OPIC Announces Collaboration With USAID, Merck, and Credit Suisse to Improve Maternal Health

June 4, 2019

 

VANCOUVER – The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the U.S. Government’s development finance institution, announced today at the Women Deliver conference a collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Merck & Co., Inc. (Kenilworth, N.J., U.S.A.), and Credit Suisse that will mobilize private capital to improve maternal and child health.

As part of a new Financing for MOMs (Maternal Outcomes Matters) Alliance, OPIC, USAID, Merck, through its Merck for Mothers Initiative, and Credit Suisse signed a memorandum of understanding with the goal of mobilizing up to $50 million to improve and expand infrastructure, services, and access to care in Sub-Saharan Africa. The collaboration will help more women receive high quality care to ensure a healthy pregnancy and safe delivery, and lay the foundation for life-long good health.

Each organization will bring its distinctive capabilities. OPIC will bring a strong understanding of blending public and private funding to sustain disruptive solutions; USAID will provide technical assistance and maternal and child health expertise; Merck for Mothers will drive investment toward promising interventions to improve maternal health; and Credit Suisse will provide financial structuring expertise.

Although more women are surviving pregnancy and childbirth, hundreds of thousands of women around the world still die each year due to complications during pregnancy or childbirth. More than half of these deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa.

“This collaboration is at the heart of OPIC’s mission to mobilize private investment to make a positive impact in developing countries around the world,” said Kathryn Kaufman, OPIC Managing Director for Global Women's Issues. “OPIC understands that empowering women is one of the best ways to strengthen communities. By helping scale effective healthcare solutions, we will empower women, families, communities and nations.”

"Financing for MOMS—a model of multisectoral collaboration—will bring together the best of the public and private sectors to spur sustainable solutions that make pregnancy and childbirth safer for women. We are excited to mobilize creative financing solutions that can scale innovation and improve maternal health where women are most in need,” explained Dr. Mary-Ann Etiebet, Lead and Executive Director of Merck for Mothers.

"Credit Suisse is delighted to be working with such esteemed and forward-thinking organizations to leverage the power of partnership between the public and private sectors to help make a positive impact in the critical arena of maternal health. Maternal health is central not only to the health and stability of the family unit but also to the health and well-being of communities and ultimately the economies in developing markets," said Marisa Drew, CEO of the Impact Advisory and Finance Department at Credit Suisse.

 

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About OPIC

The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) is a self-sustaining U.S. Government agency that helps American businesses invest in emerging markets. Established in 1971, OPIC provides businesses with the tools to manage the risks associated with foreign direct investment, fosters economic development in emerging market countries, and advances U.S. foreign policy and national security priorities. OPIC helps American businesses gain footholds in new markets, catalyzes new revenues and contributes to jobs and growth opportunities both at home and abroad. OPIC fulfills its mission by providing businesses with financing, political risk insurance, advocacy and by partnering with private equity fund managers.

OPIC services are available to new and expanding businesses planning to invest in more than 160 countries worldwide. Because OPIC charges market-based fees for its products, it operates on a self-sustaining basis at no net cost to taxpayers. All OPIC projects must adhere to best international practices and cannot cause job loss in the United States.

About USAID

On behalf of the American people, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) promotes and demonstrates democratic values abroad, and advances a free, peaceful, and prosperous world. In support of America's foreign policy, USAID leads the U.S. Government's international development and disaster assistance through partnerships and investments that save lives, reduce poverty, strengthen democratic governance, and help people emerge from humanitarian crises and progress beyond assistance.

About Merck

For more than a century, Merck, a leading global biopharmaceutical company known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, has been inventing for life, bringing forward medicines and vaccines for many of the world’s most challenging diseases. Through our prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies and animal health products, we work with customers and operate in more than 140 countries to deliver innovative health solutions. We also demonstrate our commitment to increasing access to health care through far-reaching policies, programs and partnerships. Today, Merck continues to be at the forefront of research to advance the prevention and treatment of diseases that threaten people and communities around the world - including cancer, cardio-metabolic diseases, emerging animal diseases, Alzheimer’s disease and infectious diseases including HIV and Ebola. For more information, visit www.merck.com and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn.

About Merck for Mothers

Every day, approximately 830 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Merck for Mothers is a $500 million initiative to create a world where no woman dies from complications of pregnancy and childbirth. Drawing on the company’s history of discovering innovative, life-saving medicines and vaccines, Merck for Mothers is applying the company’s scientific and business expertise – as well as its financial and human resources – to reduce maternal mortality around the world. Learn more at www.Merckformothers.com and @MerckforMothers.

About Credit Suisse

Credit Suisse AG is one of the world's leading financial services providers and is part of the Credit Suisse group of companies (referred to here as 'Credit Suisse'). Our strategy builds on Credit Suisse's core strengths: its position as a leading wealth manager, its specialist investment banking capabilities and its strong presence in our home market of Switzerland. We seek to follow a balanced approach to wealth management, aiming to capitalize on both the large pool of wealth within mature markets as well as the significant growth in wealth in Asia Pacific and other emerging markets, while also serving key developed markets with an emphasis on Switzerland. The Impact Advisory and Finance (IAF) department at Credit Suisse puts the bank's expertise to work to help our clients generate returns, sustainably. Credit Suisse employs approximately 45,680 people. The registered shares (CSGN) of Credit Suisse AG's parent company, Credit Suisse Group AG, are listed in Switzerland and, in the form of American Depositary Shares (CS), in New York. Further information about Credit Suisse can be found at www.credit-suisse.com.