Life

3, December 2022

Biya regime says Ambazonia crisis prevents access to AIDS treatment ⁰

Cameroonian health workers and people with HIV marched for World AIDS Day on December 1, calling for access to treatment for patients in conflict areas.

About half a million Cameroonians have HIV, and at least 1,000 live in troubled western regions and the border with Nigeria. The protesters urged Cameroon’s military, separatists, and militants to allow all HIV patients access to needed treatment.

Marie Chantal Awoulbe, who belongs to the Cameroon Network of Adolescents and Positive Youths, which encourages those with AIDS to get regular treatment, took part in the protest and World AIDS Day activities at Chantal Biya International Research Centre in Yaounde. The center carries out research on AIDS, and supports programs to treat and support vulnerable people with HIV.

Awoulbe said her network is asking both armed groups and government troops to stop deaths among people with AIDS where there are armed conflicts by allowing the patients access to regular treatment.

Cameroon’s public health ministry says similar protests and activities to encourage free screening took place in 70 hospitals, with at least 30 hospital workers and people with AIDS taking part at each of the hospitals.

The Cameroon government accuses separatists in the country’s west of attacking hospitals and abducting health care workers. Activists also accuse government troops of attacking and arresting hospital staff suspected of treating civilians the military believes are either fighters or sympathize with separatists.

In April, medical aid group Doctors Without Borders suspended work in Cameroon’s troubled Southwest region to protest the rearrest of four of its staff members. Authorities accused the staffers of cooperating with regional separatists, but the organization denied it.

Medical staff members say intimidation and abduction of health workers, and ceaseless battles between government troops and separatist fighters make it impossible for medical supplies to reach the troubled English-speaking regions.

Twenty-eight-year-old Betrand Lemfon said he and several dozen people with AIDS moved from Jakiri, an English-speaking northwestern town, to Bafoussam, a French-speaking commercial city. He said he and others with the disease were afraid of dying in Jakiri because they did not have access to regular treatment.

“There are a lot of persons out there who are in need of medications, so if we could have the opportunity and chance for medications to always reach every interior part of the North-West region, South-West region who are hit by the crisis, it will help the adolescents, young persons and children living with HIV to take their ARVs [antiretroviral medicines] and stay healthy,” he said.

Lemfon spoke via the messaging app WhatsApp from Bafoussam.

Cameroon’s military says it will protect all health workers and civilians in the troubled regions.

The government says the number of people with the disease in Cameroon has decreased from about 970,000 in 2010 to 500,000 in 2021.

Health officials say the decline is due to increasing awareness of the disease and its consequences. The government says sexual behavior is changing, with the number of people using condoms or abstaining from sex increasing.

Honorine Tatah, a government official in charge of AIDS control in Cameroon, said unlike in 2020 when there was resistance due to lack of awareness, many more civilians now accept systematic screening for HIV.

“During antenatal care, a woman is screened for a number of diseases including hepatitis B, HIV and if you are tested positive, you are eligible for treatment and that treatment will reduce the chances of a child getting infected with HIV. The treatment is free of charge,” Tatah said.

World AIDS Day was the first international day for global health, starting in 1988. It allows people all over the world to join in the battle against HIV, to support those with HIV, and to remember those who have died from an AIDS-related illness.

Source: VOA

16, November 2022

Cameroon celebrates the legacy of cotton ⁰

A fashion week has kicked off in Yaoundé with an urban parade dedicated to the celebration of cotton.

Models opened the way to an impressive parade of dancers, performers, clowns and even giant puppets. The show was called “Cotton Pride, from seed to dress” .

“When you see a woman walking by in a beautiful dress or a man in beautiful cotton trousers, you can’t imagine the whole chain of work that goes into it. So in fact Cotton Pride is the pride of cotton work. It means that before you can wear this beautiful dress, there are people who cut, there are people who sew, there are people who spin the fibres, there are people who sow the seed, others who pick the flowers and others who transport these cotton flowers to the spinning mill. So in fact all these pictures show the different stages of cotton processing”, said show director, Nathalie Veuillet.

The show was a prelude to the Fashion and Design Forum.

The urban parade was an initiative of the Centre des Créateurs de Mode du Cameroun (CCMC), which is headed by Yves Eya’a .

“The theme of the designers’ collections is Let fashion express itself. And for us it was important that fashion went to the streets because today when we look at the streets, it’s all that inspires us as designers, as fashion, as fashionistas. And so it was important for us to be able to take to the streets to show the Cameroonian public the fashion that is expressed today in Cameroon”, added the CCMC promoter.

With its carnival atmosphere, Cotton Pride attracted many people.

“This show is really beautiful. It’s beautiful because it’s typically African, it’s beautiful, I love it so much,” said one onlooker.

