The non-profit group Doctors without Borders (MSF) pulled its foreign staff out of an eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo after an armed group tried to enter its compound.

The group is the latest aid agency to withdraw its staff from the Biakato region, after three health workers treating Ebola were killed in an unclaimed attack last week at an accommodation camp in Biakato Mines in Ituri Province.

That attack prompted the World Health Organization to withdraw its staff from the area.

MSF said that on Tuesday night, a group wielding machetes and sticks broke into the Biakato Health Center, where it operates an Ebola Treatment Center. There were no casualties and the group did not enter the Ebola facility, it said.

A separate group with the same weapons then tried but failed to enter the MSF facility in Biakato Mines. The NGO said they threw stones but did not do any damage.

“Due to a deterioration in the security situation, MSF made the difficult decision to withdraw all non-local staff from the Biakato region,” MSF said in a statement.

According to local authorities, the attackers from last week’s incident are likely to be members of the Mayi-Mayi armed militia group, which is fighting for a share of the country’s wealth.

The DRC is undergoing its 10th Ebola epidemic, which is the second-deadliest on record.

The death toll from an Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has risen to more than 200.

An outbreak of the much-feared hemorrhagic virus has killed 2,206 people mainly in North Kivu and neighboring Ituri, according to the latest official figures.

Insecurity has complicated the epidemic from the outset, compounding resistance within communities to preventive measures, care facilities, and safe burials.

On November 4, the authorities said more than 300 attacks on Ebola health workers had been recorded since the start of the year, leaving six dead and 70 wounded, some of them patients.

(Source: AFP)

Cameroonian health and emergency personnel are working to stem a cholera outbreak that has killed at least a dozen people and sickened at least 100 others in the Bakassi Peninsula that shares a maritime boundary with Nigeria.

It is feared the outbreak will claim more lives in the coastal area, which lacks health infrastructure.

Emergency medical workers, together with some civilians, are working to improve hygiene and sanitation by clearing dirt and debris from water beneath houses on the shores in the area. Among them is 31-year-old Cameroonian fisherman Lucas Emimo, who says he lost his younger sister to cholera. Emimo says he has joined the humanitarian workers because he fears many more people may die from the infectious disease that causes severe watery diarrhea, leading to dehydration and even death if untreated.

“We lack toilets, potable water,” Emimo said. “There is no hospital. People defecate beside the sea, under the houses, everywhere and so it makes the place not good to stay.”

Dr. Ebongo Zakius Nandji, the area’s top health official, says humanitarian workers were deployed when news broke that people were dying and some were being rushed to hospitals. He says there is no doubt cholera is to blame.

“Upon the reception of a distress signal from our team in the Bakassi health district, we came down to [the city of] Idabato, myself and my entire emergency response team,” Nandji said. “The situation on the ground really sends a pointer to the fact that we are in an outbreak of cholera.”

Nandji said six people had been reported dead and hundreds of suspected cholera sufferers were still in villages around Idabato. Civilians said they had buried six others before the medical team’s arrival. The actual death toll could be higher, because many live in remote locations, complicating efforts to get accurate health data.

Nandji urged people to be vigilant and report any cholera symptoms.

Hospitals underused

But the government says only 20 percent of the population visits hospitals. Most of them prefer traditional African medicine. Some complain that the only government hospital in Idabato is understaffed and lacks medication.

Roland Ewane, a top Cameroonian official in Idabato, says Nigerians living in the region prefer to return to their country for health care. However, making the journey reduces chances of survival for cholera patients.

“We have a population of about 40,000,” Ewane said. “They are mostly Nigerians. We have been carrying out sensitization campaigns [educating the population] on the necessity of using or the importance of using government services. One of them is the hospital. They do not come to the hospital. It is a big cry [to use hospitals].”

The Bakassi Peninsula is by the sea, but potable water is hard to find. Few have toilets and the local hospital struggles to handle epidemics.

