Merck has announced it is expanding its Merck for Mothers initiative with an additional $150 million commitment to advance efforts to reduce maternal mortality rates around the world.

Since its launch in 2011, Merck for Mothers has worked to promote safe, high-quality, respectful care and has reached 13.1 million women globally. The new commitment will support programs that deliver essential maternal and reproductive health services with the aim of reaching twenty-five million women by 2025. To that end, the initiative will continue to focus its efforts on countries where the need is greatest, including India, Nigeria, Kenya, and the United States, bringing on new collaborators and strategic investments that further scale the impact of more than a hundred programs across several dozen sites.

At least $15 million of the new commitment will be dedicated to responding to the Biden-Harris Maternal Health Call to Action for a whole-of-society approach to addressing the U.S. maternal health crisis, building on the Safer Childbirth Cities initiative in the U.S. According to World Health Organization estimates, the U.S. is the only high-income country where maternal mortality is on the rise. Merck for Mothers will invest in grants and strategic collaborations that stimulate, advance, and scale innovations to improve quality of care and reverse this trend, including amplifying and scaling community-led interventions that eliminate racial health disparities around pregnancy and childbirth, supporting training opportunities for the perinatal health workforce, and advancing standardized clinical care coupled with social and emotional support during the postpartum period.

“Today, our company is proud to announce an additional $150 million commitment through Merck for Mothers with the goal of improving the maternal health and well-being of twenty-five million women by 2025,” said Merck president and CEO Rob Davis. “Merck for Mothers and its partners have already reached more than thirteen million women through its programs, and I am proud to reaffirm our efforts to help create a healthier, more equitable society where no woman dies while giving life with this new pledge.”

(Photo credit: Merck for Mothers)