Foundation highlights six years of creative advocacy addressing health and social issues across Africa
Merck Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA, marked World Art Day 2026 by highlighting the impact of its Pan-African “Art and Fashion with Purpose” community. Established in 2020 by Dr. Rasha Kelej, the initiative completed six years of activities focused on raising awareness around social and health-related issues through art, fashion, film, and music.
According to the foundation, the community brings together artists, fashion designers, filmmakers, singers, and media professionals from more than 25 countries across Africa and beyond. The initiative focuses on issues including infertility stigma, girl education, ending female genital mutilation (FGM), child marriage, gender-based violence, women empowerment, and awareness related to diabetes, hypertension, and cancer.
Dr. Rasha Kelej stated that art, fashion, and media continue to serve as important tools for awareness and education. She noted that the “Fashion and Art with Purpose” community has worked to encourage cultural change by integrating social messaging into creative work across different regions.
As part of its awareness initiatives, Merck Foundation launched the pan-African television program Our Africa by Merck Foundation. The program was conceptualized, produced, directed, and co-hosted by Dr. Rasha Kelej and features African fashion designers, singers, and experts discussing social and health-related topics. The program has been broadcast on television channels across several African countries and is also available through the foundation’s digital platforms.
The foundation, in partnership with The First Ladies of Africa, also continues to organize annual awards under two themes focused on social awareness and health education. The awards recognize media professionals, fashion designers, filmmakers, musicians, singers, and emerging African talents working on issues such as infertility stigma, women empowerment, ending child marriage and FGM, gender-based violence, diabetes awareness, hypertension prevention, and healthy lifestyles.
According to the foundation, entries for the 2026 awards can be submitted through its official channels. The “Art and Fashion with Purpose” community currently includes 175 winners selected from 25 countries through the foundation’s Fashion, Film, and Song Awards initiatives.
The winners include 102 Fashion Award recipients, 53 Song Award winners, and 20 Film Award winners from countries including Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, CAR, Congo-Brazzaville, DRC, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Beyond the awards program, Merck Foundation has also produced more than 30 awareness songs in English, French, Portuguese, and several African languages. These projects focus on topics such as infertility stigma, women empowerment, girl education, child marriage, diabetes awareness, and healthy living.
The foundation has additionally developed nine children’s storybooks in English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swahili, alongside six animated awareness films adapted from the storybooks to support community-level awareness initiatives.
