Merck,
the world’s oldest pharmaceutical and chemical company has inaugurated a campaign
to improve access to regulated, effective and safe fertility care and raise
awareness about infertility prevention
and management.
Speaking
during the Merck
Africa Luminary in Nairobi, Dr Karl Ludwig Kley, Chairman of Executive Board
and CEO of Merck said the newly launched ‘Merck More
Than a Mother Campaign’ will define interventions to reduce stigmatization and social suffering of infertile
women and raise awareness about male infertility.
Dr Karl Ludwig Kley
announced Hon. Joyce Lay as an ambassador for ‘Merck
More Than a Mother” Campaign in Kenya for 2015 and 2016 to appreciate her
efforts to address infertility issues in the country
He
has also awarded Grace Kambini, A Kenyan Infertile woman, a wooden shield for
her courage to share her story of stigmatization and suffering due to her
infertility condition so that no other woman would suffer the same way she did.
“The Merck More Than a
Mother” Campaign will not only provide medical education
and awareness for medical students and general practitioners but will also
support governments to define policies to improve access to regulated, effective
and safe fertility care,” said Dr Kley.
Hon.
Joyce Lay, Parliament Member “We cannot talk in hash tones anymore, infertility
is real and needs all of us to work together to fight stigma, majority of
infertility causes is untreated infection, information is very vital to help
prevention, early detection and available treatment methods.”
“I
was a mother and my son passed away at the age 2 years. After some time I had
pains in my lower stomach and my doctor thought it was cancer but after some tests
it was confirmed that it was not but instead they found the problem to be closed
tubes and after several doctor’s consultations I was told the permanent
solution is hysterectomy and that means all your hopes of getting baby done,”
says Lay.
She
expounds that in Africa when people get married and within a year there is a
lot of pressure from family and friends to have children. Sadly she says when
infertility is blamed on women ignorant of the fact that it is a shared
responsibility.
“The
IVF bill recognizes that every woman who gets birth through IVF is the mother.
We are pushing to have this service to all facilities country wide. It’s our
responsibility as member so parliament to ensure that every level five has an
IVF clinic and that the services are affordable,” says Lay.
Grace
Kambi, 57 years old has suffered from infertility and this was the main reason
she was rejected by her husband and in-laws. After nine years of being
childless, it was confirmed that she would never have children a fact that
continues to haunt her today.
“If
I have half of the knowledge back then I would have soughted a lot of the
issues that were there back then and today things would be different. I
encourage all girls to who are experiencing issues bearing children to go to
hospital together with their spouses to seek for treatment,” advises Kambi
“Merck More Than a Mother
Campaign will
address together with local stakeholders, the key challenges associated with
resource-constrained settings such as prevention of Infertility, education and
self-development, ART/IVF regulation, geographic barriers, reproductive rights
and over-population and limited resources arguments” said Rasha Kelej, Chief
Social Officer of Merck Healthcare
“It
also focuses on assisted reproductive technology (ART) and in vitro fertilization
(IVF) regulation, geographic barriers, reproductive rights and over-population
and limited resources arguments,” Kelej added
Belen Garijo, Member of the Executive Board
of Merck and CEO Merck Healthcare
launched Merck More Than a Mother social media campaign early this year to
accelerate the project reach, with a view of to sensitize the community and
raise awareness about Infertility in general and Male infertility.
During
her meeting with University of Nairobi and Kenya Women Parliamentary Association
to kick off the campaign, Garijo emphasized, “Providing access to infertility
care is important, but it is even more important to intervene to decrease
stigmatization and social suffering arising from this condition. And that what
we are aiming to do in partnership with local stakeholders across Kenya and
Africa at large.”
According
to World Health Organization (WHO) data more than 180 million couples in
developing countries (which one in every four couples) suffer from primary or
secondary infertility. In Sub-Saharan Africa infertility is caused by
infections in over 85% of women compared to 33% worldwide which emphasize the
importance of infertility prevention programs in Africa.
Differences
between the developed and developing world are emerging because of the
different availability in safe, effective and equitable infertility care and
different socio-cultural value surrounding parenthood and procreation since the
social stigma of childlessness especially for infertile women still leads to
isolation and stigmatization in many African cultures.
“The
Merck Fertility Capacity Advancement Program will contribute to identifying and
implementing strategies to improve access to effective, safe and regulated
fertility care in Africa and to defining interventions to decrease social
suffering from infertility and childlessness” rasha Kelej added.
Ends…//
Youtube link to grace’s video
Hon. Joyce Lay video:
Twitter
@ MerckAndMothers
Face book
Merck More than a Mother
Youtube
Merck More than a Mother
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