21, November 2025
Cameroon’s Critical Shortage of Incubators Puts Thousands of Newborns at Risk 0
Cameroon loses nearly 10,000 newborns every year due to a severe lack of incubators and trained paediatric staff. The problem is especially acute in conflict-affected regions like the Northwest, where hospitals such as Bamenda Regional Hospital operate far below required capacity—only six incubators for nearly 20 babies, many of whom are pre-term and vulnerable to infections when forced to share equipment.
Mission hospitals face similar shortages. Mbingo Baptist Hospital, one of the country’s top referral centers, runs on just four incubators, a situation worsened by the Anglophone Crisis and COVID-19, which drastically reduced patient access. Nationally, Cameroon records high child mortality: nearly 90,000 low-birth-weight babies are born annually, and about 10,000 die from preventable causes. The country’s under-five mortality rate remains far above global averages.
Experts say the crisis is driven by chronic underfunding. Cameroon allocates only around 4% of its national budget to health, far below the 15% Abuja Declaration benchmark. Despite incubators being relatively affordable, most hospitals lack them, and paediatric specialists are also in short supply—only about 200 paediatricians serve 15 million children, with many doctors leaving the country for better conditions.
Efforts to improve the situation are emerging. MP Peter Njume has launched a Parliamentary Caucus on Health Financing to push for increased domestic funding. Meanwhile, a coalition led by Professor Pius Tih and the African Children’s Healthcare Fund is working to build Cameroon’s first dedicated paediatric hospital, which would include modern neonatal care equipment and specialist staff.
With children making up nearly half of Cameroon’s population, experts warn that expanding paediatric services is urgent if the country hopes to reach universal health coverage by 2030.
Source: Trendsafrica
25, November 2025
Reggae legend Jimmy Cliff dies aged 81 0
Jimmy Cliff, the Jamaican music legend and one of the pioneers of reggae, died due to a seizure followed by pneumonia, his wife said on Monday.
“It’s with profound sadness that I share that my husband, Jimmy Cliff, has crossed over due to a seizure followed by pneumonia,” his wife Latifa Chamber posted in a message on Instagram.
“I am thankful for his family, friends, fellow artists and coworkers who have shared his journey with him. To all his fans around the world, please know that your support was his strength throughout his whole career,” Chamber said.
“Jimmy, my darling, may you rest in peace. I will follow your wishes. I hope you all can respect our privacy during these hard times. Further information will be provided at a later date. See you and we see you Legend,” said the message, which was also signed by their children Lilty and Aken.
Born in Jamaica in 1944 as James Chambers, he began writing songs at a young age before his father took him to the Jamaican capital Kingston, where he would take the stage name Jimmy Cliff.
He was one of just handful of musicians to be awarded the Order of Merit, the highest honour that can be granted by the Jamaican government for achievements in the arts and sciences.
Cliff’s vast repertoire of hits included “Many Rivers to Cross”, “You Can Get It If You Really Want”, “I Can See Clearly Now” and “Wonderful World, Beautiful People”.
‘I still have many rivers to cross’
In the course of a prolific musical career, Cliff recorded more than 30 albums and performed all over the world, including in Paris, in Brazil and at the World’s Fair, an international exhibition held in New York in 1964. The following year, Island Records’ Chris Blackwell, the producer who launched Bob Marley and the Wailers, invited Cliff to work in the UK with him.
Cliff later went into acting, starring in the 1972 classic film “The Harder They Come,” directed by Perry Henzell, which introduced an international audience to reggae music. The movie portrayed the grittier aspects of Jamaican life, redefining the island as more than a tourist playground of cocktails, beaches and waterfalls.
“When I’ve achieved all my ambitions, then I guess that I will have done it and I can just say ‘great’,” he said in a 2019 interview, as he was losing his sight.
“But I’m still hungry. I want it. I’ve still got the burning fire that burns brightly inside of me – like I just said to you. I still have many rivers to cross!”
Known in part for his hit singles as well as for his covers of Johnny Nash’s “I Can See Clearly Now,” which appeared on the soundtrack of the 1993 movie “Cool Runnings,” and Cat Stevens’ “Wild World,” Cliff was a prolific writer who weaved his humanitarian views into his songs.
Bob Dylan said Cliff’s “Vietnam” was the best protest song ever written.
The anti-establishment bent of Cliff’s music gave a voice not only to the hardships faced by Jamaicans, but to the spirit and joy that persevered in spite of poverty and oppression. Over the years, Cliff worked with the Rolling Stones, Elvis Costello, Annie Lennox and Paul Simon.
In 2012, he won a Grammy Award for best reggae album for “Rebirth,” which was produced by punk band Rancid’s Tim Armstrong, and another Grammy in 1984 for “Cliff Hanger.”
Cliff was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.
Source: Reuters