Over 500 participants, including Health care providers, policy makers, academia, researchers, and media from more than 70 countries in Africa and Asia are meeting at Tata Memorial Centre in Mumbai, India, for this year’s 10th Edition of Merck Foundation Africa Asia Luminary.
The two-day Luminary was organised by Merck Foundation in collaboration with Tata Memorial Centre and Krishna Vishwa Vidyapeeth University to enable the participants to discuss and share different strategies and programmes to empower women and youth in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education in Africa and developing countries.
The conference, which coincided with the 6th Anniversary celebration of the foundation, included a First Ladies’ High Level Panel for 15 first ladies from their respective countries, including First Lady of Ghana, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, to discuss challenges and solutions in building health care capacity.
As part of the conference, the foundation would organise a media training on health where International Health Experts in Diabetes, Fertility, Cardiovascular Preventive Care, among others, would train the participants on diverse health issues for them to contribute their quota in improving healthn care capacity and access to quality and equitable health care solutions.
The Founder of Merck Foundation and Chairman of Executive Board, Merck Foundation Board of Trustees and E. Merck KG, Professor Dr Frank Stangenerg-Haverkamp, said it was crucial to have a real economic transformation with a social dimension that would ensure not only all basic needs, but a better quality of life for everyone.
He said such achievements could not be attained except with capacity-building and the empowerment of women and youth, adding that the size and complexity of the task was large for a single organisation to manage.
“So integration of effort is necessary to realise our vision for a world where everyone can lead a healthy and fulfilling life,” he said.
Prof. Stangenerg-Haverkamp added that the private sector had an important role to play where they would partner governments, academia, and communities, and expressed the need to consolidate a centrally-driven corporate responsibility activities of Merck Foundation to expand its scope and effectiveness of its projects.
He said the conference was apt and concerted efforts “put us in a better position to address some of the most pressing health, social and economic challenges of the 21st century,” he said.
The Chief Executive Officer of Merck Foundation and Chairperson of the Merck Foundation Africa Asia Luminary, Senator Dr Rasha Kelej, stated the foundation was proud to work with African First Ladies to reshape Africa’s Future and make history together.
She indicated that the foundation would continue to execute many impactful programmes and considerably expand its scope to address health, social and economic challenges of the 21st century
FROM AMA TEKYIWAA AMPADU AGYEMAN, MUMBAI, INDIA
