Peer educators in the Littoral Region who are part of the current AIDS-Free Holiday campaign are due to make stopovers in brothels, market places and night clubs to educate their peers on the dangers of HIV/AIDS on their well being.
The revelation was made on 23 August by health officials overseeing the campaign.
The intention is to educate mostly girls between the ages of 12 to 24 on the prevention and spread of the deadly virus. Statistics indicate that of every 500,000 HIV cases more than 300,000 are women.

The Regional Director of the multinational health, safety and environmental company, NickCery Group International Services has said the company is waxing stronger.

Over 400 youths drawn from across different social stratas in Bamenda have been screened on HIV/AIDS.
This was part of commemorative activities to mark the 2010 International Youth Day on 12 August 2010, organised by the Cameroon Association for Social Marketing with French acconym ACMS, Bamenda branch.

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The World Day of Vira-Hepaptitis was recently celebrated in Yaounde under the auspices of the Minister of Public Health, Andre Mama Fouda.

Speaking during the opening ceremony, Minister Andre Mama Fouda explained that Vira hepatitis constitutes over 13% of health problems in Cameroon and also occupies the first place of health problems in Africa. The minister urged the Vira-Hepatitis network to go to the interior parts of the country in order to inform the people about the pandemic. He also said the treatment for this disease for now is only available in Yaounde at the central hospital.

The Ministry of Public Health and the Novo Nordisk Laboratories last Friday in Yaoundé signed a partnership accord to officially launch the initiation of changing diabetes in children.

Speaking during the opening ceremony last week, the Minister of Public Health, Andre Mama Fouda, told the experts that they should not relent their efforts in eradicating this pandemic. The minister stressed on the fact that early complications leading to premature death of children should be stopped and urged the Novo Nordisk Laboratory to give in their utmost.

According to an expert, the Changing Diabetes programme aims at addressing the urgent needs of the sick children by providing appropriate diabetes care while building the capacity in the health care system to sustain the project.

This project is to introduce children diabetes care in Cameroon. The project includes the setting up of pediatric diabetes clinics for diagnosis and treatment of children living with the disease. Specialised clinics will be reinforced in the Yaoundé central hospital, Douala general hospital and will also be created in each of the remaining eight regions of Cameroon. Each centre will be responsible for the management and follow up of children living with diabetes in their regions. This project will also be integrated into the existing national diabetes programme of the Ministry of Public Health.

The Changing Diabetes in Children project is part of Novo Nordisks access to diabetes care strategy and it build on the United Nations cornerstones in the right to good health. The project is pursuing an initial roll-out in the five sub-Saharan countries like Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea-Conakry, Tanzania and Uganda.

This five-year programme will improve the health conditions of children living with diabetes, strengthen the capacity of health centres and will sensitise the entire community about this pandemic.

The United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, in Cameroon and the Japanese electronics manufacturing corporation, SONY, have merged efforts to promote the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, set aside during the UN Millennium Summit in 2000, targeting 2015 as the deadline.  However, the thrust of the UNDP and SONY campaign embarked on during the ongoing FIFA World Cup in South Africa focuses on the MDG-6 which is “Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases” out of the eight point goals.

This is why UNDP and its partner have engaged in aggressive sensitisation and free screening and counseling campaigns against HIV/AIDS and stigma in four communities rated high in HIV/AIDS prevalence as well as bring free public viewing of some World Cup matches in these areas with low TV receptions.

Thus after Bamenda, Nkongsamba, Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 June was the turn for the population of Buea, in the South West Region to benefit from preventive messages against HIV/AIDS, free testing and counseling as well as a free viewing of the Cameroon versus Denmark and the Ivory Coast- Brazil encounters both of which attracted a mammoth crowd at the Buea Independence Square and Molyko Stadium respectively. On the sidelines of the football matches, youths queued up for HIV/AIDS testing and counseling while male and female condoms and educational materials were equally distributed to them.

