Time for Policy Action: Merck Foundation Summit Spotlights Urgent Need to Protect Girls and Women in Africa and Asia
The 2025 Merck Foundation First Ladies Initiative (MFFLI) Summit officially opened in Dubai on the 18th of June 2025, in United Arab Emirates, bringing together First Ladies from across Africa and Asia to spotlight gains made in transforming the lives of women and girls—but more importantly, to catalyze policy shifts rooted in human rights commitments under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) framework.
Addressing delegates, Dr. Rasha Kelej, Chief Executive Officer of Merck Foundation, reaffirmed the organisation’s unwavering support for women facing infertility—a condition often linked to stigma, violence, and exclusion in many communities. She urged policymakers and governments to treat infertility as a public health and human rights issue, rather than a silent burden carried by women.
“Every girl in Kenya and across Africa deserves the opportunity to pursue her dreams—whether as a doctor, teacher, or scientist. It is our duty to break down every barrier that stands in her way, from stigma to lack of access to healthcare and education,” said the First Lady of Kenya, in her keynote address, reinforcing the Summit’s central theme of translating commitment into concrete policy action.
Urging Governments to Prioritize Infertility as a Rights Issue
In countries like Malawi, the Foundation is collaborating with the office of the First Lady, Madam Monica Chakwera, who also serves as the ambassador for the “More Than a Mother” Initiative. This campaign challenges harmful stereotypes around infertility and empowers women through access to fertility treatment, psychosocial support, and public awareness.
As per World Health Organisation (WHO) statistics, 15 out of every 100 people in Africa are living with infertility. Yet, many national health policies either neglect infertility altogether or fail to integrate it within reproductive health services, leaving millions of women to suffer in silence.
In Kenya, infertility remains a deeply stigmatized issue, with many women unfairly blamed or abandoned in cases of childlessness. Despite Kenya’s relatively advanced health infrastructure, infertility care is still largely inaccessible to low-income families, and the services available are often unaffordable and poorly regulated. While Kenya has ratified multiple international treaties that recognize the right to the highest attainable standard of health, infertility is not yet recognized in national health insurance schemes.
As Kenya continues to undergo its UPR review, civil society groups are now calling on the government to:
Include infertility diagnosis and treatment in the Essential Health Benefits Package;
Integrate fertility awareness in sexual and reproductive health education;
Expand access to fertility services beyond urban private hospitals;
Recognize infertility stigma as a gender-based violence issue in national policies.
Ending Female Genital Mutilation: Beyond Rhetoric
The summit also highlighted the urgent need to eliminate Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)—a harmful practice affecting over 230 million girls and women across 30 countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, according to WHO.
Merck Foundation, in partnership with African First Ladies, is supporting grassroots initiatives to end FGM. However, Kenya, despite having some of the most progressive anti-FGM laws, continues to face challenges with enforcement, especially in remote counties and among cross-border communities.
Recent efforts by the Anti-FGM Board, the Judiciary, and civil society actors have been lauded, but survivors still lack access to medical care, psychosocial support, and justice. The law alone is not enough—social norms must be challenged, and resources must be committed.
Key recommendations from human rights advocates include:
Strengthening inter-county and cross-border coordination to track and prevent FGM;
Funding safe houses and community education programs;
Training police, health workers, and judiciary officials to handle FGM cases with sensitivity;
Fully implementing recommendations Kenya accepted in previous UPR cycles concerning the protection of women and girls from harmful traditional practices.
UPR: An Accountability Tool for Real Change
As states prepare their UPR midterm reports, advocates stress that women’s health rights—particularly in areas like infertility and FGM—must not be sidelined. The Merck Foundation summit provides a timely reminder that voluntary initiatives by First Ladies and foundations must be matched by structural policy reform.
“If our countries can commit to the UPR, then they must also commit to protecting the bodies, dignity, and dreams of every woman and girl,” said one of the human rights activists.
Editor’s Note: The UPR process offers Kenya and other nations an opportunity not only to reflect on their human rights records, but also to take measurable steps toward equity. For Kenya, the time is ripe to mainstream infertility into public health policy, enforce its anti-FGM laws more effectively, and uphold the rights of all girls and women—no matter their fertility status, cultural background, or economic class.
By Angela Kizengwe, AMWIK Member
