By Kemo Cham
Dr Rasha Kelej, the Chief Executive Officer of Merck Foundation, on Thursday hailed First Ladies from Africa and Asia for their role in the Foundation’s achievement in providing crucial healthcare access to under-served communities across Africa and Asia. Dr Kelej was speaking at the opening of the 13th edition of the Merck Foundation Africa Asia Luminary, 2026, where she highlighted the achievements of the Foundation in the form of over 2,800 scholarships to healthcare providers from 52 countries in 42 critical and under-served specialties, among many others.
“Thank you for being with us today to celebrate this milestone of success,” said Dr Kelej, who is also the President of Merck Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the German science and technology company – Merck KGaA.
“Today, we achieved a lot with you,” Dr Kelej told the 12 First Ladies who participated in the event held virtually.
Dr Rasha Kelej, CEO and President of Merck Foundation, said that the Foundation’s investment in the critical areas it cover has proven to be important and valuable to the beneficiary communities over the years. Image/Merck Foundation.
The Merck Foundation Africa Asia Luminary is an annual, large-scale conference organized by the Merck Foundation. It brings together thousands of healthcare providers, policymakers, researchers, and African First Ladies to advance public health, build medical capacity, and drive social change in underserved communities. The Foundation seeks to build sustainable healthcare and scientific research capacity in beneficiary countries through provision of medical postgraduates with scholarships for one-year online diplomas and two-year master’s degrees. The healthcare professionals are trained in critical specialties including diabetes, cardiology, oncology, respiratory medicine, and embryology through UK universities.
Dr Kelej said that the Foundation’s investment in these critical areas have proven to be important and valuable to the beneficiary communities.
“Year after year, we acknowledge and we realise the importance of healthcare, from Corona (Covid) to Ebola, to other things coming around us…,” she stated, assuring the conference participants that he Foundation would continue with the partnerships with the First Ladies to provide more support to further increase the capacities of healthcare providers.
Among the technical partners of Merck Foundation in delivering these promises is Tata Memorial Center, a world class cancer treatment facility based in Mumbai, India. Through 14 years of this relation, the two have built critical cancer care capacity across Africa through the Merck Cancer Access Program. Through this initiative, Tata provides one- and two-year oncology fellowships to train African doctors, with the goal of addressing the severe shortage of cancer specialists in developing nations, among them Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Thursday’s event also marked the 9th anniversary of the Merck Foundation’s development initiatives.
Prof. Dr. Frank Stangenberg-Haverkamp, Chairman of the Merck Foundation Board of Trustees and the Chairman of the Executive Board and Family Board of E. Merck KG, said in a statement that the milestone being celebrated were not merely numbers, but that they represented years of dedication, strong partnerships and meaningful impact in transforming the lives of millions across Africa and Asia.
“At the Merck Foundation, our vision has always been simple, yet transformative, that everybody should be able to get a chance to lead a healthy and happy life,” he said.
“This vision has driven our mission to build and advance healthcare capacity, transform patent care landscape, break the stigma of infertility … and support girls’ education across the continent and beyond,” he added.
The 13th edition of the Merck Foundation Africa Asia Luminary, 2026 had been planned, as usual, for hybrid participation – both in-person in India and virtually for other participants. But about two weeks before the event, the Ebola outbreak was declared in East Africa. Officials said the conference was conducted virtually as a precautionary measure in light of the public health and safety considerations emanating from the epidemic and in respect of guidelines and recommendations from the World Health Organization and relevant health authorities of India.
This is the second time the conference has been held virtually after the 2020 – 2023 Covid-19 pandemic.
Dr. Sudeep Gupta, Director of the Tata Memorail Center, said as one of the preeminent cancer centers in the world and registering thousands of cancer patients annually, his Center was the perfect partner in Merck Foundation mission to address scarcity of quality cancer care in communities lacking it. Through this collaboration, the programme has trained over 140 beneficiaries from 21 African countries since it started, disclosed Dr Gupta.
“What makes our relationship unique is the fact that the impact extends far beyond the duration of training,” he said.
The African and Asian First Ladies serve as crucial ambassadors and strategic partners for the Merck Foundation. Through its Merck Foundation First Ladies Initiative (MFFLI), they drive community development. An example of this is through the Merck Foundation More Than a Mother campaign, where the wives of Presidents lead in efforts to break the stigma surrounding infertility and advocating for girls’ education. The First Ladies also partner with their respective ministries of Health to identify and select local doctors for the Foundation’s scholarship opportunities.
The First Ladies who attended Thursday’s meeting were from Angola, Botswana, Cape Verde, the Central African Republic, Gabon, The Gambia, Kenya, Liberia, Maldives, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Sao Tome and Principe.
