Funding Opportunities
The Merck Alliance to Reduce Disparities in Diabetes
Download the Alliance Backgrounder
Dear Colleague,The Merck Company Foundation the philanthropic arm of Merck & Co., Inc. -- announces a new initiative: The Merck Alliance to Reduce Disparities in Diabetes. The goal of the Alliance is to help decrease health care disparities and improve access to quality diabetes prevention and management services among underserved adult populations. The attached two-page backgrounder provides additional information about the Alliance and the Call for Proposals process. The full Call for Proposals is available at http://www.merck.com/cr/alliance.html.
Health care disparities are a growing national concern in the United States for many chronic health conditions, including diabetes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 21 million people, or 7% of the U.S. population, have diabetes. The Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research reports that disparities exist in almost all aspects of health care, including all dimensions of quality of and access to care for many chronic conditions and for many groups. An important component of efforts to address this health issue is to ensure high-quality diabetes prevention and management services by helping to decrease disparities in care.
The Alliance will work with national, regional, and community partners to develop, implement and disseminate comprehensive, evidence-based program models to improve diabetes prevention and management around the country. The Alliance also will work to foster information sharing and best practices among care providers and other interested parties seeking to reduce disparities in diabetes care.
In late 2008, the Foundation will announce several five-year health care disparities and diabetes programs in selected communities around the country. These programs will be chosen through a competitive Call for Proposals process launched today. At this stage, we are seeking letters of intent for proposals to develop comprehensive diabetes prevention and management programs that would help to reduce disparities in diabetes care.
We hope that you and your colleagues are as excited about the Alliance initiative as we are, and we encourage you to make this information widely known among your staff, members, and other stakeholders. We hope to reach as many potential applicants as possible and encourage submission, by Friday, May 23, 2008, of letters of intent to develop innovative, effective programs to address this significant health issue.
If you have any questions about the Alliance initiative or Call for Proposals, please visit our web site at http://www.merck.com/cr/alliance.html; call 1-866-354-4943; or email merckalliance@rti.org.
Sincerely,
Leslie M. Hardy, MHS
Vice President
The Merck Company Foundation
