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Merck Foundation holds 9th Africa Asia Luminary in Dubai
• Some first ladies with CEO of Merck foundation and other dignitaries
An organisation which aims to improve the health and wellbeing of people and advance their lives through science and technology, Merck Foundation, has successfully held its 9th Africa Asia Luminary in Dubai from Tuesday, November 15 to Wednesday November 16.
The initiative which marks 10 years of Development Programmes and 5th anniversary of Merck Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Merck Germany, had more than 6,000 participants from more than 70 countries.
Addressing the opening session, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Merck Foundation, Senator Dr Rasha Kelej, said it was a great honour to have the chairman of both the Executive Board of E. Merck KG and Merck Foundation Board of Trustees, Prof. Dr Frank Stabgenberg-Haverkamp to officially inaugurate the Luminary.
She acknowledged Prof. Dr Stabganberg-Haverkamp’s valuable guidance and support for Merck Foundation.
Senator Dr Kelej revealed that the Foundation had provided more than 1,470 scholarships to young doctors from 50 countries in 32 critical and undeserved specialties such as diabetes, endocrinology, oncology, embryology, sexual and reproductive medicine among others with most of them becoming the first-ever specialists in their countries.
“We will celebrate together the 5th anniversary of Merck Foundation which was established in 2017 and the 10th anniversary of the programmes which started in 2012.
She said together with the First Ladies, they would share experiences and discuss the impact of their programmes to build healthcare and media capacity.
This she said aimed at raising awareness on sensitive and critical issues in addition to wide range of social issues like supporting girl education, ending child marriage, stopping GBV, breaking infertility stigma, ending FGM, women empowerment and diabetes.
Touching on the diabetes awareness song, she pleaded with the First Ladies and media to help promote it to get the message across to make an impact considering the increasing rate of diabetes in Ghana.
She further said the huge milestone wouldn’t have been achieved without the support of the first ladies, adding that healthcare is a major drive of the economy.
She thanked the first ladies for their commitment and support for a successful story over the years and expressed appreciation to the Merck Foundation for their unflinching support and dedication.
Prof Dr Stabganberg-Haverkamp said after two difficult years, it felt great to be back physically.
According to him, it had been a wonderful journey of transforming lives since 2012, and expressed appreciation to each and everyone for immense contribution to the Merck Foundation story of raising awareness and building efficacy.
He acknowledged the effort of first ladies in raising awareness for the Merck More Than A Mother initiative.
Prof.Dr Stabganberg-Haverkamp congratulated efforts of the Merck Foundation alumni, adding that they are proud of their success stories of impacting lives in their countries after graduating from various sponsorship programmes.
He further noted that he is personally pleased with their stories, for it encourages his outfit to continuously sponsor health professionals to touch more lives and be part of Africa’s story.
The First Lady of Central African Republic, Bridgette Touadera, delivering the keynote address said she started her partnership with Merck Foundation in 2015, and it has since been an impactful journey.
She took the opportunity to congratulate her colleague first ladies for their enormous roles and pledged their support to Merck Foundation, adding that their partnership has kept growing stronger every year.
Madame Bridgette Touadera expressed appreciation to the key roles doctors and medical practitioners play in every society and urged them to continue the hard work.
She added that her Foundation through the support of Merck has immensely supported the healthcare sector to train more doctors and other practitioners.
This she said had hugely impacted lives of people in Central Africa Republic and other African countries.
She urged her colleague first ladies to continue on their quest to overcome stigma associated with infertility and empower women through ‘Educating Linda’ initiative to inspire young ladies.
After the inaugural session, there was panel discussion of health experts from all over the world.
It continued the next day, Wednesday, November 16, with training sessions for health professionals and the media.
Since 2012 and the formation of Merck Foundation, Senator Dr Rasha Kelej has developed many impactful programmes.
Programmes such as Merck Capacity Advancement Programmes, Merck Cancer Access, Merck More Than a Mother, Merck Foundation First Ladies Initiative (MFFLI), Education Linda Programme, Diabetes Blue Points Programme, and Merck STEM for Women and Youth have yielded positive results as well as changed lives.
