Dr. Rasha Kelej Meets Burundi First Lady For The 12th Edition Of Merck Foundation Africa Asia Luminary To Discuss Their Joint Programs To Build Healthcare Capacity And Support Girl Education.

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GITEGA, Burundi, 29th of December, 2025 : Merck Foundation (www.Merck-Foundation.com), the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA Germany, recently conducted the 12^th 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.

Senator Dr. Rasha Kelej (Ret.) shared, “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 12^th 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”.

H.E. Madam ANGELINE NDAYISHIMIYE, First Lady of Burundi & Ambassador of Merck Foundation “More Than a Mother” emphasized, “I congratulate Merck Foundation for completing 13 years of their valuable development programs. Since our partnership that started in 2020, great outcomes have transpired. I am pleased to share that Merck Foundation has in total provided 55 scholarships to our local doctors, and one of the graduates of the Diabetes Master course has established the First Diabetes center in Burundi. Moreover, we have also launched the first public IVF center, where the fertility specialists, embryologists, and technicians have been trained through Merck Foundation scholarships.

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: https://apo-opa.co/49siC5H

Watch the video of Merck Foundation Senator Dr. Rasha Kelej (Ret.), CEO of Merck Foundation receiving Burundi First Lady, H.E. Madam ANGELINE NDAYISHIMIYE:https://apo-opa.co/45oLzNl

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 panel discussion 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 MFFLIcommittee meeting:https://apo-opa.co/49wP6eY

Together with Burundi First Lady, Merck Foundation has provided 55 scholarships for local doctors in Burundi in many critical and underserved specialties. Out of 55 scholarships,

16 scholarships have been provided for doctors in Fertility and Embryology, and PG Diploma and two-year Master degree in Sexual and Reproductive Medicine. This has contributed and will continue to contribute towards promoting the well-being of infertile women, breaking the infertility stigma and empowering these women through access to information, education and change of mindset. With the inauguration of First Public IVF Center in Burundi, infertile couples are getting treatment and medical advice in their home country for the first time.
4 scholarships have been provided for Oncology Fellowship program and PG Diploma and Master degree in Acute Medicine and Respiratory Medicine.
Moreover, 35 scholarships have been provided for Diabetes Master course and PG Diploma in Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine with an aim to build Diabetes Care Capacity in Burundi. For the Diabetes Master course in French and English, one young doctor from each province in Burundi has been enrolled. After completion, these Doctors can establish diabetes clinics in their respective Health centers or Hospitals to help prevent and manage the disease in their respective communities. This has provided Burundi with its very first diabetes center in the country and was established by one of the graduates of Merck Foundation Master course. Alumni of Merck Foundation have also recently launched Burundi’s first Diabetology Society.

“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,” added Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej.

Merck Foundation together with The First Lady of Burundi launched 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.

Merck Foundation in partnership with The First Lady of Burundi has also conducted 4 editions of their Health Media Training to empower the journalists to be the voice of the voiceless and also announced the Call for applications for their 8 important awards for Media representatives, Musicians, Fashion Designers, Filmmakers, students, and new potential talents in these fields.