M&F HEALTH JOINS CLIENT ORGANON IN GIVING ALL EMPLOYEES A DAY OFF TO FOCUS ON THEIR HEALTH ON INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2022

LONDON, UK — Independently owned public relations and public affairs agency, M&F Health today announced that it will join its client Organon in giving all employees a day off to mark International Women’s Day on 8^th March this year.

The agency, whose purpose is to make a significant, positive impact on health and wellbeing of the UK, was inspired by the actions of their client, the global women’s health company Organon. Earlier this month, Organon announced it was giving all 10,000 of its employees a day to focus on their health, and to help raise awareness of the inequity in women’s health globally.

James Hollaway, M&F Health owner and Managing Director said: “Organon’s idea to take symbolic action to support the needs of their employees, really inspired us. 74% of our agency are women and working in health and wellbeing as we do every day, makes us especially aware of the importance of taking care of our own health.”

On 8^th March 2022, all M&F Health employees will have a day off and are being encouraged to focus on their health of themselves, or the health of the women in their lives. “We’re asking our team to book a doctor’s appointment, take an exercise class or take some time to reflect and recharge. Supporting health and wellbeing is an incredibly important part of our purpose as an agency, and that of our clients. This action is all about us walking the talk and making sure our team – particularly women on this important day - feel valued enough to support their own health needs.”

Priya Lakhani-Quiling, Director of Communications & Policy UK & ENI at Organon said: “We know from our listening that women often prioritise the health of others over and above their own and this has been exacerbated by the burden of the pandemic. As an organisation, Organon is passionate about women’s health, and we know that this needs to start with the health of our founders (employees). With that in mind our CEO, Kevin Ali, made the decision to dedicate International Women’s Day to Her by gifting the day as a paid day off for Organon founders to take care of their own health needs. In February we made a public call to action that invited other companies to zoom into women’s health in whichever way they are able. So, we are thrilled that M&F Health is supporting us and following our lead in giving employees a day off this IWD."

For more information, please contact:

Jacqui Dyson jacqui.dyson@mandfhealth.com, 07711 944 131.

James Hollaway james.hollaway@mandfhealth.com, 07818 424 718.

Women’s Health during the pandemic

According to one survey, 78% of women put off taking care of their own health because they are too busy looking after their loved ones.¹ Women make the bulk of the health appointments for the rest of the family and when asked to rank the amount of time spent managing the health of various family members children came first, then pets, older relatives, spouses or significant others, and then (finally) themselves.¹ Mothers take an average of 15 days to arrange a health appointment for themselves versus 5 days for children and 7 days for a pet.¹ It appears that despite advances in equality, the majority of household chores still fall to women and that women have just 17 minutes to themselves each day on average, with 51% saying that they have no time at all.²

1. New Survey: Moms Are Putting Their Health Last - HealthyWomen
2. The average mother gets just 17 minutes 'me time' to herself each day | Daily Mail Online

International Women’s Day (8^th March) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women’s equality. IWD has occurred for well over a century, with the first IWD gathering in 1911 supported by over a million people. Today, IWD belongs to all groups collectively everywhere. IWD is not country, group or organization specific.

#IWD2022 #BreakTheBias

About M&F Health

M&F Health is an independent, integrated public relations and public affairs agency whose purpose is to make a significant, positive, impact on the health and wellbeing of the UK. We deliver on our purpose every day through an unrivalled and deep understanding of the healthcare environment.

We approach every client brief with a forensic approach; dissecting the problem, rigorously researching, and applying our expert insight. We work with agility, when needed, delivering against complex briefs and building campaigns with impact.

Working with M&F Health provides clients with a plethora of thinkers, and doers, uninhibited by silos and working collectively to tell stories and deliver messages in a cohesive and compelling way. We’re made up of policy and government affairs experts, traditional and social media specialists, PRs, communications strategists, writers, scientists, and crisis managers. We work brilliantly together, take great pride in our autonomous culture, and we’re passionate about what we do.

Proudly independent we work on projects that inspire and excite us. Our clients span the breadth of the health and wellbeing sector. We work with pharmaceutical companies, professional organisations, social enterprises and even film distributors, and we win awards for our work.

About Organon

Organon is a global healthcare company formed through a spin-off from Merck, (NYSE: MRK) known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, to focus on improving the health of women throughout their lives. Organon has a portfolio of more than 60 medicines and products across a range of therapeutic areas. Led by the women’s health portfolio coupled with an expanding biosimilars business and stable franchise of established medicines, Organon’s products produce strong cash flows that will support investments in innovation and future growth opportunities in women’s health. In addition, Organon is pursuing opportunities to collaborate with biopharmaceutical innovators looking to commercialize their products by leveraging its scale and presence in fast growing international markets.

Organon has a global footprint with significant scale and geographic reach, world-class commercial capabilities, and approximately 9,500 employees with headquarters located in Jersey City, New Jersey.