Merck announces 2016 winners and calls for applications for the 2017 Hypertension Award to mark “World Hypertension Day”

APO News from Africa:

Merck announces 2016 winners and calls for applications for the 2017 Hypertension Award to mark “World Hypertension Day”:

Merck (www.MerckGroup.com), a leading science and technology company in healthcare, life science and performance materials, marks today World Hypertension Day with the announcement of the 2016 ‘Merck Hypertension Award’ winners and the call for applications for the 2017 Hypertension Award. The award as part of the Merck Capacity Advancement Program was launched in April 2016 in partnership with African and Asian universities with the aim of building a platform of hypertension experts across the globe.

In Kampala, Uganda, Rasha Kelej, Senior Vice President and Chief Social Officer, Merck Healthcare emphasized: “Merck plays an important role in building diabetes and hypertension care capacity and improving access to quality and sustainable healthcare solutions in developing countries. Today marks an important day in the fight against hypertension as we mark the World Hypertension Day. In this context, we have announced ten Merck Hypertension Award 2016 winners.”

Merck invited medical students to apply for the “Merck Hypertension Award 2016” with the theme of “What the Healthy Heart needs.” Students across African and Asian medical universities were asked to submit a concept paper on how to improve hypertension awareness, early detection and prevention in their countries and how to encourage their society, scientific community, local authorities, media and relevant stakeholders to ‘think and act’ on hypertension every day.

The scientific committee received over 500 concept submission applications from universities in Africa and Asia and 10 winners were selected for the award. Winners from each university have been granted a one year postgraduate Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine diploma with the University of South Wales, United Kingdom.

“Merck Hypertension Award is another step in our long term commitment to support hypertension care strategy through working with local governments, academia and relevant stakeholders in building healthcare capacity with a focus on diabetes, hypertension and other non-communicable diseases in various countries in Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Africa and Latin America,” added Rasha Kelej when making the announcement of the winners during an event in Nairobi, Kenya. 

Prof. Eligah Ogola, Vice President of Pan African Cardiology Society said: “We are happy to partner with Merck to implement their Capacity Advancement Program focusing on Hypertension in 2016. This combined diabetes and hypertension education program will contribute towards providing guidelines and clinical practice for prevention, diagnosis and management of these diseases and their complications. The objective of this initiative is to increase the level of knowledge for medical students who will work in the near future with patients to help them prevent, understand and control the diseases across the continent”.

Watch videos below as medical students from Africa and Asia share ideas on how to improve awareness on hypertension in their countries:

Watch testimonies of students from the University of Nairobi, Kenya on the benefits of the Merck Capacity Advancement Program: http://youtu.be/JZVJwmtr7ng

Watch testimonies of Medical Students from India on the benefits of Merck Capacity Advancement Program: https://youtu.be/SvIF_JetKO4

Watch medical students from India as they share their ideas on how to improve diabetes and hypertension awareness in India: https://youtu.be/SvIF_JetKO4

Watch medical students from University of Nairobi, Kenya as they share their ideas on how to improve diabetes and hypertension awareness in Kenya: https://youtu.be/tcJBItoxm2Q       

Watch medical students from Makerere University, Uganda as they share their ideas on how to improve diabetes and hypertension awareness in Uganda: https://youtu.be/baaoPhXNxu0

Watch medical students from Muhimbili University of Health Sciences, Tanzania as they share their ideas on how to improve diabetes and hypertension awareness in Tanzania: https://youtu.be/-W2hOYe8Qzs

About Clinical Diabetes and Hypertension Management Program

In addition, the Merck Capacity Advancement Program will launch in September its fifth edition of the Clinical Diabetes and Hypertension Management tour across Africa and Asia. The program supports focused training to build hypertension and diabetes healthcare capacity for medical undergraduates, postgraduates and healthcare providers in partnership with universities across the two continents.

By the end of 2017, more than 25,000 medical undergraduates and postgraduates will benefit from the Clinical Diabetes and Hypertension Management training program in partnership with African universities such as University of Nairobi, Kenya, Makerere University, Uganda, Muhimbili University of Allied and Health Sciences, Tanzania, Namibia University, Namibia, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, University of Ghana, Ghana, Universidade Agostinho Neto and Angola Eduardo Mondlane, Mozambique.

In addition, Asian universities such as Dubai Medical University, UAE, Maharashtra University, India and University of Indonesia, Indonesia also benefited from the Clinical Diabetes and Hypertension Management training.

