Our Partners

Merck Foundation’s partnerships across more than 50 countries, with First Ladies of Africa and Asia, their Foundations, Ministries of Health, Education, Gender and Communication, medical societies, academia, media, and art communities, bring together distinct yet complementary roles, expertise, and platforms to achieve meaningful and sustainable impact.

In their capacity as First Ladies of their respective countries and Ambassadors of “Merck Foundation More Than a Mother,” we work closely together to advance advocacy and awareness, strengthen local coordination, and mobilize key stakeholders around critical health and social issues.

Through this partnership, and in coordination with the relevant Ministries of Health, Education, Gender and Communication, First Ladies support the identification of appropriate beneficiaries for Merck Foundation programs, facilitate local processes, and help support the return and integration of Merck Foundation-trained healthcare providers into their countries and public healthcare systems.

Equally important is their leadership in advancing awareness and creating a much-needed culture shift around critical and sensitive social and health issues, including supporting girls’ education, ending child marriage, breaking infertility stigma, stopping gender-based violence, empowering women, and promoting the prevention and early detection of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.

These efforts are further amplified through Merck Foundation’s Community Awareness Program and its various initiatives, including Health Media Training, Media Recognition Awards, Fashion Awards, Film Awards, Song Awards, children’s storybooks, awareness songs, and films. Through their advocacy and influence, the First Ladies have helped Merck Foundation transform the patient-care landscape, amplify important messages at national and community levels, and mobilize stakeholders around these critical issues.

Separately, the Foundations of the First Ladies, as institutional partners in their own right, collaborate with Merck Foundation on the implementation of specific community-based initiatives. This includes the “Educating Linda” program, implemented in coordination with the relevant Ministries of Education, through which Merck Foundation annually supports the education of 40 high-performing but underprivileged schoolgirls in each participating country, helping them remain in school and pursue their education.

The collaboration also includes the distribution of thousands of essential school-item sets and educational storybooks to school students, further supporting education while introducing important health and social messages from an early age.

Together, these partnerships demonstrate Merck Foundation’s model of working through complementary but clearly defined roles: leveraging the advocacy and convening leadership of First Ladies, the implementation capacity of their Foundations, the technical and institutional mandate of government ministries, and the expertise and reach of healthcare, academic, media, and creative communities.

It is this coordinated ecosystem of partnerships—with distinct responsibilities and a shared vision—that enables Merck Foundation to build local capacity, create sustainable impact, and contribute to long-term transformation in healthcare and society.