Merck Foundation CEO meets Central African Republic First Lady & 13 First Ladies of Africa and Asia at the 7th Edition of MFFLI Summit

BusinessWire India
Bangui [Central African Republic]/ Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], September 10: Merck Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA Germany, conducted the 7th Edition of Merck Foundation First Ladies Initiative - MFFLI Summit 2025 recently. It was inaugurated by Prof. Dr. Frank Stangenberg-Haverkamp, Chairman of Merck Foundation Board of Trustees, and Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation & President of Merck Foundation First Ladies Initiative and H.E. Madam BRIGITTE TOUADERA, First Lady of Central African Republic and Ambassador of Merck Foundation "More Than a Mother" along with First Ladies of Angola, Cabo Verde, Central African Republic, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Maldives, Mozambique, Nigeria, São Tome & Principe, Senegal, and Zimbabwe.
Speaking about Merck Foundation's initiatives in Central African Republic, Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation expressed, "I am glad that my dear sister, H.E. Madam BRIGITTE TOUADERA, First Lady of Central Africa and Ambassador of Merck Foundation "More Than a Mother" joined us for the 7th Edition of Merck Foundation First Ladies Initiative 2025. Our partnership with her started in 2015, and we have come a long way since then. We have provided scholarships for young doctors from CAR in Oncology and Diabetes. Moreover, together we are supporting the education of 40 schoolgirls who are deserving yet under privileged through our Educating Linda program."
H.E. Madam BRIGITTE TOUADERA, First Lady of Central African Republic & Ambassador of Merck Foundation "More Than a Mother" shared, "I greatly value our partnership with Merck Foundation that is since 2015, to support us to advance and build the healthcare capacity in our country by providing scholarships to our local doctors in various medical specialties. Together, we have worked on "Empowering Berna" program where we established small businesses for infertile and childless women and trained them to run their businesses so they can have income and become independent and have purpose life. Also, as a part of Merck Foundation's Education Linda program, we are providing scholarships to 40 under-privileged schoolgirls from our country to support girl education."
Watch the Speech of The First Lady of Central African Republic & Ambassador of Merck Foundation More Than a Mother during the Merck Foundation First Ladies Initiative Summit 2025 here: https://youtu.be/6bcJHbzwK3k
On day 2 of the Summit, Merck Foundation First Ladies Initiative- MFFLI committee meeting was conducted between The First Ladies of Africa and Merck Foundation Chairman and CEO, where the African and Asian First Ladies shared the impact report of Merck Foundation programs in their respective countries, and future strategy was discussed.
Watch the video of MFFLI committee meeting: https://youtu.be/G2YlJgkagNQ
During the Summit, a strategy meeting between The First Lady of Central African Republic and Merck Foundation CEO, Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej to discuss their on-going programs and define strategies to further build healthcare and media capacity in CAR to address a wide range of social and health issues.
Watch video of the meeting here: https://youtu.be/Zt7nTsoJJ78
"Merck Foundation has always believed in the importance of building healthcare capacity and has been working for it since 2012. We have so far provided 2280 scholarships for doctors from 52 countries in 44 underserved medical specialties. We will be together enrolling more local doctors from CAR for the scholarship program," added Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej.
Merck Foundation, in partnership with The First Lady of Central African Republic also announced the Call for applications for their 8 important awards for Media, Musicians, Fashion Designers, Filmmakers, students, and new potential talents in these fields. Through these awards, the aim is to encourage young talents and youth in Central Africa to create and innovate messages in their art and daily work to create awareness about sensitive issues like Break Infertility Stigma, Support Girl Education, Stop Gender Based Violence, End Child Marriage, End FGM, and Women Empowerment at all levels and raise awareness about early detection & prevention of Diabetes & Hypertension.
Moreover, to address these critical issues, Merck Foundation together with the office of The First Lady of Central African Republic, has also conducted 3 editions of their Online Health Media Training to encourage media to be the voice of the voiceless and raise awareness.
Moreover, in partnership with The First Lady of Central African Republic, Merck Foundation has also launched seven children's storybooks, "More Than a Mother", "Educating Linda", "Jackline's Rescue", "Not Who You Are", "Ride into the Future" and "Sugar free Jude", and "Mark's Pressure". The storybooks launched in French language, address various social and health issues like breaking infertility stigma, supporting girl education, stopping GBV, diabetes and hypertension awareness.
The 7th Edition of Merck Foundation First Ladies Initiative was streamed live on the social media handles of Merck Foundation and Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation:
@Merck Foundation: Facebook, X, Instagram, and YouTube.
@Rasha Kelej: Facebook, X, Instagram, and YouTube.
Link to the YouTube live stream of Inaugural Session of Merck Foundation First Ladies High Level Panel: https://youtube.com/live/1xIeh0TCAuw
Merck Foundation is transforming the Patient care landscape and making history together with their partners in Africa, Asia, and beyond, through:
-2280+ Scholarships provided by Merck Foundation for doctors from 52 Countries in more than 44 critical and underserved medical specialties.
Merck Foundation is also creating a culture shift and breaking the silence about a wide range of social and health issues in Africa and underserved communities through:
-3700+ Media Persons from more than 35 countries trained to better raise awareness about different social and health issues
-8 Different Awards launched annually for best media coverage, fashion designers, films, and songs
-Around 30 songs to address health and social issues, by local singers across Africa
- 8 Children's Storybooks in three languages - English, French, and Portuguese
-7 Awareness Animation films in five languages - English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Swahili to raise awareness about prevention and early detection of Diabetes & Hypertension and supporting girl education.
-Pan African TV Program "Our Africa by Merck Foundation" addressing Social and Health Issues in Africa through "Fashion and ART with Purpose" Community
-950+ Scholarships provided to high performing but under-privileged African schoolgirls to empower them to complete their studies
-15 Social Media Channels with more than 8 Million Followers.
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