By Nelson Manneh
Prof. Dr. Frank Stangenberg-Haverkamp, Chairman of both the Executive Board of E.Merck KG and Merck Foundation Board of Trustees, said on Wednesday that their foundation has provided more than 1700 scholarships to young doctors from 50 countries in 42 critical and underserved specialties.
He said the foundation’s goal is to improve overall health and well-being by building healthcare capacity and by providing access to quality and equitable healthcare solutions in Africa, Asia, and beyond.
“I am proud to share that Merck Foundation has provided more than 1700 scholarships to young doctors from 50 countries in 42 critical and underserved specialties such as Oncology and Cancer care, Diabetes, Endocrinology, Cardiovascular, Fertility Care, Embryology, Sexual and Reproductive Medicine and many more,” he told a convergence of eleven African First Ladies including the First Lady of the Gambia, Fatoumatta Bah Barrow and other participants drawn from different fields of life, who assembled in India to discuss health capacity building and breaking infertility stigma.
Senator Dr. RashaKelej, CEO of Merck Foundation and Chairperson of Merck Foundation Africa Asia Luminary, welcomed the participants, the First Ladies of Africa and Ambassadors of “More Than a Mother” Campaign, for participating in the annual conference that we have conducted for the first time in India.
“Together, we shared experiences and discussed the impact of our programs to transform patient care and raise awareness on a wide range of sensitive and critical social and health,” he said.
He said that it is great to remember that Merck Foundation provided 138 scholarships on oncology training in many sub-specialties to doctors from 37 African countries, many of whom have become the first oncologists in their countries. “We are making history together in Africa, with our Ambassadors, First Ladies of Africa, and our partners, Tata Hospital and Krishna University.”
The health media sensitisation forum is part of the Merck Foundation community awareness Program, organized to enhance the work of the media in influencing society to create a cultural shift that breaks the stigma around infertility in general and Infertile women in particular, through their valuable work as well as raise awareness on sensitive topics such as Male Infertility and infertility prevention through the ‘Merck More than a Father’ Campaign, the importance of following a healthy lifestyle for the prevention of Diabetes and Hypertension.
The program is designed to benefit journalists in understanding infertility issue in African communities and to learn the best media practices to cover such issues and raise awareness by following international standards of reporting and media ethics.
The training is administered by medical experts and other media personalities.
More than 10,000 participants including healthcare providers, policymakers, researchers, academia, and media representatives from 70 English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese-speaking countries attended the Luminary through hybrid model to benefit from five parallel scientific and social sessions to advance healthcare capacity and awareness in 42 critical and underserved medical specialties.
Merck Foundation reported the impact of providing 1700 scholarships to doctors from 50 countries in 42 critical and underserved specialties.
