"Rasha Kelej" Leads Campaign to Correct Misconceptions in Africa

Yesterday we met with Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Charitable Foundation.

She is an Egyptian lady with a degree in Pharmacy from Alexandria University. She received an MBA from Robert Gordon University, Scotland on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) integration with Business Strategy.

In recent years, many Arab artists have become goodwill ambassadors, a position adopted by large international organizations which collaborate with prominent figures in literature, art, sports, science and sports.

All of them have agreed to contribute to spreading the spirit of philanthropy and volunteerism and having the ability to serve millions of people in all parts of the world.

Kelej looks like Hollywood star Angelina Jolie in her bright face, elegance, beauty and the ability to accomplish many things at the same time. She is also a lady who fears of flying and heights, but at the same time she is a hard worker and a professional fighter, who fears nobody in going to Africa jungles adjacent to areas of military militias and armed disputes in order to fulfill her charitable goals in Africa

Kelej is capable of working in any field as she has excellent curriculum vitae that enables her to work in any executive position in major international companies. She has nearly 24 year experience in pharmaceutical industries, health and community development, however, she chose to fight for humanitarian issues and wandering in the poorest and most dangerous areas in Africa

The CEO may not be known by a lot of Egyptians, but she can be easily seen through her great achievements, her efforts to spread health and social awareness and correct a number of misconceptions in African countries and societies over many issues.

The CEO proved great success after inviting 15 African women to become first ambassadors for her campaign called "More Than Just a Mother," to which she called for in their countries, including, Burundi, Botswana, Central Africa, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Namibia and Zimbabwe, Niger. Liberia, Malawi, Guinea, Congo, Mali, Gabon, Lesotho, Zambia, Gambia, Guinea, Chad.

The campaign was tantamount to a lifesaver for African women’s tragedy caused by misunderstanding of the reasons of infertility as infertile women were mistreated, discriminated and physically abused

She unveiled stories of abused wives including, a Kenyan lady called Jacqueline Mwendi, whose upper limbs were amputated and her face was distorted by her husband, who suffered some problems that caused his infertility.

On turn, she helped this woman to overcome her ordeal through providing her with artificial limbs. She also worked to keep more women safe in the African continent.

As being a friend of many African presidents' wives, she succeeded in convincing Sierra Leone President’s wife named Fatima Maada Bio, one of Merck’s ambassadors, to appear in a film that portrays the sufferings of Jacqueline Mwindi.

The film intended to change false conceptions and habits in the African communities.

She won many awards from several different countries around the world in the fields of advocating women and community development,.

She also succeeded in providing scholarships to introduce first batch of specialists in cancer tumors in African countries, as each doctor home will be able to treat more than 1200 cancer patients per month in his country.

Kelej chose her homeland Egypt to be a center for training African doctors and giving them master's degrees in oncology through partnership with the National Institute of Oncology NIO affiliated to Cairo University and the Ministry of Higher Education.

Kelej said that the NIO is an important milestone for cancer treatment in North Africa and the Middle East. We are committed to improving the treatment of the African patients, pointing out that she is working to expand her medical training program to include more African countries to include 20 doctors annually.

She also said that there some cases of infertility that can be easily prevented if people embraced a healthy lifestyle. After conducting some research, here are some lifestyle habits we may need to stop to ensure that women's fertility is not affected.

What to do

• Ensuring that you are not overweight or underweight will help to ensure that hormone production and normal ovulation are not affected in any way. Having healthy weight also increases the frequency of ovulation and the likelihood of getting pregnant.
• Eating a healthy diet is desirable for any human being who is trying to conceive or not.
• Gonorrhea and Chlamydia among other Sexually Transmitted Infections are among the leading causes of infertility in women. Ensure that you practice safe sex and limit the number of sexual partners, better yet just stay in a monogamous relationship with an uninfected person.
• Regular checkups are essential for anyone who is concerned about their fertility because they can reveal any threat to your fertility for early treatment.

• Working at night may also affect hormone production thereby putting you at risk of infertility. If you are forced to work at night, you should try to get as much sleep as you can when you leave work.
• It is also advisable to try and relax when you are trying to conceive but that does not mean that you cannot get pregnant when stressed.

What not to do

• Do not smoke. Unknown to many women, smoking ages ovaries and depletes eggs prematurely leading to infertility. If you need to stop smoking you can ask your health provider for help.
• Getting involved in too much vigorous activity can inhibit ovulation and reduce production of the progesterone hormone. If you want to get pregnant soon, you should limit vigorous exercises to about five hours every week. Overweight women may have to consult their health care providers for the ideal exercise for a person of their weight and who desires to conceive.
• Avoid any exposure to toxins and this mostly applies to hairstylists, agricultural workers as well as other women who may have menstrual disorders. Dental assistants who are normally exposed to a lot of nitrous oxide, people who are exposed to a lot of organic solvents like dry cleaning chemicals may also be at risk of becoming infertile. The same applies to industrial workers.

Finally, Kelej is considered one of the Egyptian ambassadors in the field of health and education in the world. She deserves to be honored for her distinguished role, which is in line with Egypt's policy under its presidency of the African Union.