Africanews reporter, Philippe Anatole Malong , added:

“Yaoundé’s Fashion Week features exhibitions, conferences, debates, fashion shows and other activities aimed at bringing fashion design closer to the Cameroonian public”.

Culled from iol.co.za

16, November 2022

Italy: Cameroonian medical doctor to quit after patient insults ⁰

A Cameroon-born GP is set to quit his practice in Varese after patients refused to be treated by him telling him to “go home and tend to your goats”, Italian media reported Tuesday.

Enock Rodrigue Emvolo, 48, moved to Italy from Cameroon almost 30 years ago and graduated in medicine from Rome’s Sapienza University.

He told the Italian press that he was fed up with insults from his clients, who call him “the Senegalese man”.

Source: ANSA

15, November 2022

English-speaking children denied education in Cameroon’s anglophone crisis ⁰

Cameroon’s Anglophone Crisis, also known as the Cameroonian Civil War, has been raging between the country’s government and Anglophone separatist parties in the north- and southwest since 2016. The separatist parties have been accused of kidnapping and attacking innocents, but the nation’s administration has also been heavily criticized, accused of human rights violations including torture and extrajudicial murder as well as employing disproportionate force against protestors and failing to adequately address the Anglophone minority’s concerns. There has been little progress in settling the war, which has displaced over 700,000 people and resulted in more than 2,000 deaths. Away from the front line, children, especially girls, are also among the casualties of this war.

The war has “wreaked havoc on the education of Cameroonian children,” UNICEF asserts. The English-speaking regions of Cameroon once had the best education in the country, the organization says, but now face “a permanent policy of non-schooling put in place by non-state armed groups.” Due to pressure from Anglophone civil society, certain separatist groups formally called off the school boycott in 2020, but attacks on schools continue unabated; “Children have been forced to evacuate their homes and several schools have been shut down,” UNICEF says, and those that stay open are frequently decrepit or overcrowded. Many teachers have “been compelled to leave the nation” and departed without being replaced. “This has left youngsters with little educational opportunities.”

Girls have been particularly negatively affected. Parents whose wages have decreased choose to send their sons to school while keeping their daughters at home to assist with chores or small trades. Families who can afford it are currently sending their children to schools in Cameroon’s Francophone regions, but others have simply fled, leaving their daughters to fend for themselves in the Anglophone sectors: unschooled and susceptible to recruitment for prostitution.

This lack of access to high-quality education exacerbates the already serious issues plaguing Cameroon’s Anglophone communities. Demonstrations by Anglophone attorneys and educators regarding the marginalization of the country’s English-speaking population were the initial tinderbox for the conflict in 2016. The separatist militias were only established after the Cameroonian military repressed demonstrators, turning peaceful protest into violent confrontation.

Instead of boycotting schools or threatening to close down voluntary learning centers, the parties in Cameroon’s conflict should utilize the beginning of the school year to alleviate children’s suffering in the Anglophone areas and develop trust with the local community. Separatist activists in Cameroon and elsewhere should cease all school boycotts immediately. If they do so, the Yaoundé administration should recognize the gesture as a de-escalation step. By keeping classrooms accessible and students safe, government and separatist leaders might offer a rare opportunity for dialogue and a lasting cease-fire.

In addition to increasing its assistance for the education system in Cameroon, the international community should assist the Cameroonian government in paying teachers’ salaries, renovating schools, and supplying educational materials. For such assistance to be sustainable, it must be needs-based, impartial, and inclusive of all Cameroonian areas and educational institutions.

The Anglophone Crisis is harming the futures of children who have not even begun to live. The conflict has had a severe impact on the education system as a whole, and both Cameroon and the world must take action. International allies dedicated to resolving the Anglophone crisis should promptly remind all parties of their responsibilities to protect civilians and safeguard children’s right to education.

Culled from The Organization for world peace

12, November 2022

Manyu: Happy Birthday song now in Ejagham Language ⁰

The tune to the song ‘Happy Birthday to you’ is used in many different languages around the globe. There are also a number of other birthday songs, some of which use the same tune but different words.

‘Happy Birthday to you’ was written in 1893 by Patty and Mildred Hill, teachers in Louisville, Kentucky in the USA. The tune came from another song called ‘Good Morning to All’.

The English version: Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear——-, Happy Birthday to you has attracted the attention of Tambendiparrah Tanyi, a native of Kembong, Eyumojock Sub Division in Manyu for ages!

The German trained Engineer and international IT-Consultant who also moonlights as an instrumental author of the Ejagham book – “Nguid Ejagham – Echort Ejagham” and a promoter of Ejagham culture and tradition recently put pen to paper and developed the Ejagham version of the song.

Here goes the lyrics and also do not forget to join Cameroon Concord News on face book and watch how Eyum Anneh performs the birthday song live

Bhere Oyibhambenghe Ofuh Obliih

1) Bhere Oyibhambenghe Ofuh Obliih

Bhere Oyibhambenghe Ofuh Obliih

Bhere Oyibhambenghe Ofuh Obliih obha ah!