These programmes are focused on building healthcare capacity and transforming patient care landscape through providing scholarships of training in critical and undeserved medical specialties in Africa and developing countries.
Senator Dr Kelej together with African First Ladies have been breaking the silence on a wide range of critical and sensitive social and health issues like Supporting Girl Education, Breaking Infertility Stigma, Stopping GBV and FGM, Ending Child Marriage and Empowering women at all levels; through many of her innovative and unique initiatives like; Creating more than 30 songs in English, French, Portuguese and other local languages to create awareness on health issues.
From Edem Mensah-Tsotorme, Dubai
Madam Sandra Seyram Kpedor, the District Chief Executive (DCE) of Anloga in the Volta Region, has emphasised the importance of parental involvement in children’s education, stating that education is free, but parents need to do more to support their children.
She said parents, teachers, and students must be involved in addressing the challenges facing the district’s education sector, particularly the poor Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) results.
Madam Kpedor outlined some key roles parents should play to promote their children’s education, including providing a conducive learning environment, monitoring their children’s progress, and supporting teachers.
The DCE highlighted some challenges the district faced such as inadequate infrastructure and a shortage of teachers, which have also contributed to the poor BECE results and called on well-to-do parent to help solve the situation through and other supports.
To address the issues, she also announced that plans have been taken to utilise the district’s common fund to implement educational projects, such as constructing school blocks and teachers’ bungalows at Sodzi community, and 2-unit classroom blocks each at Akplorwutorkor and Tegbi-Afedome respectively, among others.
Madam Kpedor also noted that her office had earlier notified the Ministry of Education to deploy more teachers to the area to improve teaching and learning, and encouraged students to work hard and strive for excellence, and work beyond their limit to succeed.
“To my wonderful and beautiful girls, you have to know it clear that women and girls have equal opportunities to compete with men for greater achievements,” she indicated.
The DCE cited her own achievement as a testament to the fact that women can excel in leadership positions, alongside Vice President Nana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, and stressed that girls were no longer limited to domestic roles but can pursue their dreams and become leaders.
Additionally, she mentioned that a meeting was held earlier with assembly members, and other stakeholders to address the district’s educational challenges and improve academic performance.
She promised that the district’s education oversight committee and stakeholders would work together to address the challenges and improve the district’s BECE results and called for parental involvement and support to boost the district’s education sector for children to chase their dreams to become future leaders for the success of the district and the nation.
She urged parents not to leave everything to the government but rather help in the provision of some necessary materials such as textbooks, exercise books, pens, pencils, food, and guidance to children for the successes of young learners. –GNA
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The spokesperson for Dr. Bawumia, Dennis Miracles Aboagye, has criticised the implementation of the NDC government’s No Fee Stress policy, arguing that the programme has failed to deliver on its core promise.
According to him on Starr fm, the policy, which was introduced to ensure stress free payment of fees for level 100 tertiary students, has rather turned into what he described as post stress support.
He explained that students are required to pay their fees first before applying for reimbursement, a situation he believes defeats the purpose of the policy.
He questioned claims by government officials that the policy has been successful and that citizens are happy.
In his view, such claims do not reflect the lived realities of many Ghanaians. He stressed that while some people may appear satisfied, many others continue to struggle.
Dennis Miracles Aboagye pointed to the situation of trained teachers and nurses who have been picketing for nearly six months, demanding employment.
He noted that government responses suggesting it cannot accommodate all of them contradict claims of economic stability.
He further argued that economic indicators such as a stable currency mean little to people who are unable to secure jobs or access promised support.
He observed that telling an unemployed teacher or a struggling student that the cedi has strengthened does not address their immediate challenges.
On the issue of tertiary education, he maintained that no level 100 student benefited from stress free fees in 2025, despite the policy being announced.
He added that in 2026, students have already reported to school without receiving the promised support.
He insisted that asking students to pay fees first and seek reimbursement later amounts to support after hardship, not stress free education.
According to him, this approach goes against what was promised during the policy announcement.
Dennis Miracles Aboagye questioned why a government that presents the economy as strong is unable to fulfil what he described as simple and clear promises.
He added that there is a fundamental problem with the way the economy is being managed and indicated that he is prepared to explain his position further.
By: Jacob Aggrey
