Three journalists of the New Times Corporation (NTC), the publishers of The Ghanaian Times, and The Spectator have won three Merck Foundation Africa Media Recognition Awards for their exceptional reportage on fertility, diabetes and hypertension in 2022.
In the “More than a Mother 2022” competition which was aimed at breaking the infertility stigma in Africa and creating awareness about infertility prevention, Agnes Opoku Sarpong, won the first position in the print category for West African Countries while Raissa Sambou took third place in the online category.
Ms Abigail Arthur beat off competition from her ECOWAS counterparts to emerge first in the print category of the “Diabetes and Hypertension” competition that was meant to raise awareness on the severity of these diseases and how they can be prevented.
These bring to 16, the number of awards NTC journalists have won since Merck Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA Germany, a multinational pharmaceutical company, introduced the competition in Ghana in 2019.
Winners of the competitions organised in collaboration with African First Ladies, including Ghana’s Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo were announced on Tuesday at a virtual award ceremony.
Dr Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation and President, Merck More Than a Mother thanked the First Ladies for their consistent support as Ambassadors of Merck Foundation More Than a Mother.
She also appreciated the efforts by the African Media Fraternity who became the voice of the voiceless to raise awareness about Infertility stigma, diabetes and hypertension in the past year.
Dr Kelej welcomed winners into the Merck Foundation Alumni to work closely with the Foundation to support and empower women and girls and announced that they would have one-year access to an online educational training programme called ‘Masterclass.’
In all, 84 journalists from various African countries were awarded.They included media practitioners from West Africa, South Africa and East Africa.
BY TIMES REPORTER
