U.S. Government, through CDC/PEPFAR, invests over CFA 2,364,000,000 ($ 4 million) in both the renovation and equipment of a Cameroon state-of-the-art National Public Health Laboratory.

The keys of the Quality Assurance Centre were handed over to Minister of Public Health André Mama Fouda by Chargé d’Affaires Matthew Smith on November 09th, 2017.

Culled from the US embassy in Yaounde

The former Minister of Public Health between 1997 and 2000 who also moonlighted as Regional Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) for Africa, Professor Gottlieb Lobe Monekosso is no more. He died in the early hours of Sunday, November 19, 2017 at the General Hospital in Douala after a long illness at the age of 84 years.

The emblematic figure of medicine in Africa was appointed by President Paul Biya, Minister of Public Health in the government of 07 December 1997 and was removed from office three years later, precisely during the reshuffle of March 18, 2000.

He received several awards both at home and beyond.  Five years ago in Yaoundé at the fiftieth anniversary of the WHO, the British Ambassador presented to Professor Monekosso, on behalf of the Queen of England, the Queen Elizabeth II medal in recognition of his works in the field of public health.

By Sama Ernest with files from CIN

The World Health Organization (WHO) will be reconsidering a decision to name Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe “a goodwill ambassador” after facing criticism.

The director-general of the United Nations’ health agency, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Twitter on Saturday that he understood the “concerns” and that he was “rethinking.”

“I’m listening. I hear your concerns. Rethinking the approach in light of WHO values. I will issue a statement as soon as possible,” Tedros said.

Tedros had this week asked Zimbabwe’s 93-year-old president to serve in the role to help tackle non-communicable diseases like heart attacks, strokes, and asthma across Africa.

In announcing the appointment in Uruguay’s capital this week, Tedros had praised Zimbabwe as “a country that places universal health coverage and health promotion at the center of its policies to provide health care to all.”

The decision, however, sparked outrage among key WHO member states — the United States in particular — and other critics of Mugabe’s rule.

“This appointment clearly contradicts the United Nations ideals of respect for human rights and human dignity,” the US State Department said.

Britain, for its part, had said naming Mugabe had been “surprising and disappointing, particularly in light of the current US and EU sanctions against him.”

“We have registered our concerns with WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus,” a Foreign Office statement read.

Canada, too, objected, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau saying, “It is absolutely unacceptable and inconceivable this individual would have a role as a goodwill ambassador for any organization, much less the World Health Organization.”

The Canadian Foreign Ministry later called for the appointment to be “rescinded without delay.” Human rights activist and lawyer Doug Coltart also mocked the decision by saying on Twitter that a “man who flies to Singapore for treatment because he has destroyed Zimbabwe’s health sector is WHO’s goodwill ambassador,” referring to Mugabe.

Other critics have argued that Zimbabwe’s health care system had collapsed under Mugabe’s rule. UN agencies often name high-profile personalities as goodwill ambassadors to draw attention and highlight their tasks in the eyes of the global community and to garner support for the cause.

Tedros, who is a former Ethiopian health minister, took charge of WHO in July this year. He is the first African to lead the UN agency.

Source: Presstv

The leader of the outlawed Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium  has been visiting injured Southern Cameroons activists in the various medical facilities in the territory. Camereoon Concord News understands Barrister Agbor Balla was at St. Martin de Porres Catholic Mission Hospital, Njinikom in the Bamenda State and was reportedly motivated by the dedication of the doctors, nurses and Reverend Sisters handling the difficult situation.

Our Chief Correspondent in Bamenda hinted that Balla and his entourage were visibly touched by the case of Muhmara Njong, a 24 year old young man from Ndop, who was never part of the October 1 celebrations but got caught, brutalized and shot in the leg by troops loyal to the Yaounde regime. He was attending a family funeral before the army stormed the venue. Muhmara Njong told the leader of the Consortium that the soldiers got into their vehicle and drove on his bleeding leg.