Nigeria ceded full control of the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon in 2013, in keeping with a 2002 International Court of Justice ruling. Some 300,000 Nigerians live on the peninsula — approximately 90 percent of its population. The territory is rich in hydrocarbons and fisheries, but lacks basic social services.

Most health workers trained by Nigeria to serve in the area returned to their country when Cameroon did not continue paying their salaries. Some also fled attacks by separatists fighting for the independence of Cameroon’s English-speaking regions from the French-speaking majority. Cameroon has faced difficulties replacing departed medical staff.

Source: VOA

Cholera has killed two and left seven others hospitalized in Bakassi Peninsula, Cameroon’s local health officials said on Tuesday.

All measures have been taken to avoid further spread of the disease, according to officials who estimated the disease has been caused by failure to abide by hygienic regulations.

It is the first time cases of cholera have been reported in the oil-rich area that is inhabited by over 200,000 people.

Cholera spreads through contaminated food and drinking water, causing diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. There is high risk of cholera mainly in Cameroon’s Far North region, but cases have also been reported in commercial capital, Douala.

Source: Xinhuanet

As Boris Johnson and his Labour opponent Jeremy Corbyn prepare to face off Tuesday evening in the first TV debate ahead of December’s general election, the condition of the NHS has emerged as a key issue in the campaign, with the head of the British doctors’ association warning that the UK’s beloved state-run National Health Service faces an “unprecedented crisis”.

British prime minister and Conservative leader Boris Johnson called the December 12 election in an attempt to secure a majority in the House of Commons, hoping thereby to “Get Brexit Done” – to quote the Tory campaign’s omnipresent slogan. But as medical staff decry insufficient funding and statistics show deteriorating performance figures, Johnson is taking emergency action in a bid to head off an NHS crisis while striving to present the Tories as the best party to manage the health service in England.

The head of the British Medical Association (BMA), Chaand Nagpaul, made an extraordinary public statement on November 2, saying that the NHS is “hurtling towards an unprecedented crisis this winter”, which tends to be the most difficult season for the service. In what appears to be a pointed comment directed at Johnson’s Conservative Party, which has been in power since 2010, Nagpaul added that “it should not take an election to take stock of just how bad the situation has become”.

Despite the pressures of an ageing population and the development of increasingly complex – and expensive – medical treatments, spending on the NHS has increased by just 1.5 percent a year over the past decade, compared to a historic average of 3.7 percent since its foundation in 1948. “Over the last 10 years or so, the NHS has been quite significantly under-resourced,” said Jonathan Holmes, a policy adviser at the King’s Institute, a British think-tank specialising in healthcare.ADVERTISING

Four-hour emergency room waits

In a sign of the party’s concern, the Conservative Home website, the bible of the Tories’ most tribal activists, published a piece on November 9 titled: “Is the Conservative campaign about to run headlong into an NHS winter crisis?”

Statistics lend credence to fears of a crisis. NHS data published on November 14 showed that waiting times in hospitals’ all-important accident and emergency (A&E) departments in October were the worst on record in England.

“Over 80,000 of the very sickest patients had to wait over four hours for a hospital bed last month, and that’s before we’ve even seen very cold temperature in England, or experienced many flu or norovirus outbreaks,” said Patricia Marquis, the Royal College of Nursing’s director for England. “Many nurses I speak to say they are very worried they won’t be able to provide the care they would like to once winter sets in,” she continued.

Soon after the BMA’s statement in early November, The Observer newspaper reported that Johnson was attempting to fend off a crisis by setting up an “operations unit” inside 10 Downing Street to take direct oversight of the NHS – the first time a prime minister has done so.

A statement on the Conservatives’ website says that, “because of the Brexit deadlock”, the health service “recently hasn’t had the attention it deserves”. To give it such attention, the party proposes to increase the NHS’s annual budget by £20.5 billion (€24 billion). Labour has proposed spending another £5.5 billion (€6.4 billion) per year on top of that.

Labour’s ‘competence problem’

Considering that they have historically been distrusted for their stance on the NHS, “the Tories are doing everything they can to reassure voters that they’ve got the message that more now needs to be spent on it”, noted Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary, University of London.

