Merck Foundation Partners African First Ladies, Health Ministries to Build Cancer Care Capacity in Africa

…Trains Oncologists in Africa to increase limited number

Rebecca Ejifoma

Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO Merck Foundation and Prof. Dr. Frank Stangenberg-Haverkamp, Chairman of Board of Trustees of Merck Foundation with Merck More Than a Mother Ambassadors First Ladies of Burundi, Central Africa, Chad, Liberia, Ghana, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Zambia and Zimbabwe during the MFFLI commitee meeting in Ghana

Merck Foundation has partnered African First Ladies and Ministries of Health to build cancer care capacity in the continent with the training of the first African oncologists for better and quality cancer care in Africa.



Merck Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA Germany disclosed this while marking World Cancer Day 2020 with the theme, “I am and I will” by their Cancer Access Programme to build cancer care capacity to increase limited number of Oncologists across the continent.

According to the CEO Merck Foundation, Dr. Rasha Kelej, “We are committed to lead Africa to a better future through shaping the landscape of cancer care in the continent.”

She expressed that Merck Foundation is focusing on improving access to cancer care solutions by developing a Multidisciplinary Oncology Care team in each country.

Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation with Merck Foundation Alumni in India 4 picture with President

The care team would include: Medical, Surgery, Pediatric, Gynae, Radiation Oncologists, Radiation Technician, Nursing, Pathologist as an integrated team approach can lead to better outcomes.

She added: “I am very proud to say that we have so far trained more than 80 Oncologists from 26 countries.”

Kelej disclosed further that the foundation has trained first ever oncologists in countries like Gambia, Central African Republic, Liberia, Guinea Conakry, Burundi, Chad and Sierra Leone. “We are making history in these countries”.

Reacting to the gesture, the First Lady of Liberia, H.E Clar Marie Weah said, “Merck Foundation is training the first ever oncologists from our country. Having our own cancer specialists is something we had never imagined. I deeply appreciate its efforts”.

Speaking also, the Presidents of Chad, Idriss Déby; Niger’s Mahamadou Issoufou; Burundi’s Pierre Nkurunziza; Central African Republic's, Faustin-Archange Touadéra acknowledged Merck Foundation’s efforts to train their doctors.

The first Lady of Sierra Leone, Fatima Maada Bio lauded the gesture. “Cancer was a subject that people would only talk about secretly. Only after the death of the person we would know that he or she had cancer.

“And we have too many people dying of cancer. So, Merck Foundation’s programme of training the cancer specialists has been a God-sent for my country. You have empowered us to talk about Cancer. Thank you for training local experts in my country.”

Now, the First Lady of Malawi, Professor Gertrude Mutharika said, “Malawi opened its first cancer centre and Merck Foundation is providing training to doctors from our country to become oncologists. I deeply appreciate the efforts of the foundation for giving us our own cancer specialists”.

Meanwhile, Merck Foundation through its Merck Cancer Access Programme has trained over 80 Oncology Care Specialists from 26 countries.

 Dr Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation with Merck Foundation Alumni in Egypt

The countries are: Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, CAR, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, DRC, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinee, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

As per the data, the burden of cancer in Africa is growing with recent estimates reporting 1.06 million new cancer cases per year. This figure is expected to increase by 102% to 2.12 million by 2040.

Moreover, the mortality-incidence ratio in Africa is substantially higher than other countries. This is since at least 80% of patients in Africa are diagnosed with cancer at an advanced stage.

Sadly, the foundation noted that one of the key factors that contribute to poor cancer outcomes in Africa includes limited health system infrastructure and a scarcity of oncologists.

Therefore, Merck foundation’s partnership with African First Ladies, Local Governments and Academia has been the right strategy to address this pressing issue.

The Merck Cancer access Programme was launched in 2016 to provide One, two-and three-years fellowship and master degree programmes in India, Egypt, Kenya and Malaysia.

It is an on-going initiative with a quest to build cancer care capacity and aims to scale up to even more African and developing countries this year.