Merck Foundation CEO and African First Ladies Announce the Winners of Song Awards 2021 of “More Than A Mother” to Break the Infertility Stigma and Support Girl Education in Africa All the African Singers and Musical Artists are invited to create and share a song with the aim of Breaking the Infertility Stigma, Supporting Girl Education, Women Empowerment, Ending Child Marriage, Ending FGM, and/ or Stopping GBV at all levels ABUJA, Nigeria, June 1, 2022/APO Group/ -- Merck Foundation (https://Merck-Foundation.com) and African First Ladies have announced two new Song Awards. The First one is the new edition of Merck Foundation Song Awards “More Than a Mother” 2022 with the aim to address a wide range of social issues like breaking Infertility Stigma, Support Girls’ Education, End Child Marriage, End FGM, Stopping GBV and Women Empowerment at all levels. The second Song Awards is to promote a healthy lifestyle, prevention and early detection of diabetes and hypertension. Merck Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA Germany announced the Winners of Merck Foundation Song Awards “More Than a Mother” 2021 in partnership with African First Ladies who are also the Ambassadors of Merck Foundation More Than a Mother. “The theme of the award was to create a song with the aim to break the Infertility Stigma, Stop GBV, and Empowering Girls and Women through Education at all levels” emphasized by Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation, President of “More than a Mother”. “I am extremely happy to announce today the winners of Merck Foundation SONG Awards “More Than a Mother” 2021 in partnership with African First Ladies. Big congratulations to all the winners. I am overwhelmed by the response we received in the form of entries from talented singers and musicians from across Africa. I strongly believe that through music and art, problems can be felt, which further stimulates feelings and leads to engagement and action. Hence, we introduced this award to encourage African composers and singers to create songs that promote awareness on various social and health issues in Africa like breaking the infertility stigma, empowering girls in education and in general, Stopping GBV, Ending Child Marriage and/ or Ending FGM”, added Senator, Dr. Kelej. This year, Merck Foundation announced the winners from three categories: English Language, French Language, and Local Language. Here is the list of Award Winners: ENGLISH Language Category FIRST POSITION: SECOND POSITION: THIRD POSITION:

FRENCH Language Category FIRST POSITION: SECOND POSITION: SPECIAL AWARD LOCAL Languages Category FIRST POSITION: SECOND POSITION: THIRD POSITION: SPECIAL AWARD Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej stated, “We have announced Call for Applications for two Song Awards of Merck Foundation, this year. The First one is our Song Awards of ‘More Than a Mother’ 2022, announced in partnership with African First Ladies. All the African Singers and Musical Artists are invited to create and share a song with the aim of Breaking the Infertility Stigma, Supporting Girl Education, Women Empowerment, Ending Child Marriage, Ending FGM, and/ or Stopping GBV at all levels. The second one is Merck Foundation Songs Awards 2022 “Diabetes & Hypertension”, announced in partnership with African First Ladies. All African Singers and Musical Artists are invited to create and share a SONG with the aim to promote a healthy lifestyle and raise awareness about the prevention and early detection of Diabetes and Hypertension”. “Singers, Musicians and young talents of Africa, it’s time to showcase your talent and contribute towards making a difference in society with your inspiring songs with strong and relevant messages about critical and sensitive issues we face in our continent. Be the voice of the voiceless, break the silence and let’s all join hands to create a cultural shift”, Senator Kelej added.  Last Date of Submission Merck Foundation SONG Awards “More Than a Mother” 2022: 30th  July 2022 Merck Foundation SONG AWARDS 2022 “Diabetes & Hypertension”: 30th  October 2022 How to Apply? Please share your work as YouTube links on: submit@merck-foundation.com Share a short brief about the issue you are addressing The subject line of the mail should mention: Merck Foundation SONG Awards “More Than a Mother” 2022/ “Diabetes & Hyprentention” 2022 Please specify your name, institution name, contact details, country, and lyrics of the song (along with English translation) in the mail. Categories: Prize money: USD 1000 for each category. The selection committee can decide to award more than one winner for each category based on the quality of work received. