Merck Foundation CEO and African First Ladies Announce the Winners of Their “Merck Foundation More Than a Mother” Africa Media Recognition Awards 2020 to Break Infertility Stigma

By AIT News Desk On Jan 11, 2021

Very proud to recognize and appreciate professional journalists who became the voice of the voiceless and the storytellers of infertile women and break the stigma around them and also raised awareness about male infertility

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Merck Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA Germany announced the winners of ‘Merck Foundation More Than a Mother’ Africa Media Recognition Awards 2020. The awards were announced by Merck Foundation CEO in partnership with the First Ladies of Zimbabwe, Zambia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Niger, Namibia, Mozambique, Malawi, Liberia, Guinea Conakry, Ghana, The Gambia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo Brazzaville, Chad, Central African Republic, Burundi, and Botswana, who are also the Ambassadors of ‘Merck Foundation More Than a Mother’.

Senator Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation, President ‘Merck More Than a Mother and African Woman of the Year 2020 celebrated the winners saying “Big congratulations to all the winners of ‘Merck Foundation More Than a Mother’ Africa Media Recognition Awards 2020. First, I’d like to thank my dear sisters, First ladies of Africa for their support as Ambassadors to make this award a great success. I am very proud to recognize and appreciate professional journalists who became the voice of the voiceless and the storytellers of infertile women and break the stigma around them and also raised awareness about male infertility. As you all know I strongly believe in the critical role that media and art play to create a culture shift and raise awareness about health, cultural and sensitive issues such as infertility stigma. I welcome all the winners to be member in our Merck Foundation Alumni to work closely with us to empower women and girls at all levels”.

Merck Foundation received a great response from African journalists in the form of several excellent entries. The ‘Merck Foundation More Than A Mother’ Awards Committee decided to create three Groups of Awards from English speaking countries. Hence, the six groups are: 1) Southern African Countries, 2) East African Countries, 3) West African Countries, 4) African French Speaking Countries, 5) Ghana, and 6) Zambia. We did not receive any entries from Portuguese speaking countries this year for this specific award.

The ‘Merck Foundation More Than A Mother’ Awards Committee further introduced a second and a third position and selected more than one winner in some categories. This was due to the high quality of work received and to encourage more talented and passionate media representatives across all media formats to reach their potential and be a beneficial instrument to address health, cultural and sensitive issues in the country.

Senator Dr. Rasha Kelej, Member of the Egyptian Senate (2020- 2025), Most Influential African (2019, 2020) and African Woman of the Year 2020 added, “I am happy to announce that, encouraged by the valuable contribution from the winners, Merck Foundation is additionally rewarding the winners by providing them with one year access to an online educational training program called ‘MasterClass’. The MasterClass is an immersive online experience and self-paced learning course in English that can be accessed anywhere with the Internet.

I encourage the winners to be the ‘Merck Foundation’s More Than A Mother Advocate’ to further raise awareness about infertility and eliminate the stigma around it. I also welcome them as valuable members of ’Merck Foundation Alumni’”.