The nurses revealed to the Agbor Balla delegation that, his surgery lasted several hours with the doctors removing veins from his left leg just to save the right leg. Barrister Agbor Balla told the wounded and medical staff that Anglophones must continue to unite and show strength and solidarity even in the face of pain and weakness, because together we are stronger and all our wounded brothers and sisters will return stronger.

By Sama Ernest, CCN

The Chadian government says more than 50 people have died of cholera in the country since authorities declared an outbreak of the disease.

“We count 312 cases, including 52 deaths,” said Health Ministry secretary general Hamid Djabar on Thursday.

Authorities declared a cholera outbreak on Monday, which put in place a “crisis committee” to monitor the situation and to strengthen cooperation with partners such as medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and the UN children’s agency UNICEF.

“For the time being, the outbreak is confined to the region of Sila” near the borders with Sudan and the Central African Republic, said Djabar.

In the neighboring region of Salamat, 19 cases and two deaths were recorded, but the Health Ministry said the situation was “under control.”

Health authorities discovered the presence of the cholera virus in the east of the country in mid-August following two deaths from acute diarrhea and vomiting.

The cholera virus, which can kill within a few hours if left untreated, regularly affects the east and the Lake Chad basin, the least developed areas of the country where half the population lives below the poverty threshold.

“In 2011, Chad, along with other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, was affected by a large-scale cholera outbreak. More than 450 deaths and a total of 17,200 cases of the disease were reported,” MSF said on its website.

A similar outbreak was also discovered in neighboring Nigeria, where the UN said Monday that at least 44 people had died of the disease in the northeast of the country.

The first cholera case in Nigeria was identified in Borno state also in mid-August and has since spread, mainly in camps for those displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency.

“According to estimates, there are 1.3 to 4 million cases of cholera every year, and 21,000 to 143,000 deaths due to the disease worldwide,” the World Health Organization said in July.

(Source: AFP)

The United Nations says at least 44 people have died in a cholera outbreak in the militancy-hit northeast of Nigeria, where the first case of the disease was identified nearly five weeks ago. 

The world body said in a statement that nearly 2,300 confirmed or suspected cases of cholera had been registered by Monday.

“To date, the outbreak has claimed at least 44 lives, out of close to 2,300 confirmed and/or suspected cases,” read the statement.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said that nearly $10 million is needed to keep the disease from spreading.

Additional funding would assist to implement a cholera response and prevention plan in the coming months, including providing access to clean water and a vaccination program.

Peter Lundberg, OCHA’s deputy humanitarian coordinator for Nigeria, said that despite new treatment centers and sanitation measures, more needed to be done.

“The camps for displaced persons are congested, there is not enough water, sanitation facilities are poor, and the health care system is weak,” Lundberg said, adding, “We must tackle this urgently to avoid preventable suffering and loss of life.”

The first cholera case was identified in Borno State on August 16 and has since spread, mainly in camps for those displaced by the Boko Haram Takfiri terrorist group.

Cholera is an acute diarrheal infection spread by contaminated food and water. It can be easily treated with oral rehydration solution if caught early, but the disease can kill within hours if left untreated.

The latest figures by the UN suggest a 4.3 percent fatality rate — well above the 1 percent rate that the World Health Organization rates as an emergency.

Cholera is just one of the challenges facing the Nigerian government, which is still struggling to expand its authority in the militancy-wracked northeastern states.

Last week, Mark Lowcock, the UN head of humanitarian affairs and emergency relief, said that the threat of famine caused by the conflict’s impact on farming had been averted.

But 8.5 million people in the northeast, out of 17 million in the wider Lake Chad region comprising Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, needed humanitarian assistance, Lowcock added.

Northeast Nigeria is already in the grip of a humanitarian crisis caused by the Boko Haram insurgency, which has killed at least 20,000 people and displaced more than 2.6 million since 2009.

Source: Presstv

According to estimates by the National AIDS Committee, Cameroon is recording approximately 38,000-53,000 new HIV infections each year. Cameroon Concord News understands that 620, 000 people are living with HIV in Cameroon. Since 2004, the trend in prevalence has been marked by a downward trend, from 5.5% to 4.3% in 2011 in the population aged 15-49, with a peak between 35-39 years (8 , 1%).

