Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, the First Lady of the Republic of Ghana, has lauded the Merck Foundation for its effective partnership and contribution towards strengthening the country’s healthcare. “Today, we celebrate an important milestone – a culmination of a great partnership between my office and the Merck Foundation, since 2018. The First Lady said the partnership had enabled Ghana to build healthcare capacity, transform patient care, break infertility stigma and support girl education.
Mrs Akufo-Addo was speaking at the Merck Foundation Ghana Alumni Summit and Awards Ceremony 2024 in Accra. The programme was to recognise journalists, doctors, musicians, fashion designers and filmmakers for expanding awareness on key health and social issues in Ghana, under the community awareness programme sponsored by the Merck Foundation. The First Lady, who is also the Ambassador for the “More Than a Mother” campaign, said Ghana could now boast of more specialists in very critical areas of medicine due to the sponsorship and the substantial contribution to enhancing access to quality healthcare solutions in many deserved specialties.
“Merck Foundation has allowed us to access new resources, knowledge, and networks. “In the short period of nearly six years, Merck Foundation has provided 143 scholarships for local Ghanaian doctors in about 40 diverse disciplines,” Mrs Akufo-Addo said. She said infertility had always been a taboo topic in the African context, saying with the .