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Tendai Rupapa Senior Reporter
COUNTLESS training scholarships have been unlocked for Zimbabwean doctors and mentorship for media partners to improve their critical role in effective community awareness, thus breaking the infertility stigma thanks to the partnership between First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa and Merck Foundation.
Merck Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA Germany.
The partnership has provided over 100 scholarships to doctors drawn from the country’s 10 provinces in many critical specialties and under-served disciplines as part of a drive to transform healthcare quality and allow equitable access for all.
Areas the doctors are studying include fertility and embryology, oncology, diabetes, preventive cardiovascular, endocrinology, sexual and reproductive care, respiratory medicine, acute medicine, and clinical microbiology and infectious diseases, neonatal care, and psychiatry, among others.
The training has given the medical practitioners in-depth knowledge for the benefit of patients in various areas.
Journalists have also benefited from the ongoing partnership, which has seen them getting an opportunity to sharpen their skills in reporting sensitive issues around infertility, which are often stigmatised.
Schools are getting books that tackle issues of child marriages and health, courtesy of the broad-based partnership whose many programmes are ongoing.
Complementing Amai Mnangagwa’s passion to educate the girl-child, 20 school girls received scholarships through Merck Foundation’s “Educating Linda Programme”.
The 10th edition of the Merck Foundation Africa-Asia luminary 2023 hybrid annual conference being attended by Dr Mnangagwa and First Ladies from African countries in India, yesterday gave insights into life-transforming achievements attained in their respective countries and advancement of collaboration with the foundation.
The top-level conference affords other nations of the world an opportunity to hear from African First Ladies about the strategies and impact of partnership programmes in building healthcare capacity, breaking infertility stigma and supporting girl child education.
The First Ladies are Ambassadors of Merck More Than a Mother in their respective countries. Being held in partnership with Tata Memorial Centre and Krishna Vishwa Vdhyapeeth, the conference seeks to contribute to the social and economic development in Africa, Asia and developing countries as well as advancing healthcare, media and awareness capacities and capabilities.
Dr Mnangagwa shared the impact of her partnership with Merck Foundation which started in 2019.
“I join you all as the guest of honour today with my dear sisters, First Ladies of Africa, as we celebrate today the 6th Anniversary of our long-term partner Merck Foundation,” said Dr Mnangagwa.
“Congratulations to Senator Rasha Kelej and Prof Frank for the remarkable achievements throughout the last six years of Merck Foundation, and the exceptional 11-year journey of Capacity Building Programmes in Africa. Your contributions to our continent are truly commendable.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, our partnership journey commenced in 2019, and we have accomplished significant milestones ever since. I would like to seize this moment to present to you all an update of our joint programmes to advance the healthcare capacity in my country, providing specialty training scholarships for doctors or providing training and mentorship for media partners to improve their critical role in effective community awareness. This is for the first time in Zimbabwe that we work on such an impactful programme, it is history in the making.”
Through the long-term partnership, and as the Ambassador of Merck Foundation More Than a Mother, the First Lady said Zimbabwe had provided more than 100 scholarships to young Zimbabwean doctors in 32 critical and underserved specialties including fertility and embryology, oncology, diabetes, preventive cardiovascular, endocrinology, sexual and reproductive care, respiratory medicine, acute medicine, and clinical microbiology and infectious diseases, neonatal care, psychiatry, internal medicine, emergency paediatric, orthopaedic trauma and more.
“We recognise the magnitude of this accomplishment and hold it in high regard.
“I would like to give you all a summary of the scholarships: Out of the total 103 scholarships we received in Zimbabwe, 31 scholarships have been provided for fertility, embryology and one-year diploma and two-year Master’s degree of Sexual and Reproductive Care.”
“I must add here that this will continue to add a substantial value to women’s health, transform the landscape of fertility and sexual and reproductive healthcare nationwide which is very important for me as an African woman and First Lady and my role as Ambassador of Merck Foundation more than a Mother to break stigma around infertile women,” she said.
Dr Mnangagwa said she was working closely with the Ministry of Health and Child Care to actively monitor the programme outcomes and engage with the beneficiaries to ensure optimal utilisation of the valuable opportunity to improve access to quality and equitable fertility care in the public sector.
Zimbabwe, she said, was also transforming diabetes care.
“About 50 scholarships have been extended to doctors specialising in diabetes, endocrinology, preventive cardiovascular and obesity and weight management.
“Four scholarships have been provided for One-year Post-Graduate (PG) Diploma and two-year MSc in respiratory medicine.
“Eight scholarships have been provided for PG Diploma in Acute Medicine. Five scholarships have been provided for PG Diploma in Pain Management and Infectious diseases.
“Five scholarships have also been provided for PG Diploma in Dermatology, Neuroimaging for Research, Paediatrics and Rheumatology,” she said.
Through these programmes, the First Lady said the country will reshape its healthcare sector and empower healthcare providers and motivate them to provide better care for the people.
“I take my role of Ambassador of Merck More than a Mother very seriously and work in collaboration with our ministries to sensitise our communities and rural areas to break the stigma around infertile women and to empower them through access to information, education, health and change of mindset.”
“We also organised three editions of Merck Foundation health media training for journalists to educate them on how to be the voice of the voiceless and raise awareness on sensitive issues like breaking infertility stigma. We will soon organise this training again, before the end of this year.
