Merck Foundation to conduct their UNESCO-Merck Africa Research Summit–MARS 2019 in Accra, Ghana

October 23, 2019

UNESCO Together with Merck Foundation will continue to build research capacity in the African Research Community in the fields of science and sustainability

ACCRA, Ghana, October 23, 2019/ — Merck Foundation (www.Merck-Foundation.com), the philanthropic arm of Merck Germany plans to conduct the New Edition of their “UNESCO – Merck Africa Research Summit (MARS) 2019” in partnership with African Union in ACCRA, GHANA on 30th of October 2019 during their annual conference “Merck Africa Asia Luminary”.

Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation and Chairperson of UNESCO-MARS explained “The Summit aims to contribute to building research capacity in African research community and discuss challenges, opportunities & proposed strategies to support health decision making that address Health and Sustainability challenges in low-and middle-income countries. The end objective is to empower African young researchers & women researchers, advancing their research capacity and promote their contribution to STEM”.

The scientific committee of the UNESCO MARS 2019 include Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation & Chairperson of UNESCO-MARS; Mr. Diallo Abdourahamane, UNESCO Director to Ghana; Dr. Ahmed Fahmi, Chief of Section, Division of Science Policy and Capacity Building, UNESCO; Dr. Ahmed Hamdy, African Union – Scientific, Technical and Research Commission and Prof. Elijah Songkok, Assistant Professor, Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases College of Medicine, University of Manitoba, Kenya.

The UNESCO MARS 2019 will host high level participants that include many African Ministers of Health, Science and Technology, Education, information and Gender and African Researchers.

“This high-level roundtable meeting will also provide networking opportunities to strengthen the research community and their impact on African society and media communication” concluded Dr. Rasha Kelej.