Given that the HIV epidemic is more urban (4.8 per cent) than rural (3.8 per cent), and that current control strategies are cost-effective in a context of scarce and increasing resources, the Yaounde regime is considering boosting communication to people aged 15-49 and particularly for those who are developing risky behaviours. One of the goals is to reduce the incidence of HIV in the population aged 15-49 by at least 50%.

Health official say to achieve this, a relevant and well-targeted communication strategy must be developed, taking into account already identified risk behaviors: poor or ignorant girls who have unprotected sex with men who are generally older and have financial power, multiplicity of partners among girls and boys, homosexual swinging, etc.
Yaounde also noted that the increased use by young people of phones to quickly exchange messages and images through Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, Viber, etc., is a new facort to be integrated inevitably into the campaign to eradicate virus.

Sama Ernest
Cameroon Concord News

Cholera is spreading fast through camps housing people displaced by Boko Haram militants in northeast Nigeria’s Borno state, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

Most deaths were recorded in Muna Garage camp on the outskirts of state capital Maiduguri, the epicenter of the extremist insurgency that has also destabilized neighboring Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

A UN report said more than 530 suspected cases of cholera had been registered by Tuesday – more than three times the number reported five days earlier.

Twenty-three people had died, it added, up from 11 reported on Aug. 31.

The outbreak began late last month, and aid workers had already warned that Nigeria’s rainy season could spread disease in already unsanitary displacement camps.

About 1.8 million people have abandoned their homes because of violence or food shortages during the conflict, UN agencies say.

As well as Muna Garage, the nearby camps of Custom House, Ruwan Zafi and Bolori II also had cholera cases, and there were reports of outbreaks in the areas of Moguno and Dikwa, northeast and east of Maiduguri, the UN note said.

In Dikwa, 80 km (50 miles) from Maiduguri, there were 103 suspected cholera cases, 17 of which had been confirmed with a rapid screening test at the local hospital, but no outbreak had been officially declared.

Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal infection spread by contaminated food and water. It can be easily treated with oral rehydration solution if caught early, but the disease can kill within hours if left untreated.

The latest figures suggested a 4.3 percent fatality rate – well above the 1 percent rate that the World Health Organization rates as an emergency. The short incubation period of two hours to five days means the disease can spread with explosive speed.

(Source: Reuters)

Crop-eating fall army worms have attacked nearly 37,000 hectares of maize in northern Cameroon, officials said on Wednesday, accentuating an already dire humanitarian crisis provoked by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram’s cross-border insurgency.

More than two dozen African nations have reported outbreaks of the invasive Central American variety of the pest, which is harder to detect and eradicate than its African counterpart.

They have now spread to all of Cameroon’s 10 administrative regions, though maize crops in the Extreme North region have only been heavily affected since July, Deputy Agriculture Minister Clementine Ananga Messina told Reuters.

“The army worm attack endangers the entire maize sector and is creating serious risks of food insecurity, because it’s the most commonly grown cereal in Cameroon,” she said. The Extreme North region bordering Chad and Nigeria has been hit hard by Boko Haram, whose campaign of violence and cross-border attacks has sent more than 93,000 Nigerians fleeing into Cameroon where some 235,000 people have also been displaced.

Across the Lake Chad region around 1.5 million people are confronting a food crisis, according to the United Nations. Cameroonian authorities have launched an action plan to fight against the infestation, but so far pesticides have failed to contain it.

“There are no effective means to fight armyworm currently existing in Cameroon,” said Agriculture Ministry expert Andre Marie Elombat Assoua. “The chemical products now being used by farmers are ineffective and too expensive.”
Around 12 million Cameroonians, more than half of the national population, regularly consume maize. It is also an important ingredient for the central African nation’s breweries and in the production of feed for livestock. Though the fall armyworm prefers maize, it also attacked sorghum and millet, two of Cameroon’s other staple crops, earlier this year.

Source: Reuters