GENEVA and YOKOHAMA, Japan, May 29 /PRNewswire/ -- The International Council of Nurses (ICN) today launched a new award - the Partners in Development Award - recognising foundations, corporations, NGOs or other groups that have demonstrated outstanding leadership and investment in nursing and health care capacity building. The inaugural recipient of the Partners in Development Award is Merck & Co., Inc.* “This award recognises Merck’s leadership in corporate social responsibility; its contribution to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and sustained commitment to strengthening and supporting nursing in delivering quality care,” stated Hiroko Minami, President of ICN. The award will be bestowed on the eve of ICN’s global nursing conference, opening today in Yokohama, Japan.
Merck has collaborated with ICN since 2001 to deliver up to date knowledge to nurses in sub-Saharan Africa, through the innovative and effective Mobile Nursing Library programme. The Libraries, each comprising some 90 specially selected books, bring up-to-date information on family and community health, disease prevention, health promotion and health services training to nurses who have limited access to reference books. Packed into specially designed transportable trunks resistant to moisture, insects and damage, they are shipped to remote, poorly served locations. To date ICN and Merck have delivered more than 170 libraries to nurses working in 17 African countries. In addition, more than 60,000 copies of The Merck Manual -- Home Edition - the world’s most trusted medical compendium - have been given to individual nurses throughout Africa. For many of these nurses The Merck Manual is the only medical book they have ever been able to call their own.
“As a global research-based pharmaceutical company, Merck believes that responding to global health challenges is not just a humanitarian imperative but also a strategic necessity,” said Richard T. Clark, Chairman, President and CEO, Merck & Co., Inc. “Merck values our ongoing partnership with ICN and is honoured by this recognition. The real heroes, however, are the tens of thousands of nurses throughout the developing world who work tirelessly despite seemingly insurmountable challenges to provide care to those in need.”
* Merck & Co., Inc. (Whitehouse Station, NJ, USA), operates as Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) in many countries outside the United States.
In 2006, the Mobile Library programme took on a dramatic expansion - reaching out to nurses serving the most vulnerable and marginalised populations in the region - those living in refugee settings. Improving the quality of health information accessible in remote refugee camps is not a small challenge. The health workers in the field usually have no health care reference books. They are far from expert advice on critical health care issues. The access to current health information provided by the ICN/Merck Mobile Libraries is a goldmine for them. To date 62 libraries have been established in refugee camps and settlements and in the local hosting districts in Tanzania and Zambia and approximately 1,600 nurses and health workers have participated in related training activities.
“Merck’s partnership with ICN is grounded in a shared conviction that quality health care begins with access to quality health care information,” stated Judith Oulton, Chief Executive Officer of ICN. “An informed nursing profession unlocks the door to prevention and treatment for so many who have gone without.”
Editor’s Note:
The International Council of Nurses is a federation of 129 national nurses’ associations representing the millions of nurses worldwide. Operated by nurses for nurses since 1899, ICN is the international voice of nursing and works to ensure quality care for all and sound health policies globally.
Established in 1891, Merck & Co., Inc. discovers, develops, manufactures and markets vaccines and medicines to address unmet medical needs. The Company devotes extensive efforts to increase access to medicines through far-reaching programs that not only donate Merck medicines but help deliver them to the people who need them. Merck also publishes unbiased health information as a not-for-profit service. In addition, 2007 marks the 20th anniversary of the MECTIZAN Donation Program, the longest on-going disease-specific drug donation program and public-private partnership in history. For more information, visit www.merck.com/cr
For further information contact Linda Carrier-Walker Tel: +41 22 908 0100 - Fax: +41 22 908 0101 email: carrwalk@icn.ch - web site www.icn.ch
International Council of Nurses
CONTACT: Linda Carrier-Walker of ICN, +41 22 908 0100, Fax: +41 22 9080101, carrwalk@icn.ch
Web site: http://www.icn.ch/
