Malawi First Lady, Gertrude Mutharika, has been awarded for fighting stigma around infertility over the past three months.
Mutharika received the award from the Merck Foundation on Tuesday at the 6th edition of the Merck Foundation Africa Asia Luminary conference in Ghana. 
The First Lady Mutharika has been awarded for making tremendous strides in the promotion and dealing with issues of infertility and capacity building among others within a short period of time, under the partnership of her trust Beautify Malawi and Merck Foundation, More than a Mother initiative.
Speaking before she presented the award, CEO of Merck Foundation who is also the Co-Chairperson of Merck Africa Asia Luminary, Dr Rasha Kelej, applauded Malawi for making great strides in three months and urged others to emulate the Malawi success story.
Speaking at the function, Mutharika said in collaboration with the Beautify Malawi trust, the Ministry of Health and Population and other stakeholders, Malawi has made strides in infertility awareness campaigns.
She added that the country has managed to send 30 health personnel to go for further specialist training in the field of oncology and infertility issues.
The award comes 3 months after the launch of Merck More than a Mother initiative in Malawi.
Mutharika, who is also the initiatives ambassador, has been working tirelessly in civic educating Malawians on issues of infertility – how people can get help and to end stigma that accompanies infertility.
We have understand but you must stop abusing poor people donations