Merck, ASPIRE partner to address fertility care in Africa and Asia

Merck, through its ‘Merck More than a Mother’ initiative in partnership with Asia Pacific Initiative on Reproduction (ASPIRE), conducted a panel to address challenges and solutions to improve access to regulated fertility care in Africa and Asia.

The event, held during the 7^th annual Congress of ASPIRE in Malaysia, also focused on exploring opportunities to collaborate with Asian Fertility Societies in order to build cost-effective and safe fertility care capacity in Africa and developing countries, Merck said in a statement.

After the success of the collaboration between ‘Merck More than a Mother’ and Indian and Indonesian fertility experts to provide practical embryology training, the company will connect Africa with Asia to provide more opportunities for building capacity and interventions to empower infertile women and couples, the statement added.

“Through ‘Merck More than a Mother’ we empower an under-privileged segment of women. Women who couldn’t bear children and for this they are discriminated and mistreated by their husbands, families and communities. In some cultures, childless women still suffer discrimination, stigma and ostracism. This is unacceptable and has to change through our campaign,” Rasha Kelej, Chief Social Officer, Merck Healthcare, said in a press release.