Merck and the Royal Health Awareness Society Partner to Advance Women's Health in Jordan

Darmstadt, Germany (ots/PRNewswire) -

- New partnership under Healthy Women, Healthy Economies initiative
facilitates women to overcome health barriers to economic
participation

Merck, a leading science and technology company, today announced
its partnership with the Royal Health Awareness Society (RHAS) of
Jordan to advance health awareness and education particularly on
thyroid disease amongst Jordanian women. Women are five to eight
times more likely to suffer from thyroid disorders than men[1]. This
memorandum of understanding and its resulting policies, which has
been signed today, will support women's health and well-being in
Jordan, helping women to be more active participants in their local
economies.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160922/410985 )

"We are excited about our new partnership with Merck, which opens
new horizons for RHAS to scale up and expand its outreach with a
particular focus on women," Hanin Odeh, Director General of RHAS,
commented on the signing. "Through this initiative, we are not only
helping women look after the health of their children and families
better, but more importantly, ensuring that women are looking after
their own health. No doubt, if women are not healthy, we are
jeopardizing our country's potential on various levels. We are glad
that we could benefit from Merck's experience in this area, and adapt
scientific and tested approaches, towards a healthier Jordan."

The memorandum is part of the global Healthy Women, Healthy
Economies (http://healthywomen.apec.org/) initiative, an innovative
public-private partnership that explicitly links the issue of women's
health and well-being with economic growth. The partnership will
focus on developing a thyroid awareness campaign through expanding
the Healthy Community Clinic program under RHAS' umbrella. This
campaign aims to reach patients, most of whom are women, and health
practitioners to promote healthy lifestyles, raise awareness on the
importance of diagnosis and treatment of thyroid disease, and it will
lay the ground work for further programs addressing other
non-communicable diseases that disproportionately affect women.

"Advocating for better health, and especially women's health,
creates a ripple effect, uplifting entire families, communities and
future generations. We are proud to partner with RHAS to expand the
Healthy Women, Healthy Economies initiative into Jordan. When women
do better, communities become stronger and this reflects favourably
on economies," said Belén Garijo, Member of the Executive Board and
CEO Healthcare at Merck.

This memorandum is now the second of its kind signed by Merck
under the program, following a 2015 partnership with the Philippine
Department of Health and Philippine Thyroid Association. Healthy
Women, Healthy Economies is an innovative public-private partnership
under the auspices of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, Merck,
and the U.S. and Philippine governments that explicitly links the
issue of women's health and well-being with economic growth. Merck
pursues three strategic spheres of corporate responsibility, namely
health, environment and culture. Healthy Women, Healthy Economies
brings to life Merck's heritage of corporate responsibility and
long-term vision to tackle big issues in health, like gender equality
in the workforce and access to high-quality health solutions.

Healthy Women, Healthy Economies brings together the evidence
about women's health and well-being and its impact on economic growth
with the best practices that governments, employers and
non-governmental organizations can follow. It aims to identify and
implement policies that advance women's health and well-being to
increase their economic participation in the societies they live in.

References

1. According to the American Thyroid Association
http://bit.ly/1X9oSBf

About RHAS

The Royal Health Awareness Society was established in 2005 under
the direction of Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah to promote
health awareness and to empower Jordanians to adopt healthy
lifestyles and behaviors. To achieve its mission, RHAS adopts a
comprehensive approach, through implementing preventative public
health and safety programs based on the right to health for all,
targeting school children, youth and the community at large.

All Merck Press Releases are distributed by e-mail at the same
time they become available on the Merck Website. Please go to
http://www.merckgroup.com/subscribe to register online, change your
selection or discontinue this service.

About Merck

Merck is a leading science and technology company in healthcare,
life science and performance materials. Around 50,000 employees work
to further develop technologies that improve and enhance life - from
biopharmaceutical therapies to treat cancer or multiple sclerosis,
cutting-edge systems for scientific research and production, to
liquid crystals for smartphones and LCD televisions. In 2015, Merck
generated sales of EUR 12.85 billion in 66 countries.

Founded in 1668, Merck is the world's oldest pharmaceutical and
chemical company. The founding family remains the majority owner of
the publicly listed corporate group. Merck, Darmstadt, Germany holds
the global rights to the Merck name and brand. The only exceptions
are the United States and Canada, where the company operates as EMD
Serono, MilliporeSigma and EMD Performance Materials.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151207/293543LOGO )

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151019/278051LOGO )

ots Originaltext: Merck KGaA
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Contact:
Gangolf Schrimpf +49-6151-72-9591