Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation & President of More Than a Mother and H.E. Madam ANGELINE NDAYISHIMIYE, First Lady of the Republic of Burundi at the 12th Edition of “Merck Foundation Africa Asia Luminary
Merck Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA Germany, recently conducted the 12th Edition of their annual conference, “Merck Foundation Africa Asia Luminary”, in partnership with the Government of The Gambia in Banjul, The Gambia. The conference was co-chaired by H.E. Mrs. FATOUMATTA BAH-BARROW, First Lady of The Gambia and Ambassador of Merck Foundation More Than a Mother and Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation and President of More Than a Mother. H.E. Madam ANGELINE NDAYISHIMIYE, First Lady of the Republic of Burundi, and Ambassador of Merck Foundation “More Than a Mother” along with The First Ladies of Central Africa, Liberia, Nigeria, São Tomé & Príncipe and Senegal joined as the Guests of Honor and Keynote speakers.
It was such a pleasure meeting my dear sister, H.E. Madam ANGELINE NDAYISHIMIYE, First Lady of Burundi & Ambassador of Merck Foundation “More Than a Mother” during the 12th Edition of our Luminary in The Gambia. Our partnership journey began in 2020, and since then, we have achieved a lot. I am happy to share that we have provided till today 55 scholarships for local Burundian doctors, in specialties such as Oncology, Embryology, Fertility, Diabetes, Sexual and Reproductive Care, Acute Medicine, Respiratory Medicine, Endocrinology, and Preventative Cardiovascular Medicine and more. We are looking forward to enrolling more doctors in many more specialties and together, we will continue to advance the healthcare capacity in the country.
We have also launched together many initiatives to address a wide range of social and health issues in Burundi and beyond. We are also working together to support girl education by providing annual scholarships to 40 best-performing but underprivileged girls, as a part of Educating Linda program. This is extremely important as Education is the way forward to empower our girls.
Watch the Speech of The First Lady of Burundi & Ambassador of Merck Foundation More Than a Mother during the Merck Foundation Africa Asia Luminary 2025 here:
Watch the video of Merck Foundation Senator Dr. Rasha Kelej (Ret.), CEO of Merck Foundation receiving Burundi First Lady, H.E. Madam ANGELINE NDAYISHIMIYE:
On Day 1 of the conference, the Plenary Session of the Merck Foundation Africa Asia Luminary 2025 took place, featuring keynote speeches of First Ladies of Africa. Moreover, a high-level ministerial paneldiscussion was also held with African Ministers.
On Day 2 of the conference, 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 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:
Together with Burundi First Lady, Merck Foundation has provided 55 scholarships for local doctors in Burundi in many critical and underserved specialties.
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 2500 scholarships for healthcare providers from 52 countries in 44 underserved medical specialties. We will continue to provide scholarships for doctors from Burundi and beyond.
Together with The First Lady of Burundi we havelaunched nine children’s storybooks; “More Than a Mother”, ‘Educating FIFI”, “Make the Right Choice”, “Jackline’s Rescue”, “Not Who You Are”, “Ray of Hope”, “Ride into the Future” and “Sugar free Jude” and “Mark’s Pressure”, to raise awareness about various social issues like breaking infertility stigma, supporting girl education, ending child marriage, ending GBV and also health issues like diabetes, hypertension and cancer. Thousands of copies of these storybooks have been distributed to school students of Burundi.
The 12th Edition of Merck Foundation Africa Asia Luminary 2025 was streamed live across all our social media platforms, enabling thousands of participants from over 70 countries to join our discussions, amplify our impact, and celebrate the spirit of partnership and progress.
Kind Regards,
Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej (Ret.)
CEO of Merck Foundation
