Merck for Mothers - PUSH - (2017) 3:13

Today on International Women’s Day, Merck for Mothers - Merck’s 10-year, $500 million global initiative focusing on the health and well-being of mothers during pregnancy and childbirth - has unveiled this riveting, globe-spanning brand film, “Push”, that gives perspectives of three different expecting mothers across the world.

We follow the expectant mothers from slightly behind them, a point of view that gives us glimpse into their everyday lives, as they work, tell their families the good news, eat their vitamins and go about their nine months. While they all live vastly different lives, their expectant experience is universal and the similarities strike you more than anything.

Conceived by agency Matter Unlimited and helmed by director collective Whitelist, “Push” serves as the launch film for Merck for Mothers’ “All for Mothers” campaign , which helps illustrate the crucial role of private sector support in public sector issues and aims to inspire new public and private sector partners to join the initiative. Maternal mortality is a real issue in the world to this day, but these are preventable deaths.

As the nine months come to a head, each mother makes the journey to their birthing place, but tragically one of them doesn't make it. It's not just in rural Africa that healthy women die due to complications with childbirth, In Sweden classes are taught to give birth in cars, and women already do this because the birthing hospitals are shut down for economic reasons. Any complication in such a situation jeopardises the life of both the baby and the mother, completely unacceptable situation for a developed country. Even in hospitals in the developed world women die as they become mothers, in Hong Kong, in Italy, at a hospital near you. The nurse turned heroic Ebola fighter who ended up on the cover of Time Magazine as person of the year, Salome Karwah, died in childbirth. Ebola didn't get her but childbirth did. Let that sink in. Whenever a mother dies bringing life into the world, it's not just a tragic emotional loss for the family, there's a loss of knowledge and skills that will never be passed along, as well as the mother's love.

In the United States maternal mortality rates has risen and there's 830 maternal deaths a day in the world.

That number is far too high. This needs to stop.

If there's something women should be fighting for today, it's this . Meanwhile in Sweden it's women politicians like Ewa Back (S) who claims she "does not make decisions that affect patient safety," while she shuts down the ward that is supposed to be there for women and children during the most dangerous moment of their lives. “We are a feminist government.." sure you are.

Client: Merck for Mothers

Lead: Dr. Naveen Rao
Director of Communications: Heather Stamatacos
Director of Strategic Partnerships: Mark Allen

Agency: Matter Unlimited
CEO: Robert Holzer
Managing Director: Alexandra Gordon
Director of Production: Ashley Jamieson
Creative Director: Shabazz Larkin
Creative Director: Ahmer Kalam
Account Executive: Alison Kidd
Director of Strategy: Jackie Prince

Production Company: Whitelist
Director: Spencer Creigh
Executive Producer: Jerad Anderson
Head of Production: Matt Griffo
Head of Creative: Colin Moore
Head of Operations and Finance: Natasha Seubert
Producer: Jefferis Gray