Speaking during the official opening of the campaign in Buea, the UNDP Representative, Dr. Magdalene Maya, said the World Cup is a fantastic opportunity for them to send out messages especially in areas with high prevalence rates and that together, the HIV/AIDS pandemic can be flushed out and the MDGs achieved.  She pointed out that UNDP and SONY are supporting the National AIDS Control Committee to be able to carry on with sensitisation against the disease and fight against stigma. 
“We are trying to see how we can stop stigma so that many more people can come up for testing and follow up treatment adequately and pregnant women can come up for testing so that they can prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS”, Dr Maya said in an interview. 

“While we are taking care and support those who are infected, we also need to strengthen prevention. So there is a need that we continue to strengthen sensitisation so that we avoid many more infections that are coming up”, she added.

On how far Cameroon has gone with the MDGs, Dr. Maya while expressing delight on the massive participation of Buea population indicated that Cameroon has excelled especially in the Basic Education sector where many more girls are now in school. She however admitted that HIV/AIDS and Maternal mortality are still very high in Cameroon.

“We are trying to let people know about the MDGs and that every person has a role to play in scoring the Millennium Development Goals so that by 2015, at least, we must have moved to a higher level”, she posited. 

To the Representative of SONY, Shibayama Takahiro, the corporation’s participation is in line with its social responsibility concerns. He said SONY has been in partnership with FIFA since 2007 but given that the World Cup was coming to Africa for the first time, SONY thought it wise to also touch the lives of people in Africa. Takahiro who said only 20 percent of Cameroonians homes have TV sets, hoped that the power of football through the public viewing would inspire many to take part in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

While officially opening the event, the Social and Cultural Adviser at the South West Governor’s office, Edwin Nkenya Ngwana, urged youths to see the outreach advocacy on the MDGs with focus on HIV/AIDS as a need to join the fight which concerns every one.

The government’s response to the disease, he went, is multisectoral and entire decentralised with Cameroon becoming one of the top countries in terms of voluntary counseling, testing and treatment with 76,228 people benefiting from Anti-Retroviral treatment. Among these numbers, 7500 people are in the South West receiving treatment in 15 centres, according to Dr. Pascal Atanga Nji, Coordinator of the South West Technical Committee for the Fight against HIV/AIDS.

The population of the North West Region has been challenged to use the opportunity of the ongoing World Cup to score millennium goals by working towards the attainment of the eight millennium development objectives especially by fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS in the region which remains the highest in terms of prevalence in the country.

This was during a joint UNDP–Sony campaign on promoting the millennium development goals that took place at the Bamenda Congress Hall on Monday 14 June 2010.

Speaking at the ceremony that was chaired by North West Governor, Abakar Ahamat, the representative of the UNDP, Dr. Magdalene Maya, pointed out that the United Nations Development Programme is teaming up with Sony, an electronic manufacturer, to bring the FIFA World Cup to some communities in Cameroon. During this campaign, messages on the Millennium Development Goals are being shared and the focus is on MDG 6-fighting HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases and on fighting stigma.

During the North West lap of the campaign on 14 and 15 June, the Coordinator of the Regional Technical Group for the Fight against HIV/AIDS, Gladys Tayong, revealed that according to UNAIDS statistics as of December 2009, out of the 76,228 persons living with HIV/AIDS in Cameroon, 14,000 are in the North West making it the region with the highest prevalence rate in the country. With prevalence rate of 8.7 percent, she noted, sensitisation on the disease in the region must be intensified while stigma should be discouraged at all levels, warning youths to engage in behavioural change. She regretted that though there is high level of awareness on the pandemic, behavioural change has not accompanied the awareness for the prevalence rate to drop.

North West Governor, Abakar Ahamat, pointed out that sero-ignorance is more dangerous that being sero-positive, challenging the population to work for the region to leave the shameful prevalence level in the country.

The Governor also said Cameroon is among the top three countries in terms of voluntary counseling and testing in Africa, adding that this has worked favourably in the management of opportunistic infections.

Abakar Ahamat said in his capacity as the chairman of the Regional Technical Group for the fight against HIV/AIDS, he will stop at nothing to win the war against the spread of the pandemic in the region.
The representative of Sony Japan, Takahiro Shikahama, said they have been a partner to FIFA since 2007 and given that this is the first time the World Cup is holding on African soil, they want to use the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of people in Africa. He said the public viewing project is a private partnership project with the UNDP and will cover four towns in Cameroon beginning 14 to 24 June. He concluded with the hope that the power of football will inspire many to also take part in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Besides the public viewing of the Cameroon Vs Japan match on a large screen at the Bamenda Congress Hall, participants at the event received free HIV testing and counseling while materials were distributed.

