{"id":1251463,"date":"2022-11-16T04:50:55","date_gmt":"2022-11-16T04:50:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/11\/16\/it-is-gross-injustice-to-stigmatise-childless-couples-mrs-akufo-addo\/"},"modified":"2022-11-16T04:50:55","modified_gmt":"2022-11-16T04:50:55","slug":"it-is-gross-injustice-to-stigmatise-childless-couples-mrs-akufo-addo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/11\/16\/it-is-gross-injustice-to-stigmatise-childless-couples-mrs-akufo-addo\/","title":{"rendered":"It is &#8216;gross injustice&#8217; to stigmatise childless couples &#8211; Mrs Akufo-Addo"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<h2>The First Lady of Ghana, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, has described the culture of stigmatising childless couples in societies as a &#8216;gross injustice&#8217;.<\/h2>\n<p>For her, it is worrying to stigmatise couples struggling to conceive, saying \u201cGrowing up, I saw how stigma and lack of support traumatised women labelled as infertile.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The First Lady made the remarks when she spoke at the 9th Merck Foundation Africa Asia Luminary Conference in Dubia on Tuesday morning, November 15, 2022.<\/p>\n<p>The luminary conference, which brought together some African First Ladies, healthcare practitioners, journalists, influencers, and academics, was meant to contribute to the social and economic development in developing countries; advance healthcare, media and awareness capacities and capabilities; improve access to quality and equitable healthcare solutions; address the stigma and social perception of infertility and define interventions to improve access to regulated, safe and effective fertility care and break the around infertile women in Africa.<\/p>\n<p><strong>First Ladies<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The African First Ladies who took part in the conference were Dr Ana Dias Lourenco, First Lady of the Republic of Angola; Mrs Neo Jane Masisi, First Lady, Republic of Botswana; Madam Angeline Ndayishimiye, First Lady, Republic of Burundi; Madam Brigitte Touadera, First lady, Central African Republic; Madam Denise Nyakeru Tshisekedi, First Lady, Democratic Republic of Congo; Mrs Fatoumatta Bah-Barrow, First Lady of The Gambia; Mrs Clar Marie Weah, First Lady, Republic of Liberia, and Mrs Monica Chakwera, First Lady, Republic of Malawi.<\/p>\n<p>The rest were Mrs Isaura Ferrao Nyusi, First Lady, Republic of Mozambique; Mrs Monica Geingos, First Lady, Republic of Namibia; Madam Khadija Bazoum, First Lady, Republic of Niger; Dr Mrs Aisha Muhammadu Buhari, First Lady, Federal Republic of Nigeria; Dr Fatima Maada Bio, First Lady, Republic of Sierra Leone; Mrs Mutinta Hichilema, First Lady, Republic of Zambia, and Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa, First Lady, Republic of Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n<p><strong>More Than a Mother<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mrs Akufo-Addo said Merck Foundation\u2019s \u201cMore Than a Mother\u201d initiative, which is aimed at breaking the stigma around infertility really touches her heart, considering the fact that it seeks to throw light on infertility and its attendant stigma, particularly against women.<\/p>\n<p>For her, the \u2018Mother than a Mother\u2019 initiative \u201cis timely and essential,\u201d adding that there is the need to advocate for a cultural shift that supports women and society.<\/p>\n<div class=\"inread\" align=\"center\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/mdundo.com\/widget_song\/2107957\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"125\" width=\"300\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/1668429065_581_uT5R4nnA_o.png\" alt=\"Get New DJ Mixes\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<p>Mrs Akufo-Addo said \u201cthe support provided by Merck Foundation to support infertility and other medical conditions in Ghana has been immense\u201d and added that through the support, Ghana has received opportunity for specialist training for some Ghanaian medical officers.<\/p>\n<p>That, she further noted, has contributed greatly to improving access to equitable and quality healthcare solutions to the Ghanaian healthcare sector.<br \/>Partnerships<\/p>\n<p>She said Ghana\u2019s partnership with Merck Foundation was launched in January 2019 and described it as \u201cone of the most productive partnerships\u201d for her office and her Rebecca Foundation.<\/p>\n<p>In the case of education, Mrs Akufo-Addo, commended the Merck Foundation for its role in promoting girl-child education in Ghana, pointing out that girl-child education is key to development and that her office and Merck Foundation are working together to inspire girl-child education in Ghana under the project, \u201cEducating the Linda Programme.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She said through the Educating the Linda Programme, 20 brilliant but underprivileged girls have received scholarships, with a number of school suppliers also distributed to various schools across the country.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, Mrs Akufo-Addo noted, through the partnership with Merck Foundation, three children centered books have been launched in Ghana to help address various social issues.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, she disclosed, her office and the Merck Foundation are working on five new story books, which will be launched later this year, to help prevent child marriage in Ghana.