The two parties’ funding promises reflect the public’s priorities: polls suggest that the NHS is a bigger issue for voters than Brexit, which has dominated British political discourse for three years. A survey by Panelbase published at the end of October found that healthcare was the most cited issue when voters were asked to name the most important issues facing the country – mentioned by 66 percent of respondents compared to 54 percent for Brexit. Similarly, pollsters Opinium found in a November 1 survey that 59 percent listed healthcare as a top concern, putting it well ahead of Brexit at 52 percent.

Yet it remains to be seen whether Labour can instrumentalise the state of the NHS for its electoral purposes. “It has always been a Labour issue but the Conservatives are picking up the zeitgeist,” said Sir John Curtice, a professor of politics at Strathclyde University. Given the Tories’ proposals to raise spending, “all we’re arguing about is: how much of an increase do you want?”

At the same time, Labour suffers from a “broader problem about voters’ perception of its competence, which feeds into voters’ ideas about how they will run the health service”, Curtice continued.

That said, the most (in)famous – and perhaps most successful – campaign line in the UK over recent years related to the NHS. It was the Vote Leave campaign’s vow, ahead of the 2016 Brexit referendum, to spend £350 million per week on the NHS that would supposedly be liberated from Brussels after Britain leaves the EU. In the current election campaign, Corbyn has produced an attack line that plays both on voters’ fondness for the NHS and their views about Brexit. He has accused Johnson of wanting to “sell out” the health service to President Donald Trump (who is unpopular in the UK) in a post-Brexit trade deal with the US.

The Conservatives have repeatedly stated that the NHS will be off the table in any future trade talks with Washington, while the British health service has long outsourced some contracts to US companies – to little public complaint. “Labour is stretching the argument when they say a US-UK trade deal would be a threat to the NHS,” noted Michael Keating, a professor of politics at Edinburgh University.

But that makes the argument no less potent, Keating continued: “The Conservatives are very vulnerable on this notion; and if Labour combine it with a winter crisis, creating a series of issues to give a sense of a threat to the NHS, it could be a factor” in the election’s outcome.

Source: France 24

A museum dedicated to vaginas and vulvas opened it doors in the north of London on Saturday. It is a world’s first.

The museum hopes to help destigmatize this part of the female body and debunk myths around it.

“The vagina and the vulva are a hugely stigmatized part of the body, and they have lots of embarrassment. Cervical cancers are not being picked up quick enough So, in an effort to destigmatize this part of the body, that’s why we’ve made the vagina museum”, said Florence Schechter, Founder and Director of the vagina museum.

Founder and Director of the vagina museum said the challenge is not only to educate and improve self-image, but it is also a question about public health.

“I think the worst myth for me is that they are dirty and they need to be cleaned, and I think this is just going to be shampooed for having normal natural bodies. The vagina and the vulva are not dirty parts of the body, they are self cleaning and the idea that they are dirty is just another way of the patriarchy reasserting itself”, Schechter said.

Curators hope more people will be interested in what the museum has on offer.

“I hope everyone could come in. Anyone who wants to learn about the vagina, learn about the vulva, we’ve interacted men, women, people of all genders, people of all sexualities, people of all races and ethnicities, we’ve had a hugely varied audience and I hope to continue that’‘, she added.

Curators say the museum is only opened for educational purposes. It has not yet been opened to the public, but events have already being organized, attracting people from 2 to 98 years.

AFP

One-year-old Cameroonian conjoined twins were successfully separated in a 5-hour operation in France on Wednesday, the hospital said.

Sisters Bissie and Eyenga Merveille—their family name is the French word for “marvel”—were born in Cameroon on Nov. 6, 2018, joined front-to-front and partly sharing a liver, the hospital said in a statement.

After the marathon separation in southeastern French city Lyon, which involved some 20 surgeons, doctors and other medical experts, the girls were put into emergency care and said to be in a stable condition.

They were brought to France for the life-changing procedure by the charity organization La Chaine de l’Espoir.