“Moreover, like every year, together, we have announced eight important competitions for our communities which are: best media, song, film and fashion awards for ‘More Than a Mother’ and ‘Promoting Healthy Lifestyle’.
“These awards aim to encourage media, musicians, fashion designers, filmmakers, students, and new potential talents in these fields to play their important role in sensitising their communities about sensitive social and health issues. We have till today, celebrated many winners of Merck Foundation Awards, and I am sure that we will have many more this year too,” she said.
Together with the Merck Foundation, the First Lady said she had distributed thousands of copies of the seven storybooks to young readers, school students of Zimbabwe.
“These will be also adapted to animation films raising awareness about diabetes so it can be a creative method to sensitise our children and youth to educate our communities about these important health issues such as diabetes and hypertension. Speaking of children, I would also like to talk about Merck Foundation’s ‘Educating Linda Programme’, through which we have provided scholarships to 20 schoolgirls to continue their education.
“This is a programme that I am personally interested in as we all know that we can transform lives and lead our nation to a better future by educating our girls. On behalf of the people of Zimbabwe, we welcome the long-term partnership with Merck Foundation to build health care capacity, media capacity and address the health and social challenges in our beautiful country,” she said.
Merck Foundation chief executive, Senator Rasha Kelej, praised the First Ladies for taking out the time from their busy schedule to attend the conference.
She said just like the last edition, they were conducting the annual conference in a hybrid model to enable more than 6 000 participants from more than 70 countries to safely and effectively meet and discuss strategies and solutions for the health challenges in their countries with the aim to contribute to improving access to quality and equitable healthcare solutions and building media capacity and healthcare capacity in many critical and underserved medical fields.
“Today, we commemorate two very important milestones; the 6th anniversary of the establishment of the Merck Foundation in 2017, and the 11th Anniversary of our development initiatives in Africa, Asia, and underserved communities, marking the inception of our programs in 2012.
“Since then, we have come a long way and have together with our partners, made a significant impact by building healthcare and media capacity, breaking infertility stigma, empowering women – childless women in particular, supporting girl education and raising awareness on a wide range of social and health issues.
“I am proud that we have achieved great success, and we are improving and amplifying our efforts, year on year,” she said.
Sen Kelej said Merck Foundation was committed from the past 11 years, towards healthcare capacity advancement and patient care transformation and reshaping the landscape of the public healthcare sector in 50 countries in Africa, Asia and beyond.
“I feel proud to share with you all that Merck Foundation has provided more than 1700 scholarships to young doctors from 50 countries in 42 critical and underserved specialties,” she said.
The foundation, she said, was making history and legacy in Africa by training the first fertility specialists, embryologists, oncologists, diabetes, endocrinology, respiratory experts and more in many countries like Liberia, The Gambia, Burundi, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Guinea and Ethiopia, Congo and more.
“Together with our partners like Africa’s First Ladies, Ministries of Health, Gender, Education and Communication, Academia, Medical societies, we are impacting the lives of people in the most disadvantaged communities in Africa, Asia and beyond,” she said.
Merck Foundation chairman and chief executive officer, Professor Dr Frank Stangenberg-Haverkamp, said it was always a pleasure to celebrate outstanding achievements by the African First Ladies.
“It has been a truly rewarding journey together with all of you, full of success stories, and the significant impact of transforming people’s lives every day, in the most disadvantaged communities in Africa, Asia and beyond. Your Excellencies, I want to thank you all for devoting your valuable time to join us today as esteemed guests of honor for this important conference.
“Our objective here is to facilitate the exchange of your invaluable experiences and success stories in tackling healthcare challenges. Additionally, we look forward to presenting Merck Foundation’s plans and discussing the comprehensive impact of our partnership programs with your respective offices and foundations,” he said.
Dr Stangenberg-Haverkamp appreciated efforts by First Ladies as Ambassadors of “Merck Foundation More than a Mother” in raising awareness specifically about infertility stigma and empowering childless women through access to information, health, change of mind-set and economic empowerment, over all these years,” he said.
The healthcare scholarships, he said, were conducted in India where a state-of-the-art clinical training was provided at the prestigious training institutions such as Tata Memorial Center, Manipal University, Maharashtra University, Krishna University, Indira IVF Training and more.
In sharing her experiences, the First Lady of the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Maria de Fatima Vila Nova said supporting the education of girls was an important pillar of her strategy.
“Girls receiving education are less likely to marry earlier and live better lives. Together with Merck Foundation, we have sponsored education,” she said.
Education, she said, was a pillar of any society and through education, women and girls have been given an opportunity to live a better life. They have become empowered.
Botswana First Lady Mrs Neo Jane Masisi said the partnership with Merck Foundation had helped to improve Botswana’s healthcare development, especially through scholarships that have been provided.
“Let me also take this opportunity to thank my dear sisters for sharing success stories highlighting the great impact in your countries which is a direct result of our partnership with Merck Foundation.
“My country Botswana, has also benefited greatly from this outstanding partnership. Our collective efforts have also effectively contributed to breaking infertility stigma and working towards ending gender-based violence,” she said.
Malawi First Lady Mrs Monica Chakwera spoke on the emotive issue of infertility, which she said resulted in women suffering in silence.
“There are so many women suffering in silence because of infertility with fear of being stigmatised. However, when we started forming groups with the women raising awareness, so many women started opening up.
“I realised that they were suffering in silence. I am grateful to the Merck Foundation More than a mother for the scholarships they are offering to our doctors because knowledge is power,” she said.
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