Merck & Co., Inc. works in partnership with governments, community organisations, international agencies, private enterprises, NGOs and others to make significant improvements in healthcare delivery. Some examples of these initiatives are:

Working with the Government of Botswana and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Merck & Co., Inc. has been involved in the African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnerships (ACHAP) since 2000. The partnership supports and enhances the government’s national response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic through a comprehensive approach to prevention, treatment and support.  The Merck Company Foundation and the Gates Foundation are each providing $50 million to the initiative.  Merck & Co., Inc. is also donating its antiretroviral medicines to Botswana’s national ARV treatment programme (“Masa”) for the duration of the partnership. Around one third of Botswana’s population are HIV positive.

• September 2005 – more than 51,400 people enrolled in Masa and more than 45,000 are receiving ARV therapy
• More than 2,000 new HIV-positive patients enrolled in Masa monthly

Other initiatives include: improving the effectiveness and availability of voluntary testing; supporting a condom distribution and marketing programme; building resource centres at hospitals and daycare facilities for orphans; establishing support and counselling services; and implementing awareness, knowledge and de-stigmatisation campaigns.

For further information on these initiatives click here to download the MSD Commitment to HIV/AIDS brochure.

It is estimated that up to 120 million people worldwide are at risk of contracting river blindness. Since 1987, Merck & Co., Inc. has committed to eliminating river blindness by donating its medicine Mectizan® free of charge.  Mectizan® paralyses the microscopic worms that cause river blindness, causing itching to stop and preventing blindness.

The programme has become an unparalleled worldwide endeavour involving the World Health Organization, the World Bank, UNICEF, numerous non-governmental organisations, ministries of health, and over 80,000 infected communities.

The programme now reaches more than 40 million people each year in 34 countries where river blindness is endemic, through donations of more than 300 million doses of the drug and training for healthcare personnel. Merck & Co., Inc. developed a unique drug distribution method for Mectizan® by establishing a Mectizan Expert Committee to review applications from non-governmental development organisations, ministries of health and local health agencies for free supplies of the medicine.

In June 2005, PATH, a non-profit global health organisation, announced a five year initiative to bring cervical cancer vaccines to developing countries.

PATH will conduct programme research and demonstration projects in four developing world countries, to justify allocation of resources and to aid plans to integrate the new vaccines into existing health programmes.

Merck & Co., Inc. is one of the pharmaceutical partners involved. It has committed to providing its cervical cancer vaccine, approved by the FDA in June 2006, to demonstration projects in developing countries.