Merck Foundation turns to social and health issues
NAIROBI — Merck Foundation is launching a TV show to feature the first “Fashion and Art community with Purpose” in Africa, established by them to break the silence about social and health issues.
Merck Foundation emphasises the importance of art community as a critical partner to raise awareness about sensitive health and social issues on World Art Day, which was commemorated on Friday.
The organisation, the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA Germany marked World Art Day 2022 through their African Community of Art and Fashion with Purpose.
This pan African community has been established by Merck Foundation to raise awareness on sensitive health and social issues in Africa and beyond through the new TV programme Our Africa with Merck Foun
to be broadcasted on National TV channels of Kenya - and Uganda – and Ghana –
The UNESCO celebrates World Art Day to help reinforce the links between artistic creations and society, encourage greater awareness of the diversity of artistic expressions and highlight the contribution of artists to sustainable development.
“I am so happy to be celebrating the World Art Day 2022,” said Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation.
“We at Merck Foundation strongly believe that media, art, and fashion play a very critical role in shaping the future development of our communities.
“Fashion and art have a purpose beyond entertainment and looking good.
“We have also established our African Community of “Art and Fashion with Purpose” with the aim to raise awareness about a wide range of social and health issues such as ending child marriage, ending FGM [female genital mutilation], stopping GBV [gender-based violence], breaking infertility stigma, supporting girl education and women empowerment and raise awareness about diabetes and hypertension and more.”
Kelej said art in Africa had a rich cultural legacy and history, hence her organisation encouraging the youth in the continent to make use of various forms of art to create an impact and awareness on critical and sensitive social and health issues.
“With this thought, I will soon launch a TV show in Africa — Our Africa by Merck Foundation,” she said.
“This TV show is set to be the voice of the voiceless and break the silence about many social and health issues in our beloved Africa.
“Our aim with this TV show is to create a culture shift in the communities.
“The show is hosted by myself and Brian Mulondo from Uganda and will feature fashion designers and music artists from across Africa who contributed to spread positive awareness messages through their work.”
Merck Foundation together with their partners, the African first ladies, have launched several children’s storybooks that it created to address key social issues such as ending child marriage, stopping GBV, supporting girl education, and breaking the Infertility stigma.
“We have collaborated with cartoon artists from various African countries to come up with these children’s storybooks for our young readers,” explained Kelej.
Merck Foundation has also launched over 25 songs on breaking infertility stigma, supporting girls’ education, and women empowerment, in English, French and Portuguese language.