Merck’s twin
initiatives to address infertility kick off
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Merck pharmaceutical in collaboration with the University of Nairobi, and University of Indonesia
has launched two crucial initiatives, targeted to address the social
suffering and stigmatization of infertile women. The duo, “Merck More than A Mother” and “Fertility is a Shared
Responsibility” is part of Merck’s 5-year program, Capacity Advancement program
(CAP) in fertility management in Indonesia, Kenya and the rest of Africa.
The same program is set be launched in Kenya in partnership with the University
of Nairobi. CAP is aimed at elevating
health professionalism in areas such as research and medical education in
Africa and developing countries.
Rasha
Kelej, Head of Global Business Responsibility and Market Development at Merck’s
biopharmaceutical business, Merck Serono regarded access to adequate
comprehensive reproductive health services, including infertility care as a
basic human right. He further confirmed
that CAP will identify and implement strategies to improve access to high
quality biomedical fertility care in Indonesia.
Through “More than a Mother” initiative, interventions to lessen social
suffering linked to infertility and childlessness will be defined.
The
initiatives are aimed at imparting knowledge concerning infertility including the
cultural, psychological and caring aspects related to fertility management to
the medical students and practitioners in Indonesia.
“...One
of the strategies to increase health service access is to improve the referral
system for infertility care and strengthen the links between general
practitioners and infertility providers. Medical students as future general
practitioners should therefore understand the basics of infertility management.
Therefore we believe that our partnership with Merck to implement their
Capacity Advancement Program will help us to achieve this goal,” emphasized Dr.
Budi Wiweko, Research Manager, University of Indonesia.
Infertility
in Indonesia became a major concern due to the high infertility rate followed
by inaccessibility to proper health facilities by many of the infertile couples
as well as the cultural value of parenthood in Indonesia.
“
Fertility is a shared Responsibility” initiative is aimed at raising awareness about
male infertility and encourage men to acknowledge and openly discuss their
infertility issues and strive for a team approach to family building with their
partners in order to progress toward Shared Fertility Responsibility among
couples. Research has shown that male
factors too do contribute to infertility among couples. Women alone should not be held accountable of
couple infertility as this depicts gender discrimination which is a major
factor behind the social suffering of women.
CAP’s also
has a goal of equipping 5,000 plus medical University students with skills to prevent
the diabetes epidemic by end of 2015.
“Merck
is planning to target more than 15,000 students by the end of 2018 expanding to
more African, Asian, Latin American and Middle Eastern countries with special
focus on non –communicable diseases such as Diabetes, cancer and fertility
management as a way of increasing patient safety,” said Kelej.
SOURCE : Humphreys Elkington