The event was also spiced by artists such as John Minang, Bobgala Didier and Loh Benson who presented songs on HIV/AIDS.

A replay of Shakira’s World Cup song, “waka waka” and video presentations featuring goodwill ambassadors such as Zinedine Zidane, Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto’o Fils, Idriss Carlos Kameni, Emmanuel Adebayor and Denis Oliech were broadcast.

Sony representative, Takahiro Shikihama, said after the soccer jamboree, most of the electronic equipment will be donated to UNDP in Cameroon to be used for future activities and events in the country.

The campaign will also take the team to Nkongsamba, Buea and Mbalmayo.

Public Health Minister, Andre Mama Fouda, has enjoined Cameroon youths to be blood donors for the national blood bank.

He made this appeal on Wednesday 9 June 2010 during the official launching ceremony of the seventh edition of the World Blood Donation Day that would be commemorated  the world over today 14 June 2010.

The need for blood transfusions in the medical field, he said, is increasing all the time due to incidences that include complications of pregnancy, severe anemia, accident, trauma, surgical and/or transfusions for conditions like thalasaemia. The decision to give blood, he posited, can save a life. The Minister, therefore, called on youths as well as adults, especially those who belong in health clubs in schools and universities to benevolently and voluntarily donate blood without expecting remuneration. Cameroon, he declared, is working towards 100% voluntary blood donation.

The Public Health Minister, then went ahead to announced the global theme with the slogan “New Blood for the World” hoping to attack a new generation of idealistic and committed donors. The events marking celebrations, the Minister averred, would be coordinated and sponsored by existing networks such as the World Health Organisation, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies along aside partnership from other stake holders. The activities for the cerebrations will include special awards for those who reached a mile stone figure in the number of times they have donated blood.

The Minister also called on orchestrated media campaign that provides a motivational focus for potential donors in order to sensitize the population to increasingly donate blood as blood banks in hospitals are almost empty.

Meanwhile, the WHO representative in Cameroon explained the rationale for celebrating this day. The day was first set up by the World Health Organization on 14 June 2003, the anniversary of the birth of the Austrian Biologist and Physician Karl Landsteiner. In 1901, Lansteiner identified the different blood groups, a discovery that made blood transfusions far safer than they had been before, for which he received the Nobel Peace Prize in Physiology and medicine in 1930. As such, the authority responsible for coordinating global health, the WHO recognised on this day the need to show appreciation of the voluntary donors, who give blood without expectation of any reward.

Talking to Eden, one of such donors, Rev. Alpha Kudia, who received a diploma of recognition during the opening ceremony, expressed enthusiasm to have received such a certificate, declaring that he started donating blood in 1995, while he was still in his home country, the Democratic Republic of Congo. He said, he donates blood five times a year and would continue to do so as long as he lives.

On his part, a member of the Stain Pio Blood Relief Suffering Foundation- Cameroon, Ndedi Olivier, said their association has embarked on a campaign aimed at vulgarising the idea for people to denote blood free in Cameroon. They are also aimed at denouncing the evil practices that are found in most of our hospitals where blood that has been denoted is bought and sold at cut throat prices.

The national list of essential drugs has been reviewed in Kribi, South region. This is within the context of a three-day seminar.

The list, which is updated after every three years, is meant to render pharmaceutical drugs accessible and affordable to the population.

The Minister of Public Health, Andre Mama Fouda, called on the 50 participants to give priority to recurrent diseases such as those affecting children.

The new list of essential drugs is expected to be published in all hospitals nationwide by 2011.

In a related development, Cameroonian health authorities are determined to roll-back malaria through the reduction of malaria vectors such as mosquitoes.

A workshop to streamline the anti-malaria vectors strategy and to render insecticides effective took place in Yaounde recently.

The Minister of Health, while presiding over the meeting, said the resistance of malaria vectors to insecticides is a major health problem, which the government is determined to tackle.