Merck's 'More Than a Mother' Campaign Helps Kenyan Women

Merck, a leading company for innovative and top-quality high-tech products in healthcare, life science and performance materials, announced the start of "More than a Mother" campaign as part of Merck Fertility Capacity Advancement Program, in collaboration with University of Nairobi and Kenya Women Parliamentary Association.
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The program will not only provide medical education and awareness for medical students and general practitioners but will also support governments to define policies to improve access to safe and effective fertility care, address the need for interventions to reduce stigmatization and social suffering of infertile women and raise awareness about male infertility and the necessity for a team approach to family building among couples.
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Through this campaign Merck will address together with local stakeholders, the key challenges that are associated with resource-constrained settings such as prevention of infertility, education & self-development, assisted reproductive technology (ART) & in vitro fertilization (IVF) regulation, geographic barriers, reproductive rights and over-population and limited resources arguments.
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According to World Health Organization (WHO) data, more than 180 million couples in developing countries (which is one in every four couples) suffer from primary or secondary infertility. In Sub-Saharan Africa, infertility is caused by infections in over 85 percent of women compared to 33 percent worldwide, which emphasizes the importance of infertility prevention programs in Africa.
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Differences between the developed and developing world are emerging because of the different availability in safe, effective and equitable infertility care, as well as different socio-cultural values surrounding parenthood and procreation since the social stigma of childlessness especially for infertile women still leads to isolation and stigmatization in many African cultures.
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During her meeting with University of Nairobi and Kenya Women Parliamentary Association to kick off the campaign, Bel�n Garijo, Member of the Executive Board of Merck and CEO Merck Healthcare, emphasized "Providing access to infertility care is important, but it is even more important to intervene to decrease stigmatization and social suffering arising from this condition."
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"The United Nations universal declaration of human rights states that access to adequate comprehensive reproductive health services, including infertility care, is a basic human right regardless of the economic circumstances in which individuals are born into," said Bel�n Garijo. "Therefore, the Merck Fertility Capacity Advancement Program will contribute to identifying and implementing strategies to improve access to effective, safe and regulated fertility care in Africa and to defining interventions to decrease social suffering from infertility and childlessness."
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The consequences of infertility are much more dramatic in developing countries and can create more wide ranging social and cultural problems compared to Western societies, particularly for women.

A central difficulty associated with infertility is that it can transform from an acute, private distress into a harsh, public stigma with complex and devastating consequences.

In some cultures, childless women still suffer discrimination, stigma and ostracism. An inability to have a child or to become pregnant can result in being greatly isolated, disinherited or assaulted. This may result in divorce or physical and psychological violence.

"Therefore, Merck's 'More than a Mother' campaign together with University of Nairobi will challenge the perception of infertile women, their roles and worth in society, both within and beyond the medical profession in order to achieve any systemic shift in the current culture of gender discrimination in the context of fertility care," said Prof. Koigi Kamau of the University of Nairobi.

Kamau said that infertility affects men and women equally. Approximately one-third of cases of couple infertility is due to male factors, one-third to female factors and one-third relates to a combination of male and female factors or has no identifiable cause. Together with Merck and University of Nairobi, they will launch the "Fertility is a shared Responsibility" initiative, to raise 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.

"Merck's 'More than a Mother' campaign will bring us together with academia, medical students, healthcare providers, policy makers and media to create a culture shift that respects women regardless if they have children or not," said Hon. Joyce Lay, Taita Taveta, a Member of Parliament, during the kick-off event. "It will also raise awareness about male infertility and infertility as a shared responsibility between couples, their families, communities and care providers."

Lay emphasized that in order to improve access to safe and effective fertility care, a discussion with the relevant authorities will be needed to discuss the strengthening of infertility services, education, auditing, regulation, community awareness and the need to integrate them with Mother and Child, HIV prevention and Family Planning Programs, which already exist in health infrastructure.

"We are happy to announce the kickoff of our social media campaign together with University of Nairobi, Kenya Women of parliamentarian Association and Kenya Fertility Society and to invite you to join us in a conversation on Twitter handle: MerckAndMothers and Facebook page 'Merck More Than A Mother'and YouTube Channel 'Merck More Than A Mother,'" said Rasha Kelej, Vice President and Head of Global Business Responsibility and Market Development at Merck Serono, biopharmaceutical business of Merck. "We will discuss together how we can reduce the social suffering and stigmatization of infertile women and raise awareness about male infertility in Kenya and the rest of Africa."

Merck Fertility Capacity Advancement Program, in partnership with University of Nairobi, provides accredited medical education and awareness for medical postgraduates and healthcare providers from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania in collaboration with EXCEMED and international fertility experts from Spain, Canada and Indonesia to improve patient access safe and effective fertility care.