for Mothers has made expanding access to maternal healthcare a top priority, and we see private providers and health businesses as an important part of our approach. We have begun working with these groups at the local level to help ensure that their products and services are accessible and affordable for women, and most importantly, that the care they provide is of high-quality. We believe these efforts will help strengthen the overall delivery of healthcare and yield innovative, sustainable solutions for women in need.
Advocacy and Awareness
Thanks to the commitment of governments, NGOs, multilateral agencies, companies, and foundations, there has been impressive progress in reducing maternal mortality. But we know that women continue to die needlessly during pregnancy and childbirth and that more work must be done. Merck for Mothers recognizes the power of advocacy and awareness in bringing about change. That is why one of our primary goals is to work with governments and international leaders to foster more investment in maternal health.
We are engaged in a number of international coalitions aiming to build support for maternal health, such as the Saving Mothers, Giving Life initiative, the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health; the Every Woman, Every Child Innovation Working Group; and the United Nations Commission on Lifesaving Commodities.