One of the girls has been diagnosed with a heart condition, which will be operated on later, the charity said on its website.

Rejected by the girls’ father and members of her family, the twins’ mother Mayah fled her town of Ayos to Cameroon’s capital Yaounde some 140 kilometers (87 miles) away, where she and her daughters took refuge at a hospital where they lived awaiting the operation.

Source: AFP

The Cameroon Forum for Medical and Paramedical Sciences, Camfomedics – was founded on May 7, 1994 in Tübingen by Cameroonian students of medicine, pharmacy and dentistry in the Federal Republic of Germany.

The 4^th to 5^th October 2019 was reserved to celebrate the 25^th anniversary of the organization and to make public a new plan of action engineered to move the association forward. An extra-ordinary event – The African Health Day was staged in the city of Essen, in which more than 20 medical professionals from Cameroon and Nigeria attended to the health needs of several African migrants residing in the North Rhine Westphalia province and even beyond.

Some Cameroonian medical experts from the UK, Canada, and USA were also there to offer some form of support service to the targeted population. Precious consultations, medical test, examinations and therapeutic advices were offered without charge to the hundreds of participants.

The climax of the outdoor event was the iMed Award 2019 that was honorably given to Dr Benice Ndofor. She was recognized for her precious engagement and for professionally instructing and guiding participants at the Camformedics Academy in Cameroon.

Camformedics success stories have all been registered under the supreme leadership of Dr. Ivo Azeh, who for over 10 years directed the body to extend its health services to benefit the underprivileged populace. The organization is now blessed with a new and dynamic leader in the person of Dr. Fonye Ki Nyui. Cameroon Concord News Tambe Ndip Arrah met with the Right Hon. Dr Ivo Azeh during the 20^th anniversary celebration. Below is his short and soul-searching conversation with the medical man.  

Cameroon Concord News: Dr. Ivo Azeh thanks for accepting to talk to us! We learnt on this occasion of the 25^th anniversary and the African Health Day that Camfomedics offered free consultations to the German public. What was the motivation?

Dr. Ivo Azeh: Well, it was a German public event but it was really tailored to meet the needs of Africans who live in Germany and that´s why we call it the African Health Day. We realized that we have different access to health services and people of African origin have other determinants. Our program is a health outreach, a health promotion activity to reach out to many Africans to offer them our health services and also to let Africans understand how the German health care system functions. Moreover, to guide them on how they can get better access to the health care system, and most importantly to inform them of particularities that prevail amongst African immigrants. So really it was an outreach deemed to reach out to people of African origin.

Cameroon Concord News: Talking about free medical examination, test and consultation. As the leader, what bill of health can you give to this event? Was it successful and satisfactory and did you attain your goals?

Dr. Ivo Azeh: Well, it was the first of its kind and it was amazing!We hope to continue with such activity! We did it with the Nigerian medical association. More than 20 medics of different specialities were attending to participants. I have never had an outreach event with so many medical professionals. The essential medical equipment was available to meet the requirement of the event. The turnout was good and we hope it would be better in future if we use different channels to inform people. We hope to continue with such activities.

Cameroon Concord News: We understand that you are leaving the leadership of Camfomedics. We watched the videos played, with so much appreciation and as tribute to you. It appears to be like Dr. Ivo Azeh is synonymous to Camfomedics. Your thoughts?

Dr. Ivo Azeh: Certainly, I must say it was really a surprise and am really touched by the videos and I am still like thinking, which Ivo are they talking about. I don´t have words to describe it, when your colleagues have so much high acknowledgements for what you have done! That is what keeps on motivating me throughout these years because there are a lot of people, I have confidence in; who are always available to respond when their support is required. Behind me was an active network of people who were providing the services we needed. So it´s not only me but collaborative work. I did a lot; likewise I owe the organization a lot. I gathered a lot of skills on how to manage, deal with and prevail over challenges that emanated from such activities professionally. I think the organization offers the possibility for young people to learn leadership skills and that´s what we are out for and am happy that we have young charismatic persons who are stepping in, learning, gaining experience and developing.

