Dr Fred Kemah is joining the Cameroon Concord News Group as editor of the health and wellness medical unit. The renowned Fred Kemah will lead the Cameroon Concord News and Cameroon Intelligence Report medical reporting and investigations.

“Fred Kemah is the right match for Camcordnews’s outstanding medical reporting,” said Concord’s Chi Prudence Asong. “Fred will help advance Concord’s health coverage pairing the unit’s dynamic breaking news and important health reporting with an increased focus on personal wellness reporting.”

Dr Fred Kemah has experience in news reporting and had served with other Cameroonian media houses.

Dr Fred Kemah, MD, PhD, FRCP, FESC

Profession

Consultant Cardiologist

Honorary Senior Lecturer in Cardiac Medicine

Qualification: MB, BS, MD, PhD, FRCP, FESC.

Background: Fred is on the Specialist Register of the General Medical Council, London, UK as a Consultant Cardiologist with Full License to Practice. He trained in Rome Catholic University where he obtained his MD & PhD.

He has been a Consultant Cardiologist since 2005. He has extensive international experience   having worked in Italy and France. He developed Advanced Echocardiophy service at the Royal Bolton Hospital, and was awarded the title of Honorary Senior Lecturer in Cardiac Medicine by the University of Manchester in 2011 in recognition of his teaching activities at the Royal Bolton Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology.

Specialty Areas:

Dr Fred Kemah is an experienced consultant cardiologist trained in both invasive and non invasive diagnostic techniques.

He covers all aspects of General Adult Cardiology with particular emphasis on:

Chest Pain / Coronary Artery Disease

Palpitations /Arrhythmia

Breathlessness / Heart Failure

Hypertension

Dizziness/ Syncope/ Blackouts / Faint

Dyslipidemia

Cardiomyopathy – Diseases of the Heart Muscle

Valvular Heart Disease

Pericarditis

Fitness to travel in patients with a cardiovascular disorder

Investigations:

Diagnostic Coronary Angiography. Advanced Echocardiophy including Stress Echo and Transoesophageal Echo. Doctor- Led Exercise Tolerance Test. ECG & Blood Pressure Monitoring. Tilt Test

Dr Fred Kemah runs specialist clinics including

Heart Disease in Pregnancy Clinic

Atrial Fibrillation and Stoke Prevention Clinic

Heart Failure Clinic

Screening and Preventative Cardiology Clinic.

Contact Details

Email: fred.kemah@hotmail.co.uk

WhatsApp Message

+44(0)7944739020

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned that at least 400,000 children could starve to death in the conflict-wracked Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) within months without emergency intervention.

The UN agency raised the alarm in a statement published on Tuesday, warning that all these children, who are “under five,… are suffering from severe acute malnutrition and could die in 2018 if they are not urgently reached with life-saving health and nutrition interventions.”

The appalling crisis, which is the latest to hit the central African country, was deepening in the vast region of Kasai, the fund said, adding that an 18-month-long mixture of violence, mass displacement and faltering agricultural output were having a crushing impact on the very young.

“This nutrition crisis and food insecurity in the Kasai region follows the displacement of thousands of families who have been living for months in very harsh conditions,” said Tajudeen Oyewale, UNICEF’s acting representative in the DRC.

Back in 2016, fierce fighting erupted between local groups and government troops in the wake of the murder of a tribal chieftain who had rebelled against unpopular President Joseph Kabila’s regime in the capital Kinshasa. The bloody clashes led to the death of several thousand people and the displacement of around 1.4 million others, who fled their homes, leaving fields untended.

According to the UN reports, the catalogue of alleged violence included extrajudicial killings, rapes, torture and the employment of child soldiers, plus torching of villages and the systematic destruction of schools, public buildings and medical centers.

The UN agency further said in its statement that although security and stability had partially been restored in some parts of Kasai, the persisting lack of food still haunted the region right up until next June since the planting seasons for this year had been lost.

“Families have little harvest from their own land and nothing to sell at the markets,” it further said.

UNICEF, which has been intervening in the Kasai crisis since early this year, added that the volatile region’s health infrastructure had been destroyed.

“Approximately 220 health centers were destroyed, looted or damaged, leading to a weakening of the health delivery system, reduced access to healthcare and an increased risk in the spread of communicable diseases like measles,” the statement read.

In October, the UN refugee agency reported that some 3.9 million people had been displaced in the DRC due to the widespread violence, declaring that the crisis was a “level three” emergency, the highest on the scale.

On December 7, suspected members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebel group attacked the Company Operating Base, run by the MONUSCO (the UN Stabilization Mission in the DRC), at Semuliki in Beni territory, and engaged in a three-hour-long fierce gun battle with the peacekeepers at the base, killing at least 14 blue helmets and wounding more than 50 others, a number of them critically.

Most of the slain peacekeepers were from Tanzania while at least five of them were Congolese.

The African country had one of the most brutal colonial rules before undergoing decades of corrupt dictatorship and back-to-back civil wars that left the diamond-rich country poor and politically unstable.

In 2006, the UN mission helped carry out Congo’s first free and fair elections in 46 years, paving the way for President Kabila to be elected for a five-year term. Kabila, however, refused to step down after his second elected term officially expired on December 20, 2016, prompting deadly wave of violence across the African state.

Source: Presstv

According to statistics from the Joint UN program on HIV/ AIDS – UNAIDS, 33 million persons are infected with HIV AIDS worldwide. Of this number 2.3% are found in Central Africa. Cameroon alone counts 4.3% or 600,000 infected cases.

It is this relatively high prevalence rate in Central Africa that justifies an agreement between the United Nations Program on AIDS and the Cameroon government.

According to the agreement, Cameroonians are encouraged to get tested for HIV, if positive; they are provided follow up treatment.

Also attention will be focus on mother-to-child transmission to prevent new infections. The overall objective according to health experts is to attain a 90-90- 90 success rate by 2020.

This entails 90% of persons to get tested, 90% infected persons to receive treatment and 90% prevention of new infection by 2020. The program will be executed through local councils.

On HIV/AIDS IN CAMEROON

– 37% have access to anti retroviral therapy.

– 74% mother to child transmission success rate

The most vulnerable population in Cameroon includes:

– 24.3% Sex workers

– 37.2 % homosexual

– 3.96% prisoners

Source: CRTV

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