Ghana's First Lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo is encouraging winners of the Merck Foundation Africa Media Awards to continue with their good works of representing the marginalized minority in society.

"Continue to be the voice of the voiceless through your work,” she said.

She spoke at the Merck Foundation awards and alumni summit held on Friday, May 24, 2024, at the Labadi Beach Hotel for West African journalists and doctors. 

“We have done a lot of training for journalists and we are expectant that they will use the knowledge and skill from these trainings to impact their societies and be agents of desirable change. 

Three journalists from the Multimedia Group were part of the journalists from the sub-region who were recognized at the Merck Foundation Africa Media Recognition Awards.

JoyNews’ Assistant Editor, Ohemeng Tawiah, and broadcast journalists, Emmanuel Bright Quaicoe and Anita Serwaa Adzoga, were awarded for highlighting women's and children's issues.

The three were among 83 Africans celebrated for stupendous story-telling under the “More Than a Mother," “Diabetes and Hypertension," and Special Awards.

While Ohemeng Tawiah’s JoyNews Hotline Documentary story, “Child Bride: The Sad Story of Minors Forced to Become Wives,” was adjudged the overall best in the multimedia category of the award, Bright Quaicoe and Anita Adzoga jointly came in third in the same category. 

The duo's “Rescuing the Ghanaian Adolescent Girl" won them the award.

It was a day to appreciate the works and efforts of journalists in West Africa who have led the way in providing a voice for voiceless women and children marginalized by their societies.

The awardees took turns to receive plaques and certificates from Ghana's First Lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo, who also doubles as the patron of the Merck Foundation supported by CEO of the Merck Foundation, Senator Dr. Rasha Kelej and board of trustees for the foundation, Professor Dr. Frank Stangeaberg-Haverkamp.

The Merck Foundation, in partnership with the Rebecca Foundation, has transformed patient care landscape of Ghana by providing 146 doctors in underserved areas with critical medical specialties such as fertility, cancer, diabetes, cardiology, and others.

“More than 152 scholarships were provided to young doctors from Ghana nationwide. We have addressed the issue of Diabetes and Hypertension in Ghana and other African countries by providing 61 scholarships for one-year PG Diplomas and two-year Master's Degrees for Ghanaian doctors,” CEO of the Merck Foundation, Senator Dr. Rasha Kelej, said.