Merck Foundation Announces Grant to American Cancer Society to Improve Access to Cancer Care in Resource-Limited Settings
May 22 2019 - 8:00AM
Business Wire
$1.99 Million Grant Supports Patient
Navigation Initiative in Sub-Saharan Africa
The Merck Foundation (the Foundation) and the American Cancer
Society (ACS) announced today that the Foundation awarded a $1.99
million, five-year grant to ACS to improve support and access to
care for people living with cancer in low-and-middle-income
countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. This funding will
help ACS further develop its capacity development approach to
expanding patient navigation to countries with a growing burden of
cancer.
This press release features multimedia. View
the full release here:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190522005097/en/
More than 70% of the 9 million cancer-related deaths worldwide
are in resource-limited settings, where patients face many barriers
in seeking a timely diagnosis and receiving high-quality cancer
care. Patient navigators—whether nurses providing cancer education
or lay health workers linking patients to transportation services
in the community—play a vital role in supporting patients from the
point of diagnosis at a health facility through their treatment
journey.
With support from the Foundation, ACS will fortify its patient
navigation program in Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), a national
referral hospital in Kenya, and adapt it for a high need facility
in Uganda – The Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI), which serves about
200 patients daily.
“We are excited about the American Cancer Society’s program to
bring patient navigation services to cancer patients in areas of
the world where care coordination is especially challenging” says
Dr. Julie Louise Gerberding, chief patient officer, Merck and vice
chair, Merck Foundation Board of Trustees. “Cancer patients deserve
quality care delivered with compassion, regardless of where they
live.”
This grant is a first step toward broad expansion of patient
navigation programs to help more patients in resource-limited
settings receive timely, high-quality cancer care. As part of this
effort, ACS will develop a comprehensive guide and toolkit to
develop and implement patient navigation programs, designed
specifically for health facilities in low- and middle-income
countries. Lessons learned from collaborating with hospitals in
Kenya and Uganda will be incorporated into this guide, which ACS
will pilot in health institutions in Asia and Latin America.
ACS hopes to demonstrate that resource-limited health care
institutions can use patient navigation as an effective tool to
improve cancer care. Looking ahead, ACS will help KNH and UCI
integrate patient navigation services into the way they deliver
cancer care, with the goal of transforming the patient experience
so patients continue to receive the timely, high-quality cancer
care they need.
“Over the last 30 years, patient navigation has become a
standard of care across the U.S. to address the myriad hurdles that
cancer patients – especially the most vulnerable – confront across
the complicated continuum of cancer care,” says Sally Cowal, senior
vice president of Global Cancer Control, American Cancer Society.
“We are eager to bring our expertise in this area to countries
where health system challenges prevent patients from getting timely
diagnoses and treatment.”
“Uganda has a population of 43 million, but there are only 20
oncologists in the entire country. That’s one of the reasons why
patient navigators are so important in helping patients manage the
day-to-day challenges that prevent them from receiving care and
empowering them to seek treatment and stay in care,” says Dr.
Jackson Orem, Executive Director of the Uganda Cancer
Institute.
ACS will work with the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory
University in Atlanta to evaluate the implementation of the patient
navigation programs in Kenya and Uganda as well as the pilot of the
program design guide and implementation toolkit. The evaluation
team will disseminate its findings to the global cancer community
and other interested stakeholders to advance the field’s knowledge
of how to effectively support cancer patients in resource-limited
settings.
About the American Cancer Society
The American Cancer Society is a global grassroots force of 1.5
million volunteers dedicated to saving lives, celebrating lives,
and leading the fight for a world without cancer. From breakthrough
research, to free lodging near treatment, a 24/7/365 live helpline,
free rides to treatment, and convening powerful activists to create
awareness and impact, the Society is the only organization
attacking cancer from every angle. The American Cancer Society does
not endorse any product or service. For more information about ACS
global work, go to www.cancer.org/global.
About the Merck Foundation
The Merck Foundation is a U.S.-based, private charitable
foundation. 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 Merck
Foundation has contributed more than $921 million to support
important initiatives that address societal needs and are
consistent with Merck’s overall mission of inventing for life by
bringing forward medicines and vaccines for many of the world’s
most challenging diseases. For more information, visit
www.merckgiving.com.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190522005097/en/
Merck Media:Pam Eisele(267) 305-3558
Carol Richardson(908) 740-1526
American Cancer Society Media:Charaighn Sesock(559) 972-4877
Merck (NYSE:MRK)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024
Merck (NYSE:MRK)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024