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Merck Foundation.Media contact: Mehak Handa  Community Awareness Program Manager  +91 9310087613/ +91 9319606669  mehak.handa@external.merckgroup.com  Join the conversation on our social media platforms below and let your voice be heard: Facebook: bit.ly/3vKE8O2 Twitter: bit.ly/2TeOQNj YouTube: bit.ly/3zc3up1 Instagram: bit.ly/3g6OYr3 Flicker: bit.ly/2Tay0Pu Website: Merck-Foundation.com Download the Merck Foundation App: bit.ly/3v7pf5Z About ‘Merck Foundation More Than a Mother’: “Merck Foundation More Than a Mother” is a strong movement that aims to empower infertile women through access to information, education and change of mind-sets. This powerful campaign supports governments in defining policies to enhance access to regulated, safe, effective and equitable fertility care solutions. It defines interventions to break the stigma around infertile women and raises awareness about infertility prevention, management and male infertility. In partnership with African First Ladies, Ministries of Health, Information, Education & Gender, academia, policymakers, International fertility societies, media and art, the initiative also provides training for fertility specialists and embryologists to build and advance fertility care capacity in Africa and developing countries. With “Merck Foundation More Than a Mother”, we have initiated a cultural shift to de-stigmatize infertility at all levels: By improving awareness, training local experts in the fields of fertility care and media, building advocacy in cooperation with African First Ladies and women leaders and by supporting childless women in starting their own small businesses. It’s all about giving every woman the respect and the help she deserves to live a fulfilling life, with or without a child.  The Ambassadors of “Merck Foundation More Than a Mother” are: H.E. NEO JANE MASISI, The First Lady of Botswana H.E. REBECCA AKUFO-ADDO, The First Lady of Ghana H.E. AISHA BUHARI, The First Lady of Nigeria H.E. ANGELINE NDAYISHIMIYE, The First Lady of Burundi H.E. CLAR WEAH, The First Lady of Liberia H.E FATIMA MAADA BIO, The First Lady of Sierra Leone H.E. BRIGITTE TOUADERA, The First Lady of Central African Republic H.E. MONICA CHAKWERA, The First Lady of Malawi H.E. MUTINTA HICHILEMA, The First Lady of Zambia H.E. ANTOINETTE SASSOU-NGUESSO, The First Lady of Congo Brazzaville H.E. ISAURA FERRÃO NYUSI, The First Lady of Mozambique H.E. AUXILLIA MNANGAGWA, The First Lady of Zimbabwe H.E. DENISE NYAKERU TSHISEKEDI, THE First Lady of Democratic Republic of Congo H.E. MONICA GEINGOS, The First Lady of Namibia H.E. FATOUMATTA BAH-BARROW, The First Lady of The Gambia H.E. BAZOUM HADIZA MABROUK, The First Lady of Niger The Former First Lady of Burundi, H.E DENISE NKURUNZIZA, The Former First Lady of Chad, H.E. HINDA DÉBY ITNO, The Former First Lady of Guinea Conakry, H.E. CONDÉ DJENE, The Former First Lady of Malawi, H.E. PROFESSOR GERTRUDE MUTHARIKA, The Former First Lady of Niger, H.E AÏSSATA ISSOUFOU MAHAMADOU and The Former First Lady of Zambia, H.E. ESTHER LUNGU have worked successfully with Merck Foundation as Merck Foundation More Than a Mother Ambassadors to break the stigma of infertility and empower infertile women in their countries. Merck Foundation launched new innovative initiatives to sensitize local communities about infertility prevention, male infertility with the aim to break the stigma of infertility and empowering infertile women as part of Merck Foundation More than a Mother COMMUNITY AWARENESS CAMPAIGN, such as. ‘Merck Foundation More than a Mother’ Africa Media Recognition Awards and Health Media Training ‘Merck Foundation More than a Mother’ Fashion Awards ‘Merck Foundation More than a Mother’ Film Awards ‘Merck Foundation More than a Mother’ Song Awards Local songs with local artists to address the cultural perception of infertility and how to change it Children storybook, localized for each country About Merck Foundation: The Merck Foundation, established in 2017, is the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA Germany, aims to improve the health and wellbeing of people and advance their lives through science and technology. Our efforts are primarily focused on improving access to quality & equitable healthcare solutions in underserved communities, building healthcare and scientific research capacity and empowering people in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) with a special focus on women and youth. All Merck Foundation press releases are distributed by e-mail at the same time they become available on the Merck Foundation Website. Please visit Merck-Foundation.com to read more. To know more, reach out to our social media: Merck Foundation (Merck-Foundation.com); Facebook (bit.ly/32YFKpv), Twitter (bit.ly/2TeOQNj), Instagram(bit.ly/3g6OYr3) , YouTube (bit.ly/3zc3up1) and Flicker (bit.ly/2Tay0Pu).