RAHWAY, N.J., November 21, 2024 /CSRwire/ - The Merck Foundation (Foundation) has announced a new initiative to help advance equitable access to high-quality, culturally responsive care for people with heart conditions in underserved U.S. communities—the Collaborative for Equity in Cardiac Care (Collaborative).

The Foundation is committing $17 million over five years (2025-2030) to support the Collaborative, which aims to:

• Transform the delivery of primary care by promoting person-centered approaches to meet the medical and social needs of people living with heart conditions;
• Build sustainable community partnerships to address barriers to cardiac care;
• Improve health outcomes and quality of life for people living with heart conditions;
• Disseminate findings and lessons learned to improve the delivery of cardiac care.

In underserved communities across the U.S., people with heart conditions encounter more barriers to timely diagnoses, receive a lower quality of care and experience poorer health outcomes than those living in other parts of the country. These disparities are often fueled by social drivers of health, such as a lack of access to stable housing, transportation, education, nutritious foods and employment opportunities.

To apply to join the Collaborative and help address inequities in cardiac care, an organization must be designated as a qualified 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and submit a letter of intent to cardiaccareequity@rabinmartin.com by Jan.10, 2025. For more information, please click here to view the Collaborative’s call for proposals. 

About the Merck Foundation
The Merck Foundation (Foundation) is a U.S.-based, private charitable organization. Established in 1957 by Merck, a leading global biopharmaceutical company, the Foundation is funded entirely by the company and is Merck’s chief source of funding support to qualified non-profit charitable organizations. Since its inception, the Foundation has contributed more than $1 billion to support important initiatives that address critical global health and societal needs that are consistent with Merck’s purpose: to save and improve lives around the world. For more information, visit merck.com/company-overview/sustainability/philanthropy/merck-foundation.

Merck & Co., Inc.

Merck & Co., Inc.

At Merck, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, we are unified around our purpose: We use the power of leading-edge science to save and improve lives around the world. For more than 130 years, we have brought hope to humanity through the development of important medicines and vaccines. We aspire to be the premier research-intensive biopharmaceutical company in the world – and today, we are at the forefront of research to deliver innovative health solutions that advance the prevention and treatment of diseases in people and animals. We foster a diverse and inclusive global workforce and operate responsibly every day to enable a safe, sustainable and healthy future for all people and communities. For more information, visit www.merck.com and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn.

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