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Commendation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Merck Foundation\u2019s CEO, Senator Dr. Rasha Kelej, in her opening remarks, commended African First Ladies for their collaborative roles in breaking infertility stigma on the African Continent, as well as helping to train more specialised doctors for the continent\u2019s healthcare sector.<\/p>\n<p>For her, the various inputs of the various African First Ladies has really gone far to raise awareness on the Foundation\u2019s flagship programme, the Merck Foundation\u2019s More Than a Mother initiative, which seeks to break stigma around infertility in Africa.<\/p>\n<p>She expressed the hope that the conference will help to discuss strategies and solutions to improve quality healthcare delivery in the various African countries as well as in parts of Asia and Latin America.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I am happy that the Merck Foundation has realised the strategy to improve access to quality healthcare solutions in each country in Africa,&#8221; Senator Dr. Kelej noted.<\/p>\n<p>She said Merck Foundation through its scholarships has built the capacities of medical doctors across various African countries in the areas of diabetes, cardiovascular, endocrinology, cancer, fertility care, women health, sexual and reproductive care, respiratory medicines, acute medicines, and research.<\/p>\n<p>She further noted that it was the Foundation\u2019s goal to train more health personnel in areas such as Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology, Mental Health, Orthopedic Trauma, Paediatric, Emergency Medicine, Dermatology, Neonatal Medicine, Pain Management, Psychiatry, Clinical Microbiology &#038; Infectious Diseases, Ophthalmology, Urology, Trauma and orthopedics in Africa.<\/p>\n<p>The Chairman of both Executive Board of E. Merck KG and Merck Foundation Board of Trustees, Professor. Dr. Frank Stangenberg-Haverkamp, in his address expressed his appreciation to all the African First Ladies in working to raise awareness on infertility, diabetes and hypertension, as well as other diseases, including cancers in their respective countries.<\/p>\n<p>He said Merck Foundation since its inception has provided more than 1,400 scholarships to healthcare givers in over 50 countries in Africa and Asia to undertake a one-year Diploma and two-year Master programmes in different specilaised areas.<\/p>\n<p>For him, the training that Merck Foundation has given its beneficiary medical officers has contributed significantly in improving healthcare delivery across their operative countries.<\/p>\n<p>Prof. Stangenberg-Haverkamp said many of those who have benefited from Merck Foundation\u2019s scholarships have become specialists in their health facilities, providing essential healthcare solutions.<\/p>\n<p>He has, therefore, encouraged all the African First Ladies to continue to work with the Foundation to achieve greater impacts in Africa in improving healthcare delivery.<\/p>\n<p>He said good healthcare \u201ccan transform the lives of individuals and families across developing countries\u201d, and that the provision of good healthcare solutions \u201ccan as well contribute to the sustainable economic development.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Healthcare is a major driver of economic growth and consequently, social progress,&#8221; Prof. Stangenberg-Haverkamp noted.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script type=\"892bdf0da85b192341480082-text\/javascript\">\n!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\nn.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;\nn.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\nt.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,\ndocument,'script','https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\nfbq('init', '771749920311523', {}, {agent: 'pljoomla'});\nfbq('track', 'PageView');\n<\/script><script type=\"892bdf0da85b192341480082-text\/javascript\">(function(d, s, id) {\n\t\t\t\t  var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\n\t\t\t\t  if (d.getElementById(id)) return;\n\t\t\t\t  js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;\n\t\t\t\t  js.src=\"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_GB\/all.js#xfbml=1&appId=342494502508165\";\n\t\t\t\t  fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n\t\t\t\t}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The First Lady of Ghana, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, has described the culture of stigmatising childless couples in societies as a &#8216;gross injustice&#8217;. For her, it is worrying to stigmatise couples struggling to conceive, saying \u201cGrowing up, I saw how stigma and lack of support traumatised women labelled as infertile.\u201d The First Lady made the remarks [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1251465,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[187],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1251463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1251463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1251463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1251463\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1251463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1251463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1251463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}