SOCIETY: A Call for Applications for the Media Recognition Awards "Merck More than a Mother" 2018

The Merck Foundation (Merck-Foundation.com), the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA Germany, announced the opening of the call for applications for the Media Recognition Awards "Merck More than a Mother 2018.

Media professionals are invited to present their work on raising awareness of infertility prevention and breaking the stigma of infertility in Africa. The awards were introduced last year to recognize outstanding health journalism and to recognize individual professional journalists who have provided accurate, informative and compelling stories about women or infertile couples in Africa.

"I firmly believe the essential role played by the media in raising awareness among communities. As a result, we created these media awards to recognize outstanding journalistic coverage that enhances public engagement and understanding of infertility, breaking down its stigma, and highlighting the need to change social perception in communities. African. We also started two relevant hashtags #MenToo Men also may suffer from infertility not just women, and #NoForInfertilityStigma, No for the stigma of infertility to appeal to all our media partners to launch this movement across their platforms, "said Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of the Merck Foundation and President of Merck More Than a Mother

Who Can Apply?
Print Media, Online Media, Radio and Multimedia Journalists [19659003] Last submission date:
Entries may be submitted until March 31, 2019.

How to register?
Entries can be emailed to [email protected]

Categories & Rates Monetary:

USD = United States Dollars

The Merck Foundation recently concluded a ceremony to announce the winners 2017 Merck More Than One Mother Media Recognition Awards in Nairobi, Kenya. More than 200 journalists from 17 African countries attended the ceremony.

Here are the details of the first winners in the category of professional journalists in each segment:

The first prize of Segment Multimedia was awarded to Ms. Namukabo L Werungah and her team at NTV Kenya for their excellent story entitled "A Tale of Pain and Shame of Childless Women in Busia" .

The First Prize of Written Press Segment was received by Mr. Gardy Chacha, Senior Reporter in Health and Science, Standard Newspaper, Kenya. He was selected for his moving story entitled "Cecilia Wairimu: A Woman, Three Marriages, 11 Years of Infertility" .

The First Prize of Online Media Segment was awarded to Mrs. Molatelo Mainetje, newspaper and news producer and documentary filmmaker from South Africa for her short film "The Man in the Gut" .

Mrs. Asha Bakidusa, Journalist of Royal Media Services Limited, Sub Bahari FM, Kenya, received the First Prize of S egment Radio for his program entitled "How men of the family support their spouse in cases of infertility ".

All prize winners were present at the ceremony to receive their prize

About the "Merck more than a mother" campaign;

In Many cultures, childless women suffer from discrimination, stigma and ostracism. Their inability to have children causes great isolation, exhiseration and aggression. "Merck more than a Mother" empowers these women through access to information, health, change of mentality and economic empowerment.

As part of this campaign, we launched the project " Empowering Berna "in Africa to help infertile and childless women start their own business and become financially independent and grow stronger and happier. The project has benefited more than 1,000 women across the continent.

In addition, part of the campaign is our Merck Embryology & Fertility Training Program, a three-month hands-on course to establish the platform. form of fertility specialists in Africa and Asia

The Merck Foundation has provided more than 50 candidates, three months to six months of clinical and practical training to fertility specialists and embryologists in more than 29 countries. Africa and Asia such as: Chad, Niger, Central African Republic, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Nigeria, Benin, Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Guinea Conakry, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cameroon, Rwanda, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo Brazzaville, Gambia, Nepal, Siri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Cambodia

The Merck Foundation enters the history of many African countries where it never had speci fertility aids or specialized fertility clinics before the intervention of "Merck More than a Mother" to train the first fertility specialists such as; in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Gambia, Niger, Chad and Guinea

The Merck Foundation supported the establishment of the first public IVF centers in Ethiopia and Uganda by providing the necessary clinical and practical training for them. staff. The Merck Foundation also plans to support the establishment of the first public IVF in Tanzania soon.

"Merck more than a mother" launched in 2015, is a program of the Merck Foundation, the foundation piloting many of our initiatives and programs in the area of ​​strengthening health care and research capacity and improving access to equitable health care solutions.