Merck Foundation Partners Guinea to Launch First Merck Health Media Training

•••Calls for application from print, electronics and online media professionals with deadline
Rebecca Ejifoma

Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation and President, Merck More Than a Mother with the First Lady of Guinea, Mrs. Djene Condé

Merck Foundation in partnership with First Lady of Guinea, Djene Conde, to build healthcare capacity in the fields of Oncology, break the stigma around fertility and diabetes care set to hold the first Merck Health Media Training in Conakry, Guinea.



The foundation, which is the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA Germany, is in partnership with Conde, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Information and Communication to break the stigma around infertility in Guinea and rest of Africa.

CEO of Merck Foundation and President of Merck More than a Mother, Dr. Rasha Kelej, explained: “The training is a part of ‘Merck More than a Mother’ community awareness programme".

He added that the initiative was organised for the first time in Guinea for local media representatives and media students.

Kelej, however, described the training for the media as significant to influence the society to create a cultural shift. It has the capacity and ability to break the stigma around infertility in the community. 

Speaking further, the president added that the initiative would provide a great opportunity for the journalists to meet the experts, network with each other and work as a unit to eradicate the stigma around infertility in Guinea and rest of Africa. 

Applications are invited by media professionals to showcase their work to raise awareness about infertility prevention and breaking infertility stigma in Guinea and rest of Africa.

The training is open to journalists from print, online, radio and multimedia platforms. Last date of submission is October 30th 2019 to be sent to mystory@merckmorethanamother.com.

According to Kelej, the Merck Health Media Training is focused on the international standards and media ethics for reporting sensitive issues like infertility in Africa. 

“It was designed to benefit the journalists in understanding the infertility issues and to learn the best media practices to cover such issues”.

Merck Foundation, also, calls for application for “Merck More than a Mother” ‘Media Recognition Awards’ for Guinea and rest of Africa. 

The Media Recognition Awards was  launched in 2017 with the aim to emphasise the role of media in enhancing the public engagement and understanding of infertility stigma and the need to change its social perception in African communities.

Categories and prize money for winners: TV USD 1000; radio USD 1000; Print Media USD 1000; Online Media USD 1000.

Conde, the ambassador, spoke on the media training: “We are happy to host this training programme together with Merck Foundation.

"Media plays an important role is sensitising the society. It can help in breaking the stigma around infertility”.