In her keynote address, the First Lady thanked the Merck Foundation for appointing her as an Ambassador of the “More Than a Mother” campaign, which aims to break the stigma surrounding infertility and empower women across Africa and Asia.
The President's Office
During the inauguration session of the 7th edition of the Merck Foundation First Ladies Initiative Summit (MFFLI) held on 18 June 2025, First Lady Madam Sajidha Mohamed expressed her gratitude to the Merck Foundation for facilitating fertility and embryology training scholarships for Maldivian doctors.
In her keynote address, the First Lady thanked the Merck Foundation for appointing her as an Ambassador of the “More Than a Mother” campaign, which aims to break the stigma surrounding infertility and empower women across Africa and Asia.
Madam Sajidha also underscored her commitment to expanding access to affordable and high-quality healthcare across the Maldives. She expressed interest in sustaining long-term technical partnerships to improve healthcare services nationwide. The First Lady highlighted the importance of increasing community awareness and strengthening services in cancer screening and mental health, while also advocating for women’s leadership in the health sector.
She shared with fellow First Ladies a community awareness initiative developed in partnership with the Merck Foundation, aimed at raising awareness about infertility stigma, gender-based violence, women's empowerment, and non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.
Further, the First Lady outlined national efforts to institutionalize gender equality through the Gender Equality Action Plan, which promotes policies that support women entrepreneurs, improve women’s access to justice, and strengthen preventive measures against gender-based violence.
Even though infertility is often a taboo subject, the Maldives has made significant progress in this area in recent years. In 2023, Treetop Hospital established the country’s first fertility centre, introducing in vitro fertilization (IVF) services. The clinic began offering IVF treatment at MVR46,000—approximately one-tenth of the cost of similar treatments abroad—making fertility care significantly more accessible for Maldivian families.
In 2024, these efforts were further expanded with the official inauguration of a fertility centre at Dharumavantha Hospital, providing a comprehensive range of reproductive health services. These include Intrauterine Insemination (IUI), IVF, and options for egg, sperm, and embryo freezing.
These advancements mark a transformative step forward in making fertility treatment more affordable, accessible, and equitable across the Maldives, significantly reducing the need for patients to seek care overseas.
