Merck Foundation Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Meets The First Lady Of Gabon And 13 African And Asian First Ladies To Underscore Their Partnerships To Strengthen Healthcare Capacity.

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LIBREVILLE, Gabon, 18th of December 2025 : Merck Foundation (www.Merck-Foundation.com), the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA Germany, strengthened its long-term partnerships to enhance healthcare capacity and scholarship programs through high-level meeting held between Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation, and The First Lady of the Gabonese Republic, H.E. Madam ZITA OLIGUI NGUEMA, who is also the Ambassador of Merck Foundation “More Than a Mother”. The meeting was held during the 7th Edition of the Merck Foundation First Ladies Initiative Summit 2025.

Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej expressed, “It was a pleasure meeting my dear sister H.E. Madam ZITA OLIGUI NGUEMA, First Lady of the Gabonese Republic and the Ambassador of Merck Foundation “More Than a Mother” during the Merck Foundation First Ladies Initiative Summit 2025. Together, we have begun providing scholarships for young doctors in the fields of Oncology and Diabetes care. This is just the beginning of our efforts to transform the public healthcare landscape in the country, and we will continue to scale up the number of scholarships.”

Madam ZITA OLIGUI NGUEMA, First Lady of the Gabonese Republic & Ambassador of Merck Foundation More Than a Mother stated, “Our partnership with Merck Foundation, though initiated only last year in 2024, has already begun to yield meaningful outcomes. Together, we’ve embarked on initiatives aimed at enhancing healthcare capacity and addressing critical social and health challenges in Gabon. We have started to enroll our local doctors for the scholarship program. Moreover, we are also implementing the impactful program Educating Linda, through which we are providing annually, scholarships to 20 high performing girls who are underprivileged, ensuring they can continue their education until graduation. This program is particularly close to my heart because each of these girls will now have the opportunity to pursue the career of her choice and dreams.”

Watch the Speech of The First Lady of Gabon & Ambassador of Merck Foundation More Than a Mother during the Merck Foundation First Ladies Initiative Summit 2025 here: https://apo-opa.co/4aYbFdH

On day 2 of the Summit, 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 and Asian First Ladies shared the impact report of Merck Foundation programs in their respective countries, and future strategy was discussed.

Watch the video of MFFLIcommittee meeting: https://apo-opa.co/4aVLhBa

“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 doctors from 52 countries in 44 underserved medical specialties. We will soon be enrolling more doctors from Gabon in various medical specialties in partnership with the First Lady and Ministry of Health of Gabon“, added Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej.

Merck Foundation, together with the Office of the First Lady of Gabon, recently conducted their first Health Media Training program with the aim to build the capacity of local media representatives to raise awareness on critical social and health issues such as ending gender-based violence and female genital mutilation, supporting girl education and women’s empowerment, and addressing health challenges like diabetes and hypertension.

Merck Foundation also announced the Call for applications for their 8 important awards in partnership with The First Lady of Gabon for Media, Musicians, Fashion Designers, Filmmakers, students, and new potential talents in these fields.

Moreover, in partnership with The First Lady of Gabon, Merck Foundation has also launched seven children’s storybooks, “More Than a Mother”, “Educating Linda”, “Jackline’s Rescue”, “Not Who You Are”, “Ride into the Future” and “Sugar free Jude”, and “Mark’s Pressure”. The storybooks launched in French language, address various social and health issues like breaking infertility stigma, supporting girl education, stopping GBV, diabetes and hypertension awareness.

The 7^th Edition of Merck Foundation First Ladies Initiative was streamed live on the social media handles of Merck Foundation and Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation:

@ Merck Foundation: Facebook (http://apo-opa.co/3Y2sXyL), X (http://apo-opa.co/4p4JrBD), Instagram (http://apo-opa.co/3YzDeCJ), and YouTube (http://apo-opa.co/3Y4PMlt).

@ Rasha Kelej: Facebook (http://apo-opa.co/3KEhBOB), X (http://apo-opa.co/48KLFBh),Instagram (http://apo-opa.co/3N6Dt5H), and YouTube (http://apo-opa.co/3YzAdlX).

Link to the YouTube live stream of Inaugural Session ofMerck Foundation First Ladies High Level Panel: https://apo-opa.co/45i3tRV

Merck Foundation is transforming the Patient care landscape and making history together with their partners in Africa, Asia, and beyond, through:

2500+ Scholarships provided by Merck Foundation for doctors from 52 Countries in more than 44 critical and underserved medical specialties.

Merck Foundation is also creating a culture shift and breaking the silence about a wide range of social and health issues in Africa and underserved communities through:

3700+ Media Persons from more than 35 countries trained to better raise awareness about different social and health issues
8 Different Awards launched annually for best media coverage, fashion designers, films, and songs
Around 30 songs to address health and social issues, by local singers across Africa
9 Children’s Storybooks in three languages – English, French, and Portuguese
6 Awareness Animation films in five languages – English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Swahili to raise awareness about prevention and early detection of Diabetes & Hypertension and supporting girl education.
Pan African TV Program “Our Africa by Merck Foundation” addressing Social and Health Issues in Africa through “Fashion and ART with Purpose” Community
1040+ Scholarships provided to high performing but under-privileged African schoolgirls from 18 countries, to help them to complete their studies and empower them to reach their full potential.
15 Social Media Channels with more than 8 Million Followers.