Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation
Merck Foundation announced the winners of “Stay at Home” Media Recognition Awards for African Countries. The theme of the awards was ‘Raising Awareness on how to Stay Safe and Keep Physically and Mentally Healthy during Coronavirus Lockdown’ with the aim to separate facts from myths and misconceptions. The “Stay at Home” Media Recognition Awards were introduced in partnership with African First Ladies of Ghana, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Malawi, Namibia, Niger, Guinea Conakry, Burundi, Central African Republic (C.A.R.), Chad, Zimbabwe, Zambia, The Gambia, Liberia and Congo Brazzaville, Angola and Mozambique.
Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation emphasizes, “I am very proud of our winners. We received a tremendous response from African journalists in form of their entries. I truly believe that Media plays a crucial role in educating and sensitizing our communities about health and sensitive issues such as COVID-19, therefore, through the awards, we are recognizing the distinguished reportage and the exceptional work of journalists who frequently covered this topic in their countries”.Here are the winners from Southern African Countries in partnership with The First Lady of Malawi, H.E. MONICA CHAKWERA; The First Lady of Namibia, H.E. MONICA GEINGOS; The First Lady of Zambia, H.E. ESTHER LUNGU and The First Lady of Zimbabwe, H.E. AUXILLIA MNANGAGWA:
Here are the winners from West African Countries in partnership with The First Lady of The Gambia, H. E. FATOUMATTA BAHBARROW and The First Lady of Liberia, H.E. CLAR MARIE WEAH:
Here are the winners from East African Countries:
Here are the winners from French-speaking African Countries in partnership with The First Lady of Central African Republic (CAR), H.E. BRIGITTE TOUADERA; The First Lady of Burundi, H.E. ANGELINE NDAYISHIMIYE; The First Lady of Niger, H.E. AÏSSATA ISSOUFOU MAHAMADOU:
Here are the winners from Portuguese-speaking African Countries in partnership with The First Lady of Angola, H.E. ANA DIAS LOURENÇO and The First Lady of Mozambique, H.E. ISAURA FERRÃO NYUSI:
The quality of work was impressive; therefore, the Merck Foundation Media Awards Committee reviewed the entries from four categories; Online, Print, Radio and Multimedia; under the following groups: 1) East African Countries, 2) West African Countries, 3) Southern African Countries, 4) French Speaking African Countries and 5) Portuguese speaking African countries.The Merck Foundation Media Awards Committee has further introduced a second and a third position and selected more than one winner, on some occasions, for each of the Four Categories from all the regions.“The valuable contribution from the winners in sensitizing their respective communities about COVID 19 has encouraged us to additionally reward them all to become Merck Foundation Alumni and provide them with one-year access to online educational training program called “MasterClass”. The MasterClass is an immersive online experience and self-paced learning course in English that can be accessed anywhere with the Internet. This is to motivate passionate journalists to continue writing and advocating for social, economic and health issues across their countries”, added Dr. Rasha Kelej.
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About Merck FoundationThe Merck Foundation, established in 2017, is the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA Germany, aims to improve the health and wellbeing of people and advance their lives through science and technology. Our efforts are primarily focused on improving access to quality & equitable healthcare solutions in underserved communities, building healthcare and scientific research capacity and empowering people in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) with a special focus on women and youth. All Merck Foundation press releases are distributed by e-mail at the same time they become available on the Merck Foundation Website. Please visit www.merck-foundation.com to read more. To know more, reach out to our social media: Merck Foundation; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Flicker.