Merck Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA Germany, in partnership with African First Ladies and Ministries of Health, mark ‘World Cancer Day 2021’themed ‘I am and I will’ through their Cancer Access Programme to build cancer care capacity with the aim to increase the limited number of Oncologists across the continent.

Merck Foundation together with African First Ladies and Ministries of Health build cancer care capacity in Africa by providing One-, two-and three-years fellowship, master degree, and Diploma programs for 70 African doctors from 24 Countries to be first trained oncologists and first multidisciplinary cancer care teams in their countries.

Senator Dr.Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation, Most Influential African (2019 & 2020) & African Woman of The Year 2020 emphasized, “We at Merck Foundation strive to make the African healthcare professionals highly competent and fully independent by providing the best in class multidisciplinary oncology and cancer care training to young doctors from all over Africa.”

According to her “I am proud of our success to reshape and advance the public cancer care sector and to increase the limited number of oncologists by more than 70 new oncologists to be the first in 24 countries. And to form a Multidisciplinary Oncology Care teams in many countries consist of; Medical, Surgery, Pediatrics, Gynecology, Radiation Oncologists, Nursing, Pathologist and Radiology Technician.”

She added that “We are definitely making history in Africa through training the first oncologists and first cancer care teams in many countries such as; The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Liberia, Guinea Conakry, Central African Republic, Chad, and Niger. Our key objective is to provide quality and equitable care to patients who never had anyone to care for them before.”