Merck Foundation to mark a milestone of providing 126 scholarships to doctors in 39 critical specialties during their annual Alumni Summit – Celebrating their legacy of transforming patient care landscape in Zambia.
Merck Foundation Zambia Alumni Summit and Merck Foundation Awards Ceremony 2023 were conducted in Zambia chaired by Zambia First Lady and Merck Foundation CEO, Senator Dr. Rasha Kelej; Senator Dr. Rasha Kelej acknowledged Zambia First Lady for her great efforts as Ambassador of “More Than a Mother” Campaign; Merck Foundation CEO and Zambia First Lady announced the Call for Applications for 2 categories of 2023, that includes 8 Awards for Media, Musicians, Fashion Designers, Filmmakers, Students, and new potential talents in these fields. They also awarded past Award Winners; Merck Foundation launched their first Animation Story “Sugar Free Jude” with the aim to promote healthy lifestyle and raising awareness on the early detection and prevention of Diabetes.
Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA Germany met and awarded H.E. Mrs. MUTINTA HICHILEMA, The First Lady of Republic of Zambia for her efforts as the Ambassador of “Merck Foundation More Than a Mother” to build healthcare capacity, break infertility stigma, and support girl education in the country, during the Merck Foundation Zambia Alumni Summit and Awards Ceremony held in Lusaka.
Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation and President of “More Than a Mother” Campaign emphasized, “It was a great honor to meet my dear sister, H.E. The First Lady of Republic of Zambia and the Ambassador of “Merck Foundation More Than a Mother” to discuss our long-term partnership, celebrate our great achievements and mark an important milestone of success and impact of our programs. I am very happy to share that we have together provided 126 scholarships to Zambian doctors in 39 critical and underserved medical specialties like Diabetes, Endocrinology, Oncology, Fertility, Embryology, Gastroenterology, Respiratory Medicine, Cardiology, Clinical Psychiatry, Dermatology, Emergency and Resuscitation Medicine, Infectious diseases, Obesity and Weight Management, Pain Management and more.
I am also excited to share that we have provided scholarships to 21 young Zambian girls to help them to continue their education.
Moreover, we also launched Merck Foundation’s first animation story “Sugar Free Jude”. I am sure that our animation movie will prove to be very beneficial in promoting healthy lifestyle and raising awareness on the early detection and prevention of Diabetes, in a very entertaining way.”
H.E. Mrs. MUTINTA HICHILEMA, The First Lady of Republic of Zambia and the Ambassador of “Merck Foundation More Than a Mother” expressed, “I am very happy to meet and welcome Merck Foundation CEO and her team in our country. We have made a significantly progress in a very short time. Together, we are transforming the patient care in the country by building healthcare capacity by providing 126 scholarships to our local doctors. It is a history in the making.
Moreover, I am very happy that through Merck Foundation Educating Linda program we are supporting girl educating by providing 21 scholarships to young Zambian girls to cover their tuition fees of nursing schools and health sciences universities. This program is very close to my heart and very important pillar of my office strategy, as I strongly believe in girl education which faces many challenges, and also women education specially in science and technology where they are under-represented.”
Out of the total 126 scholarships provided in Zambia, Merck Foundation has provided 46 scholarships to doctors for Fertility, Embryology and Sexual & Reproductive Medicine.
51 scholarships have been provided for Diabetes, Cardiology, Endocrinology and Obesity & Weight Management. After completion of the course, these doctors will be able to establish diabetes or hypertension clinics their Health Centre or Hospital with the aim to help prevent and manage the disease in their own communities.
10 scholarships have been provided to Zambian doctors for Oncology. Merck Foundation and The First Lady of Zambia are together transforming the cancer care in the country.
Moreover, Merck Foundation has also provided 19 scholarships to Zambian doctors for other critical and underserved specialties like Gastroenterology, Respiratory, Clinical Psychiatry, Dermatology in Clinical Practice, Pain Management, Respiratory Medicine, Emergency & Resuscitation Medicine, and Infectious diseases.
Merck Foundation CEO and The First Lady of Zambia also met and acknowledged the Merck Foundation Alumni and Winners of their awards, from Zambia.
Senator, Rasha Kelej said, “It was a pleasure meeting and acknowledging our Merck Foundation Alumni who graduated to become the future healthcare experts of Zambia. It was also lovely meeting and acknowledging Merck Foundation Media and Fashion Awards 2022. We also met our past winners. All winners are our health and social champions.”
Moreover, Merck Foundation Health Media Training was also held for the journalists, to emphasize on the important role that media plays to influence society to create a cultural shift with the aim to address wide range of social and health issues such as: Breaking Infertility Stigma, Supporting Girl Education, Women Empowerment, Ending Child Marriage, Ending FGM, and/ or Stopping GBV at all levels; to underscore the importance of Empowering Girls and Women in Education and to understand the Influence of infertility stigma and other social issues like GBV, Child Marriage, FGM etc. on women and couples – Social and Psychological Impact. Apart from this, the media training also included a session on the importance of increasing the awareness of early detection and prevention of Diabetes and Hypertension. The training session was addressed by prominent Medical and Media Experts.
Moreover, Merck Foundation CEO together and The First Lady of Zambia launched and signed together four children’s storybooks titled: “Jackline’s Rescue” to emphasize on the importance of empowering girls through education, “Not Who You Are” to teach boys to love and respect their future wives and eliminate domestic violence, “Ride into the Future” to emphasize on the importance of empowering girls through education and “Sugar free Jude” to promote a healthy lifestyle and raise awareness on the early detection and prevention of Diabetes. Thousands of copies of these storybooks are going to be distributed to school students of Zambia.
