Ghana’s First Lady Mrs. Rebecca Naa Okaikor Akufo-Addo has described Ghana’s partnership with the Merck Foundation as amazingly beneficial and has asked countries which are yet to enter into partnership with the Foundation to look forward to a relationship with a committed partner.
Mrs. Akufo-Addo made the commendation when she addressed participants on the last day of the just ended 6th edition of the Merck Africa Asia Luminary 2019, in Accra.
The conference which brought together First Ladies from African countries including Liberia, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Central African Republic, Lesotho and Nigeria, as well as Ministers of Health, Gender, Information and Education and over a 1000 healthcare providers and policy makers, discussed social and technological developments in the management of fertility, oncology, women’s health, diabetes and cardiology, with special emphasis on building fertility capacity in Africa.
Mrs Akufo-Addo said a lot had happened since January this year when Ghana’s partnership with the Merck Foundation was entered into. First, was the Merck More than a Mother campaign of which she was appointed Ambassador which seeks to place emphasis on providing psycho-social and medical support for women going through the challenge of infertility.
Mrs. Akufo-Addo said the Merck Foundation has provided training for eight doctors in diabetes and cardiovascular preventive medicines, seven health personnel in embryology and facilitated fellowships and Masters degrees in oncology for Ghanaian doctors, with more training opportunities still being rolled out.
She said the Foundation had organized the Merck Health media training for more than 100 media representatives leading to greater awareness of the causes, prevention and treatment of infertility and issues of stigmatization.
Another area of beneficial collaboration between Ghana and the Merck Foundation was the organisation of the Merck More than a Mother Fashion and Film Awards to recognize talents and creativity of the youth to break the stigma of infertility, the launch of the More than a Mother theme song by two talented Ghanaian artistes with a compelling message on who a woman is and what she brings to the table, regardless of her fertility status, and the launch of Kofi’s story to educate children and the youth about the strong family values of love and respect.
All these, the First Lady said, had significantly addressed germane health issues affecting women, amplified campaign messages against the negativity associated with infertility and renewed interest in medical circles to discover more effective ways of treating infertility in Ghana.
Mrs. Akufo-Addo appealed to the Merck Foundation and its stakeholders to turn their attention to non-communicable diseases which she said is rapidly increasing as a result of lifestyles, with the view to addressing prevention and lifestyle changes.
The First Lady assured Merck Foundation of Ghana’s continuous collaboration, stating that “Our partnership with Merck Foundation is definitely one with long- term benefits for Ghana”.
