Local women champion in the “Merck Foundation More Than a Mother” Africa Media Recognition Awards 2020 to break Infertility Stigma
The Merck Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA Germany recently announced the winners of ‘Merck Foundation More Than a Mother’ Africa Media Recognition Awards 2020.
The awards were announced by the Merck Foundation Chief Executive in partnership with the First Ladies of Zimbabwe, Zambia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Niger, Namibia, Mozambique, Malawi, Liberia, Guinea Conakry, Ghana, Gambia, DRC, Congo Brazzaville, Chad, Central African Republic, Burundi, and Botswana, who are also the Ambassadors of ‘Merck Foundation More Than a Mother’.
The foundation said it received a great response from African journalists in the form of several excellent entries.
The ‘Merck Foundation More Than A Mother’ Awards Committee decided to create three Groups of Awards from English speaking countries. Hence, the six groups are: 1) Southern African Countries, 2) East African Countries, 3) West African Countries, 4) African French Speaking Countries, 5) Ghana, and 6) Zambia. “We did not receive any entries from Portuguese speaking countries this year for this specific award,” the committee stated.
In the Online category for Southern Africa, Sharon Kavhu, from the Southern Times (Namibia) bagged the first position; in the Multi Media category Rosa Teixeira, an independent journalist (Namibia) managed to get the second position while Veronika Haulenga-Haufiku, Omulunga Radio, Future Group (Namibia) managed to clinch first position in the Radio category.
The winners from Southern African Countries were announced in partnership with the First Lady of Malawi, H.E. Monica Chakwera; The First Lady of Namibia, H.E. Monica Geingos, and The First Lady of Zimbabwe, H.E. Auxillia Mnangangwa.
The foundation’s Chief Executive, Dr Rasha Kelej, celebrated the winners saying “Big congratulations to all the winners of ‘Merck Foundation More Than a Mother’ Africa Media Recognition Awards 2020. First, I’d like to thank my dear sisters, First ladies of Africa for their support as Ambassadors to make this award a great success. I am very proud to recognize and appreciate professional journalists who became the voice of the voiceless and the storytellers of infertile women and break the stigma around them and also raised awareness about male infertility. As you all know I strongly believe in the critical role that media and art play to create a culture shift and raise awareness about health, cultural and sensitive issues such as infertility stigma. I welcome all the winners to be member in our Merck Foundation Alumni to work closely with us to empower women and girls at all levels”.
The full list of all the category winners can be viewed on: www.Merck-Foundation.com
