‘Merck More Than a Mother’campaign coming to Botswana in 2019

Pharmacist and CEO of Merck Foundation Dr RashaKelej, has made it her mission to raise awareness about the discrimination, stigma and ostracism women undergo for their inability to have a child. Here she discusses with SunHealth how her foundation is empowering women across Africa and other developing countries. Dr Rasha Kelej, you are CEO of Merck Foundation, can you start by introducing the Foundation for us? Merck Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA Germany. It is non-profit organisation that aims to improve health and wellbeing of people and advance their lives through science and technology. Our efforts are primarily focussed on raising awareness about non-communicable diseases, empowering women and youth, improving access to innovative healthcare solutions in under-served communities, building healthcare and scientific research capacity in the fields of diabetes, hypertension, cancer and fertility care in underserved communities. Our vision is to see a world where everyone can lead a healthy and fulfilling life. You will be launching the ‘Merck More Than a Mother’ campaign in Botswana in 2019. Can you discuss when this launch is expected to happen and what it will entail? We will launch in Botswana sometimes in the first quarter of 2019 in partnership with Her Excellency First Lady of Botswana Madam H.E. NEO JANE MASISI, and ministry of health of Botswana. We will first launch the Merck more than a Mother campaign with Her Excellency as the Ambassador with the aim to empower infertile women through information, health and change of mindset. As part of the campaign we will call for application for media recognition award of Merck more than a Mother. And we will also train media about health reporting and sensitive issues reporting such as infertility. We will also launch the start of producing a song about infertility stigma and sensitising the community to break its stigma. In addition to providing training to doctors in the fields of fertility care and oncology we will also launch a pilot project called blue points where we will provide one year diabetes diploma to doctors to build Health care capacity in the country. Our vision is to develop a strong platform of specialised doctors to improve access to quality and equatable healthcare solutions in Botswana. When did this campaign start? ... What makes "Merck more than a mother" such a unique campaign and how do you hope it will be embraced by relevant stakeholders? We started Merck more than a mother campaign in 2015 first in Kenya then Uganda and the rest of 35 countries in Africa and Asia.The campaign is an exponential success, the ambassadors of Merck more than a mother, The First Ladies of many countries, are very active and increasing every year. We have partnered with ministries of health and academia of many countries who are working closely with us. The social media followers and videos viewers are in millions. Merck Foundation has trained more than 100 fertility specialists over the last two years in more than 30 countries in Africa and Asia. Thousands of women are sharing their stories of suffering  every day; African media has started to discuss the issue every day, and we also worked with singers to write songs and produce video clips about infertility and delivering the message to all communities, since in many cultures infertile women suffer discrimination, mistreatment and physical and psychological violence. We have also supported the establishment of first ever Public IVF centres in Rwanda, Ethiopia and Uganda. The Foundation seems to be so fond of Africa why the interest, many will ask? How do you settle on the choice of health needs or area and the countries that you engage with in Africa? Prof Frank Stangenberg Haverkamp, the Chairperson of E-Merck KG and Merck foundation is very fond of Africa and believes in its potentiality.  Furthermore, there are many challenges in Africa with regards to healthcare and this is our speciality we can help, and this is what we do and we do it well. But we also focus on Asia, we have programmes in many countries such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Cambodia; and we will expand to Latin America in 2020. There was also the first Merck Health Media Training in Kenya to break the stigma around infertility in Africa, may we know the reason behind the focus on infertility and liaising with the media? According to WHO data 2016, one in every four couples in Africa and developing countries are infertile which means that there are 180 million couples that are infertile. Incidence is much higher than in Europe and developed countries which has around maximum 8% to 9%, very high percentage of infertility due to untreated infectious diseases which result from child marriage, unsafe abortion, unsafe delivery, STDs and genital mutilation. Hence prevention is very important. More importantly, in many cultures women suffer discrimination, mistreatment and violence due to their inability to bear children, although 50% of infertility cases are due to male infertility, therefore we need to create a culture shift to respect women whether they are mothers or not, encourage men to speak up about their infertility and support their wives through the treatment journey. I strongly believe in the power of art and media. They are critical partners to address such sensitive topics. We have produced many projects of songs, and now we are going to produce drama (plays and documentaries) with African talents across the continent. It will be the first and we will be creating a culture shift, raising awareness and exploring African talents. We started "Merck More Than a Mother" campaign in 2015 now it is in 35 countries in Africa and Asia. In partnership with First Ladies who are the ambassadors in their respective countries, academia, ministries of health and international fertility societies, the initiative also provides medical education and training for fertility specialists and embryologists to enable them to help and treat infertile couples in their countries. Also, part of the campaign is our Merck Embryology & Fertility Training Programme, a three-month hands-on practical course to establish the platform of fertility specialists across Africa and Asia. Merck Foundation provides clinical and practical training for fertility specialists and embryologists in more than 35 countries across Africa and Asia such as: Chad, Niger, Central African Republic, Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Nigeria, Benin, Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Guinea Conakry, Sierra Leon, Liberia, Cameron, Rwanda, Botswana, DR Congo, Congo Brazzaville, Gambia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Cambodia. So far more than 80 candidates have taken the training. How do you envisage the future of health care in Africa and the partnerships that Merck Foundation is forging across the continent? I think the future will be brighter if we cooperate together. The magnitude of the health challenges are very big to be addressed by one organisation. The secret is in the private public partnership and to really get things done by being hands-on. No time for talking anymore. We need to talk only when we talk about our impact and way forward.