Merck Foundation committed to empowering girls, women

The  Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Merck Foundation, Dr Rasha Kelej, has emphasised the foun­dation’s commitment to empowering girls and women.

This, she said was at the core of all initiatives and programmes at the foundation.

She said this in a statement to commemorate the International Wom­en’s Day, celebrated on March 8, each year and copied to The Spectator in Accra on Monday.

Dr Kelej recognised the immense potential of women to thrive, succeed and excel in any domain they choose, yet they often lack the conducive environment to fully realise their capabilities, especially in underserved communities.

“Therefore, together with our Am­bassadors, The First Ladies of Africa, we mark International Women’s Day every day since the last 13 years through our development programmes and initiatives such as ‘More Than a Mother’, ‘Merck Foundation Capacity Advancement’, ‘Educating Linda’, and ‘STEM Programme,” Dr Kelej said.

She explained that the “Merck Foundation More Than a Mother” is a strong movement that aims to em­power infertile and childless women through access to information, educa­tion and change of mindset.

The CEO of Merck Foundation men­tioned that out of the 2,230 scholar­ships awarded across 52 countries in 44 critical and underserved special­ties, 1046 scholarships that is nearly 50 per cent have been granted to female medical graduates, empower­ing them to become future healthcare experts and leaders.

Also, she said the foundation believes that education was one of the most critical areas of women empowerment and that through its educational programme known as ‘Educating Linda,’ over 700 girls have been provided scholarships to contin­ue their education.

Dr Kelej also noted that the pro­gramme had also provided essential school items for thousands of school­girls in many African countries such as Botswana, Burundi, Malawi, The Gambia, Nigeria, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Namibia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cape Verde and more.

Merck Foundation, Dr Kelej said also actively empowers women in science and technology through its Science, Technology Engineering and Mathe­matics (STEM) programme.

“Our goal is to empower wom­en and young African researchers, enhance their research capacity, and promote their contributions to STEM,” emphasized Dr Kelej.

 By Jemima Esinam Kuatsinu