3, December 2022
Biya regime says Ambazonia crisis prevents access to AIDS treatment 0
Cameroonian health workers and people with HIV marched for World AIDS Day on December 1, calling for access to treatment for patients in conflict areas.
About half a million Cameroonians have HIV, and at least 1,000 live in troubled western regions and the border with Nigeria. The protesters urged Cameroon’s military, separatists, and militants to allow all HIV patients access to needed treatment.
Marie Chantal Awoulbe, who belongs to the Cameroon Network of Adolescents and Positive Youths, which encourages those with AIDS to get regular treatment, took part in the protest and World AIDS Day activities at Chantal Biya International Research Centre in Yaounde. The center carries out research on AIDS, and supports programs to treat and support vulnerable people with HIV.
Awoulbe said her network is asking both armed groups and government troops to stop deaths among people with AIDS where there are armed conflicts by allowing the patients access to regular treatment.
Cameroon’s public health ministry says similar protests and activities to encourage free screening took place in 70 hospitals, with at least 30 hospital workers and people with AIDS taking part at each of the hospitals.
The Cameroon government accuses separatists in the country’s west of attacking hospitals and abducting health care workers. Activists also accuse government troops of attacking and arresting hospital staff suspected of treating civilians the military believes are either fighters or sympathize with separatists.
In April, medical aid group Doctors Without Borders suspended work in Cameroon’s troubled Southwest region to protest the rearrest of four of its staff members. Authorities accused the staffers of cooperating with regional separatists, but the organization denied it.
Medical staff members say intimidation and abduction of health workers, and ceaseless battles between government troops and separatist fighters make it impossible for medical supplies to reach the troubled English-speaking regions.
Twenty-eight-year-old Betrand Lemfon said he and several dozen people with AIDS moved from Jakiri, an English-speaking northwestern town, to Bafoussam, a French-speaking commercial city. He said he and others with the disease were afraid of dying in Jakiri because they did not have access to regular treatment.
“There are a lot of persons out there who are in need of medications, so if we could have the opportunity and chance for medications to always reach every interior part of the North-West region, South-West region who are hit by the crisis, it will help the adolescents, young persons and children living with HIV to take their ARVs [antiretroviral medicines] and stay healthy,” he said.
Lemfon spoke via the messaging app WhatsApp from Bafoussam.
Cameroon’s military says it will protect all health workers and civilians in the troubled regions.
The government says the number of people with the disease in Cameroon has decreased from about 970,000 in 2010 to 500,000 in 2021.
Health officials say the decline is due to increasing awareness of the disease and its consequences. The government says sexual behavior is changing, with the number of people using condoms or abstaining from sex increasing.
Honorine Tatah, a government official in charge of AIDS control in Cameroon, said unlike in 2020 when there was resistance due to lack of awareness, many more civilians now accept systematic screening for HIV.
“During antenatal care, a woman is screened for a number of diseases including hepatitis B, HIV and if you are tested positive, you are eligible for treatment and that treatment will reduce the chances of a child getting infected with HIV. The treatment is free of charge,” Tatah said.
World AIDS Day was the first international day for global health, starting in 1988. It allows people all over the world to join in the battle against HIV, to support those with HIV, and to remember those who have died from an AIDS-related illness.
Source: VOA
7, December 2022
Southern Cameroons Crisis: Catholic University soliciting funds to assist affected students 0
The leadership of the Catholic University of Cameroon (CATUC) is soliciting funds to assist students affected by the protracted crisis in the English-speaking regions of the Central African nation.
In a statement issued Monday, December 5, the Vice Chancellor of CATUC says, “Two years ago, cases of students whose parents’ fortunes had changed drastically as a result of the Anglophone Crisis came to our notice.”
“Some parents had lost everything-businesses, farms, homes, cows, etc. – and were unable to pay tuition fees for the children who were already enrolled in the university,” Fr. Joseph Awoh Jum says.
Fr. Awoh notes that a “good number of students, including students of the Medical School, were going to drop out as a result.”
“Our immediate reaction was to appeal to people whom we knew – our friends, family, colleagues, alumni, former schoolmates, and students – for assistance,” the Vice Chancellor of the Catholic institution based in Cameroon’s Bamenda Archdiocese says.
He notes that a few of the donors “responded to our appeal and gave us donations which kept these students in school, for some time.”
In addition, Fr. Awoh says, “The Archbishop of Bamenda provided school fee loans to four of our medical students who were threatened with dropping out so that they could complete their training, work in Archdiocesan health institutions and eventually pay back these loans.”
“These students and their families are extremely grateful to all those who contributed to keep them in school and keep their dreams alive,” the Vice Chancellor says.
However, Fr. Awoh says, “Those of them in the middle of their medical training still have a long way to go and would appreciate whatever assistance they can get to take them to the finish line.”
“In these difficult times, the university and her proprietors can only offer so much assistance and are working towards the establishment of an endowment fund to cater for such cases in the future,” he adds.
The Cameroonian Catholic Priest goes on to appeal for aid, saying, “We would greatly appreciate whatever assistance anyone would like to offer to keep these unfortunate students’ dreams alive and to assist families rendered desperate by the Anglophone Crisis.”
“Please, give this appeal a thought and, if your heart tells you to contribute your widow’s mite to this noble cause, contact us at info@catuc.org for guidance on how you can do this,” he says.
He continues in his December 5 statement, “We thank you in anticipation of your kind help and pray for God’s abundant blessings on you and your people.”
Cameroon’s English-speaking regions plunged into conflict in 2016 after a protest by lawyers and teachers turned violent. An armed movement of separatists claiming independence for the so-called republic of Ambazonia emerged following the government’s crackdown on protesters.
School boycotts have become common in these areas, as have enforced moratoriums on public life known as “ghost towns”.
On August 21, members of the Bamenda Provincial Episcopal Conference (BAPEC) lamented the protracted conflict in the country’s Anglophone regions, that has been characterized by “the piteous and distressing cries of anguish”.
The Catholic Church leaders at the helm of Bamenda Archdiocese and the Dioceses of Kumbo, Kumba, Mamfe, and Buea Dioceses underscored the need to respect the dignity of the human person created in God’s image and likeness and the sacredness and inviolability of human life.
Source: aciAfrica