Merck Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA Germany, is marking the ‘World ART (Assisted Reproductive Technology) Day 2023’ together with African First Ladies, who are also the Ambassadors of “Merck Foundation More Than a Mother” Campaign, by building and advancing fertility care capacity in Africa and Asia.
Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation and President of “More Than a Mother” said: “We at Merck Foundation strongly believe in the critical role of Embryologists and Fertility & Reproductive Care Specialists to empower infertile women through improving their access to information, change of mindset and quality & equitable fertility care across Africa & Asia as part of our ‘More than a Mother’ campaign.”
“As a part of the campaign, we marked World ART Day through providing more than 490 scholarships to young doctors from 39 countries to be the local Embryologists, Fertility & Reproductive care experts in their countries.
“Moreover, many of our Alumni were trained to be the first local experts in their countries where they never had even a single local embryologist or fertility specialist before our program such as; The Gambia, Burundi, Guinea, Chad, Niger, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Malawi, Congo, Mozambique and more.
“Together with Merck Foundation Alumni, and our partners, we are making history and reshaping the landscape of fertility & Reproductive care across Africa and beyond.”
Merck Foundation “More Than a Mother” is a strong movement that aims to empower women living with Infertility through access to information, education, change of mindset, and economic empowerment. This powerful campaign defines interventions to build quality and equitable Reproductive and Fertility Care Capacity, Break Infertility Stigma and Raise Awareness about Infertility Prevention and Male Infertility.
“To give an overview, out of our total 1580 scholarships, we have provided more than 215 Scholarships for clinical and practical training to Fertility Specialists and Embryologists, and more than 275 Scholarships for PG Diploma and Master Degree in Sexual and Reproductive Medicine, Clinical Psychiatry, Women’s Health, Biotechnology of Human Assisted Reproduction & Embryology, Urology, Laparoscopic Surgical skills to doctors from 39 countries across Africa and Asia. We are proud of this achievement,” said Dr. Rasha Kelej.
Moreover, Merck Foundation has trained more than 2,500 media representatives from more than 35 countries to raise community awareness and break the stigma around infertility and infertile and childless women.
Merck Foundation has also been empowering childless and infertile women through their “Empowering Berna” initiative under their “More Than a Mother” movement.
The initiative helps women who cannot be treated for infertility anymore by helping them to get trained to establish small businesses so that they can be independent and rebuild their lives. Through ‘Empowering Berna’, the lives of many infertile women have been transformed in many African countries like Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Central African Republic, Niger, Malawi, and many more.
Merck Foundation in partnership with African First Ladies has also launched David’s Story, a children’s storybook to emphasize strong family values of love and respect from a young age which will reflect on eliminating the stigma of infertility and the resulted domestic violence in the future.
The storybooks have been localized for each country and in three languages, English, French and Portuguese to have a better connect with the young readers.
Merck Foundation’s pan African TV program “Our Africa”, that is conceptualized, produced, directed, and co-hosted by Senator, Dr. Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation and features African Fashion Designers, Singers, and prominent experts from various domains with the aim to raise awareness and create a culture shift across Africa, has many episodes dedicated to raise awareness about infertility and breaking infertility stigma.