BusinessWire India
Harare [Zimbabwe]/ Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], September 17: As part of her virtual Mentorship and Leadership Platform, “Beyond Power; Leadership, Global Influence and Impact,” Senator Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation, has published a new leadership article titled “We Did Not Donate Cancer Care. We Built the People Who Could Deliver It.” Through the article, Dr. Kelej reflects on her leadership journey in strengthening cancer care capacity across Africa and explains why she believes that building specialized human capacity is one of the most sustainable ways to transform healthcare systems.
To read the full article and access the platform, visit:
https://rashakelej.substack.com/p/we-did-not-donate-cancer-care-we
Senator Dr. Rasha Kelej (Ret.) shares, “You cannot build a sustainable healthcare system without building its people first.”
“Hospitals are important. Equipment is important. Medicines are essential. Infrastructure matters. But who will diagnose the patient? Who will determine the treatment? Who will operate the equipment? Who will manage chemotherapy and its complications? Who will provide palliative care and pain management when cure is no longer possible? And who will train the next generation?”
Dr. Kelej emphasizes that without skilled and specialized healthcare professionals, even the best infrastructure, medicines and technology cannot create a sustainable cancer-care system. This belief shaped Merck Foundation’s approach to cancer-care capacity building across Africa, with a focus on developing specialists who can provide care within their own countries and contribute to strengthening healthcare systems from within.
According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, Africa recorded approximately 1.19 million new cancer cases and 764,000 cancer deaths in 2022, while many cancer patients across the continent continue to face challenges including late diagnosis, limited screening and diagnostic capacity, shortages of specialized healthcare professionals, inadequate referral pathways, geographical inequalities and limited access to treatment, palliative care and pain management.
Dr. Kelej explains that in many African countries where Merck Foundation started its programs, the challenge was not simply a shortage of resources. In some countries, there were no locally trained oncologists at all, or multidisciplinary cancer-care teams were not adequately developed.
Through its specialized medical education programs, Merck Foundation has provided more than 280 one-year, two-year and three-year scholarships in multidisciplinary cancer care for healthcare providers from 35 African countries. These programs have supported the training of the first local oncologists in countries including Liberia, The Gambia, Burundi, Niger and the Central African Republic, while also strengthening oncology capacity in countries such as Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone.
Dr. Kelej shares, “For me, this is what capacity building really means. It is not about arriving with a temporary solution. It is about helping a country develop the expertise to care for its own people.”
She further emphasizes that specialized medical education requires more than short workshops or seminars. Merck Foundation’s approach has focused on substantial postgraduate and clinical specialty education, including long-term clinical oncology training, multi-year master’s programs and structured postgraduate oncology education through academic and clinical institutions in countries including India, Egypt and the United Kingdom.
“We are not simply increasing awareness of oncology. We are helping create oncologists. And once that specialist returns home, the impact does not end with one scholarship. That doctor can diagnose and treat patients for years. They can work within their country’s healthcare system. They can share expertise with colleagues. They can mentor younger doctors. And eventually, they can contribute to developing the next generation of specialists locally,” Dr. Kelej adds.
In the article, Dr. Kelej also highlights the importance of addressing geographical inequalities in access to specialized cancer care. She explains that simply increasing the number of specialists is not enough when oncologists and other specialized healthcare professionals are concentrated in capital cities or major urban centers.
Dr. Kelej shares, “Our capacity-building strategy has increasingly focused not only on how many specialists a country has, but also on where those specialists are needed.” She emphasizes the importance of working with partners to support healthcare providers from different regions and institutions so that specialist knowledge can gradually extend beyond capital cities to secondary cities, regional hospitals and underserved populations.
She further highlights the importance of partnerships and collaborations with local academic institutions, medical societies, governments, Ministries of Health and Education, First Ladies and Presidents in developing sustainable national healthcare capacity.
For Dr. Kelej, the impact of developing the first locally trained specialist in a country goes far beyond the individual healthcare provider.
“When you help a country develop its first locally trained oncologist, its first specialist in a field that previously did not exist, or its first structured cancer-care capacity, something has fundamentally changed. There is a before and an after,” she writes.
The article also reflects on why human capacity building requires a long-term vision. Dr. Kelej explains that while a donated machine can be immediately visible, human capacity building may take one, two, three years or longer before its full value becomes apparent. However, once a specialist returns home, their knowledge can continue to benefit patients, colleagues and future generations of healthcare professionals.
“Infrastructure may age. Technology may become obsolete. A supply of medicine will eventually be consumed or expired. But knowledge can multiply,” says Dr. Kelej.
In the article, Dr. Kelej emphasizes that Merck Foundation’s approach is not about creating dependency, but about supporting countries to develop the expertise needed to strengthen their healthcare systems from within.
“The ultimate success of capacity building is that countries become less dependent on outside expertise because the expertise now exists at home. That is sustainability to me,” she writes.
The article is available through Dr. Rasha Kelej’s Mentorship and Leadership Platform, “Beyond Power; Leadership, Global Influence and Impact,” through Substack, which has been launched to create an accessible resource designed to inspire, guide and support future leaders, particularly women and young future leaders in Africa, Asia and Global South countries. The platform is accessible to all, ensuring that aspiring leaders from diverse backgrounds can access valuable mentorship, leadership insights and practical guidance.
Link to Dr. Rasha Kelej’s Mentorship and Leadership Platform:
https://open.substack.com/pub/rashakelej
The articles can be accessed through Dr. Rasha Kelej’s website:
https://rasha-kelej.com/
The links to the articles can also be accessed on the Merck Foundation website:
https://merck-foundation.com/
The links can also be accessed on the social media channels of Dr. Rasha Kelej and Merck Foundation.
Through her Mentorship and Leadership Platform, Dr. Rasha Kelej is committed to sharing her 32 years of knowledge and experience to support and guide aspiring individuals in unlocking their hidden potential, achieving their professional and personal goals, and becoming the leaders of tomorrow.
To learn more about the Dr. Rasha Kelej’s journey, visit her Social Media Handles: Instagram, Facebook, X, and YouTube.
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