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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
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Swedru All Blacks back to winning ways, Roshan humble King Faisal
Sekondi Rospak FC made it eight wins in eight successive home games after three second-half goals from John Amoah, Joseph Ntow and Stephen Anthony Kofi. John Amoah opened the scoring in the 55th minute after a barren first half. Joseph Ntow added to the tally in the 56th minute before Stephen Anthony Kofi rounded things up in the 74th minute to give Rospak a 3-0 win over former Premier League side King Faisal.
Elsewhere at Swedru – leaders Swedru All Blacks humbled PAC Academy in an emphatic 2-0 win. Zayat Bubakari scored first for Swedru All Blacks in the 27th minute before Rudolf Junior Nana Kwasi Mensah made it 2-0 in the 34th minute. Swedru All Blacks are top of the table with 36 points – 4 points ahead of second placed Rospak FC.
Meanwhile, Former Premier League side Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs recorded their fourth successive home victory after beaten New Edubiase United 2-1 at the Robert Mensah Park. Enoch Odoom struck first for Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs in the 19th minute but Steven Asante equalized for New Edubiase United before halftime. After the interval, Godfred Eshun scored from distance in the 65th minute to help Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs secure all the points.
Here are the results in Zone Two
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Cervical Cancer alert: Avoid sex at early age
The Programmes Manager of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Mary Efua Commeh, has advised young girls to avoid sex at an early age.
This, she explained, will give the cervix the opportunity to mature before they become sexually active.
“You need to delay what we call the first sexual intercourse as much as possible to give the cervix the opportunity to mature before the person becomes sexually active,” she said.
Dr Commeh stated this in an interview with The Spectator in Accra on Tuesday as a part of the Cervical Cancer awareness month.
According to her, cervical cancer was the second leading female cancer in Ghana with a total of about 3,072 cases annually, and out of that, 1,815 deaths are recorded, representing more than 50 per cent.
She indicated that “If young girls are going to be sexually active, then you need to talk to your parents about being vaccinated.”
She explained that vaccinating young girls against human papillomavirus (HPV) has been found to be a very effective way of preventing cervical cancer.
“There are countries that started HPV vaccination years ago and they are not seeing any cervical cancers now because they would have eliminated most of the high-risk HPVs in their women. So if the high-risk HPV is not there, then obviously the results on cervical cancers are going to go down,” she added.
Dr Commmey said the HPV vaccination is recommended for young girls aged nine to 14 years, adding that it had been found to be highly effective, not just for cervical cancers but for other HPV-related cancers, such as anal cancers, cancers of the vagina, genital warts, amongst others.
She further elaborated that the idea is to put up a barrier before the HPV comes in and that once a young female encounters it, she is already protected.
She also mentioned that for cervical cancers, the main cause is called HPV infection, saying generally, all sexually active women acquire HPV at some point in their lives.
However, the Programmes Manager of NCDs at the GHS mentioned that the body has a way of clearing the HPV, explaining that it is a natural mechanism that goes on, unfortunately, there are a few women whose HPV persists.
Moreover, she noted that the numbers for Cervical Cancer tend to be much higher because at times, clients would wait, and try all sorts of medications before they finally report to the health facility saying “we actually lose some women before they get to the hospitals with over 75 per cent of the cases coming in its third and fourth stages.”
Dr Commey, therefore, called for public awareness while ensuring the availability of information for prevention and control.
By Jemima Esinam Kuatsinu
