Merck Foundation Oncology Fellowship Program

The Merck Oncology Fellowship program from Merck foundation which was offered to me was an opportunity for me to discover the different nursing techniques and methods applied in medical oncology and the way in which nursing care is provided to patients and their families in a country like India (Tata Memorial Hospital).

This training was very crucial for me since in my country the care of oncology nurses is not yet very well developed.

How does this training help: 

1. Being a resource person in terms of Oncology Nursing Care with the support from other nurses and Oncologists and educational support in order to improve the practice and patient care.

2. Assist nurses by helping them in their different methods of care in a climate of trust and conviviality.

“Cancer remains a major public health problem in Senegal and the rest of Africa. Its care is multidisciplinary. It is very important to focus on prevention because prevention is better than cure. The early diagnosis and immediate treatment are also very important because they help avoid complications.

The Merck Foundation Pathology Oncology Fellowship Program will enable us to improve the early diagnosis and proper management of Cancer and to increase our experience as pathologists. In our countries we will try to empower our patients to benefit from this learned experience.

Many thanks to Merck Foundation and the Ministry of Health of Senegal for giving us this great opportunity.”

“Once back to the National Center for the Fight Against Cancer (NPLC) in Niamey, Niger, we will do our utmost best to apply the knowledge gained during this one-year Medical Oncology Fellowship Program in India to improve the management of cancer patients in Niger.

Firstly, I thank Merck Foundation and our First Lady for giving us the opportunity to be among the beneficiaries of this valuable program which aims to reshape the cancer care landscape not only in Niger but across Africa.

Merck Foundation Medical Oncology Fellowshipis very important for our country because it allowed us to strengthen our knowledge in medical oncology in general and more specifically to familiarize ourselves with the new therapeutic techniques such as targeted therapies and immunotherapy that are not yet available at home.

We will seize every opportunity to share with our colleagues this knowledge and specially to teach young medical students who come for internship at our center.

Furthermore, the relationship we built with our trainers and professors will allow us to discuss the difficult cases of our patients, even when we are back in our country, to offer them the best treatment options they can have.

Thank you, Merck Foundation for my training and the scholarships you provided to my other colleagues to form the first multidisciplinary cancer care team in Niger”.

“I am an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon and an Academician working at the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, and at the National Teaching Hospital in Tanzania, I am proud to have been one of the African healthcare providers who benefited from Merck Foundation Oncology Fellowship Program. In Tanzania, we have a significant number of head and neck cancer patients and the incidences have kept on increasing as it is for the other cancers. However, there are very few head and neck oncology surgeons to serve population of about 55 million in the country. Early detection has remained a challenge and treatment are less effective mainly because of lack of appropriate infrastructure and inadequate qualified oncosurgeons.

My training on head and neck oncology will benefit the patients especially those with oral and pharyngeal carcinoma, cutaneous head and neck cancers and other malignancies. Regarding my role as a trainer, the exemplary training I received at TMC will benefit, and has already started benefiting, the trainees in oral and maxillofacial surgery, otorhinolaryngology, and dentistry. I have extra information to share with the fellow surgeons and academicians on the current techniques of cancer treatment that I learned at TMC and how to improve our oncology practice. This training has also helped to have the solid foundation in further training in the field of head and neck cancer. This enabled me to fulfil objectives beyond my expectations.

I sincerely appreciate the strong strategy that Merck Foundation has been following to increase the limited number of skilled and trained oncologists in Africa. As I read, more than 80 doctors from 27 countries were trained in world class training institutions in Egypt, Kenya, Malaysia, and India, to be the first oncologists in their countries in different disciplines, and I am one of them.”

“The Merck Foundation Oncology Fellowship is very important to me and my country. It enabled me to make good improvement in the area of cancer management.

The challenge in Guinea is the lack of awareness for early diagnosis, the need to reduce the drop-out rate, make cancer drugs available, provide training for medical staff and establish oncology clinics across the country. Therefore, many thanks to Merck Foundation and our First Lady for organizing this Oncology Fellowship training for me and my colleagues to be among the first Oncologists in Guinea."

“I am back in my small and beloved country Burundi. Merck Foundation Fellowship in Gynaec-Oncology at TATA Memorial Centre, India will help my patients and my trainees in Kamenge University Hospital significantly. I have begun to organize my Gynaec-Oncology operating room and I’m training my team to start as early as possible with surgical procedures to save the lives of our women in Burundi. We shall perform early detection and management of Gynaecological cancers. I'm trying to share acquired knowledge and skills with my colleagues at the University of Burundi. The gap is huge, we need to have a DMG (District Medical Group) in the main specialties so that we can deal with cancer care in our hospital in a multidisciplinary approach. Therefore, I’m very grateful to Merck Foundation and our First Lady and Ministry of Health for starting this strong strategy to fill this gap and focus on training local medical staff so they can provide quality cancer care for our communities for the first time in our beloved country, Burundi. This is a great transformation for our public healthcare sector”.