Distributed by APO on behalf of Merck.

Media Contact: 
Khomotso Mashilane:+27 072 483 4675

Merck Capacity Advancement Program
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Please go to www.Merck-Cap.com & www.Merck-Africa.com for more information.

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

About Merck

Merck (http://www.MerckGroup.com) 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 2016, Merck generated sales of € 15.0 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 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.

Source: APO – Africa-Newsroom: latest news releases related to Africa

World Health Statistics 2017: Almost half of all deaths now have a recorded cause, WHO data show:

Almost half of all deaths globally are now recorded with a cause, new data from the World Health Organization show, highlighting improvements countries have made on collecting vital statistics and monitoring progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
 

Of the estimated 56 million deaths globally in 2015, 27 million were registered with a cause of death, according to WHO’s annual World Health Statistics. In 2005, only about a third of deaths had a recorded cause. Several countries have made significant strides towards strengthening the data they collect, including China, Turkey and the Islamic Republic of Iran, where 90% of deaths are now recorded with detailed cause-of-death information, compared with 5% in 1999.

Incomplete or incorrect information on those deaths that are registered also reduce the usefulness of those data for tracking public health trends, planning measures to improve health, and evaluating whether policies are working.

“If countries don’t know what makes people get sick and die, it’s a lot harder to know what to do about it,” said Dr Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO Assistant Director-General for Health Systems and Innovation. “WHO is working with countries to strengthen health information systems and to enable them to better track progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.”

The World Health Statistics, one of WHO’s annual flagship publications, compiles data from the organization’s 194 Member States on 21 health-related SDG targets, providing a snapshot of both gains and threats to the health of the world’s people. While the quality of health data has improved significantly in recent years, many countries still do not routinely collect high-quality data to monitor health-related SDG indicators.

The report includes new data on progress towards universal health coverage. Those data show that globally, ten measures of essential health service coverage have improved since 2000. Coverage of treatment for HIV and bed nets to prevent malaria have increased the most, from very low levels in 2000. Steady increases have also been seen in access to antenatal care and improved sanitation, while gains in routine child immunization coverage from 2000 to 2010 slowed somewhat between 2010 and 2015.

Access to services is just one dimension of universal health coverage; how much people pay out of their own pockets for those services is the other. The most recent data from 117 countries show that an average of 9.3% of people in each country spend more than 10% of their household budget on health care, a level of spending that is likely to expose a household to financial hardship.

A selection of data on progress towards the health-related SDG targets is available here:
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2017/half-deaths-recorded/en/

Distributed by APO on behalf of World Health Organization (WHO).

Note to editors 
Published every year since 2005, WHO’s “World Health Statistics” is the definitive source of information on the health of the world’s people. It contains data from 194 countries on progress towards the health-related Sustainable Development Goals, including a range of mortality, disease and health system indicators, including life expectancy, illness and death from key diseases, health services and treatments, financial investment in health, and risk factors and behaviours that affect health. WHO’s Global Health Observatory updates health statistics year round of more than 1000 health indicators. Members of the public can use it to find the latest health statistics at global, regional and country levels.

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2017/half-deaths-recorded/en/

The World Health Statistics 2017 can be downloaded here:
http://www.who.int/gho/publications/world_health_statistics/2017/en/

Audio file from today's press briefing on the launch of the World Health Statistics:
http://terrance.who.int/mediacentre/presser/WHO-RUSH_World_Health_Statistics_presser_UNOG_17MAY2017.mp3

Source: APO – Africa-Newsroom: latest news releases related to Africa

Ten years in public health 2007-2017: Women, newborns, children, and adolescents: life-saving momentum after a slow start:

After decades of stagnation, political will to cut the number of needless deaths of mothers and children emerged in 2010 with the United Nation’s US$ 40 billion Every Woman Every Child initiative. Dramatic progress came from better data collection, more births in health facilities, better nutrition and vaccines against diarrhoea and pneumonia, the biggest child killers. A revised global strategy views the focus on maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health as an entry point for increasing universal health coverage.
 

http://www.who.int/publications/10-year-review/maternal-health/en/

The full report is available for download as a PDF here: http://www.who.int/publications/10-year-review/en/

Distributed by APO on behalf of World Health Organization (WHO).

Source: APO – Africa-Newsroom: latest news releases related to Africa