Cameroon Concord News: Can you proudly say Camfomedics as an institution that has its feet strongly rooted on the ground with the necessary structures for continuity?

Dr. Ivo Azeh: Obviously am leaving the executive but I am still a member of Camfomedics and in that capacity, I will continue to make contributions and participate efficiently to share the experience we need and guide the new executive. I believe they will be successful especially as the new president Dr. Fonyuy Nyuyki has been in the executive board for four years and we have been working together. I believe in continuity and we have a huge team of 7 people, many young enthusiastic. Undoubtedly, they will be able to promote and translate the aspirations of Camfomedics.

Paul BIYA and wife – Chantal BIYA arrived at the Lyon-Saint Exupéry Airport on the evening of 8 October 2019.

The 86 year old French Cameroun dictator travelled to France on the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron and will attend the Global Fund’s Sixth Replenishment Conference on the fight against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria that is scheduled for 9-10 October 2019.

The Global Fund seeks to accelerate the fight against HIV, TB and malaria. The conference in Lyon is expected to raise a minimum of 14 billion US dollars to save 16 million lives, prevent 234 million infections and eradicate these diseases.

Culled from the PRC with additional editing from Camcordnews

Cameroon is devising new methods to eliminate mother-to-child HIV/AIDS transmissions, Minister of Public Health Malachie Manaouda said on Tuesday.

“With the increase of children affected by the virus, we are designing a new strategic vision and new priority actions to accelerate the elimination of mother-to-child HIV/AIDS transmission and treatment of HIV in children and adolescents.” the minister said.

Only 20 percent of infected under-18 are taken care of, Manaouda said.

Despite “important challenges”, Manaouda said, Cameroon is on the path of attaining the 90-90-90 goal, which requires countries to ensure 90 percent of people living with HIV know their HIV status, receive sustained antiretroviral therapy and have viral suppression by 2020.

Manaouda was addressing a national forum on the prevention of mother-to-child transmission and HIV care in children and adolescents, in the capital city, Yaounde, in collaboration with UNICEF.

According to Cameroon National AIDS Control Committee, 6,000 newborn babies from infected mothers were taken care of in 2018.

There are over 500,000 people infected with HIV/AIDS in Cameroon, and despite better access to treatment in adults, access to antiretroviral treatment for children remains very inadequate, according to the health ministry.

Source: Xinhuanet

Across the world, one person takes their own life every 40 seconds, and more people die by suicide every year than in war, the World Health Organization says.

Hanging, poisoning and shooting are the most common suicide methods, the WHO said as it urged governments to adopt suicide prevention plans to help people cope with stress and to reduce access to suicide means.

“Suicide is a global public health issue. All ages, sexes and regions of the world are affected (and) each loss is one too many,” the WHO’s report said.

Suicide was the second leading cause of death among young people aged between 15 and 29, after road injury, and among teenage girls aged 15 to 19 it was the second biggest killer after maternal conditions. In teenage boys, suicide ranked third behind road injury and interpersonal violence.

Overall, close to 800,000 people die by suicide every year – more than are killed by malaria or breast cancer, or by war or homicide, the WHO said.

Global rates have fallen in recent years – with a 9.8% decrease between 2010 and 2016 – but declines were patchy. In the WHO’s Americas region, for example, rates rose by 6% in between 2010 and 2016.

The report also found that nearly three times as many men as women die by suicide in wealthy countries, in contrast to low- and middle-income countries, where the rates are more equal.

“Suicides are preventable,” said the WHO’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.”We call on all countries to incorporate proven suicide prevention strategies into national health and education programs.”

The WHO said restricting access to pesticides was one of the most effective ways of reducing suicide numbers swiftly.

Pesticides are commonly used and usually result in death because they are so toxic, have no antidotes, and are often used in remote areas where there is no nearby medical help.

The WHO pointed to studies in Sri Lanka, where bans on pesticides have led to a 70% drop in suicides and an estimated 93,000 lives saved between 1995 and 2015.

(Source: Reuters)