Bhere Oyibhambenghe Ofuh Obliih

2) Oreh Ngyah ebheg Eyih!

Oreh Ngyah ebheg Eyih!

Oreh ngyah ebheg Eyih-ih!

Oreh ngyah ebheg Eyih!

3) Titih Ngya ya, Ngya gya!

Titih Ngya ya, Ngya gya!

Titih Ngya ya, Ngya mbeeh eyah!

Titih Ngya ya, Ngya gya!

12, November 2022

WHO Director’s statement on the Monkeypox situation in Cameroon and neighboring countries ⁰

The WHO regional Director of Africa Dr. Matshidiso Moeti recently held a press conference where he highlighted the state of affairs regarding the Monkeypox virus status in seven countries of Africa, including Cameroon.

He said that since the beginning of 2022, there have been recorded instances of Monkeypox in Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, the Democratic republic of Congo, Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

“WHO and allies are combining forces to immediately determine the scale and source of the worldwide pandemic. So yet, recorded cases have no confirmed travel linkages to endemic locations. Based on the available information, they have mostly, but not entirely, been detected amongst gay men having sex with men (MSM) requesting care in general care and sexual health clinics.”

“What is critically crucial today is to prevent any risk for a repetition of the inequitable availability of COVID-19 vaccinations encountered by African countries earlier in the epidemic. We must have one integrated worldwide response to the monkeypox virus to prevent it becoming prevalent in other nations. This requires equal access to the appropriate knowledge and tools, and information sharing to enhance understanding of the severity of the situation.”

“African nations may probably have accumulated some immunity against monkeypox. But fair access to effective vaccinations is crucial to safeguard the continent’s especially vulnerable groups, including health professionals and the contacts of patients.”

“As WHO in the African Region, we are working together with African governments, technical as well as financial partners and regional institutions to enhance laboratory diagnosis, disease surveillance, preparedness, and response operations to stem future spread of the virus.”

Source: The Paradise

29, October 2022

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Cholera outbreak kills over 270 ⁰

Cameroon Minister of Public Health, Manaouda Malachie on Thursday said Cholera has spread to eight of Cameroon’s 10 regions including the Center region, killing 272 people since October 2021.

Manaouda told a press briefing in the capital city of Yaounde that as of Oct. 20, 12,952 people were known to have been infected.

Efforts were underway to stop the disease from spreading but people needed to observe basic hygienic rules and go for treatment immediately if they noticed symptoms, the minister stressed.

On Wednesday, health officials in Southwest where the highest number of deaths and cases had been recorded, began vaccinating children in schools against cholera as part of nationwide measures to curb the disease.

Officials blamed poor sanitation and hygiene conditions for the spread of the epidemic.

Cholera is a highly virulent disease characterised in its most severe form by a sudden onset of acute watery diarrhoea that can lead to death by severe dehydration.

Source: Xinhuanet

14, October 2022

Nigeria: Ex-pupils of St Joseph Primary School (RCM Mamfe) Cameroon holds first convention ⁰

Members of the 1985 batch of the Roman Catholic Mission (RCM) Mamfe who pride themselves as being the children of Mrs. Getrude Jingwa, Late Pa Ojong, late Mr Nkeze, Mr Abang Vitalis, Mrs. Bridget Agbaw-Ebai, late Mr Peter Okafor, late Pa Ojongfong, late Teacher Orock Café and the tough disciplinarian the late Arrey Michael who was their headmaster met recently in Enugu, Nigeria as depicted in the picture below. From left to right,

(Police officer)ASP Okereke Roseline Ekemma of the Rivers Police Headquarters in Rivers State, Ayim Christopher Tanye of Enugu state, Kalu Anthonia Chibuzor of Umuahia Abia state, Okoye Cordelia Chinasa Jemeni from Lagos, Prophetess Okafor Eugenia Nkolika Uchendu of Onitsha in Anambra state and Pastor Acholam James Ekpo Eze ( Amoros) of Abakaliki in Ebonyi State.

The Class of 85 Nigeria Chapter used the opportunity to thank their brothers and sisters, those on ground Zero (Cameroon) and those in the Diaspora for making the reunion a remarkable one.

The Great Head Master of RCM Mamfe the late Arrey Michael

Members are also looking forward to other reunions which should result in fundraising efforts for their beloved Alma Mater.

They urged those who are not yet part of the reunion effort to join and to make meaningful contributions towards the development of the group which reminds them of their childhood days in Mamfe.

Members of the group promised to keep in touch and to keep the flame burning.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai (Class of 85)

11, October 2022

Angela Lansbury, star of ‘Murder, She Wrote’, dead at age 96 ⁰

Angela Lansbury, the scene-stealing British actress who kicked up her heels in the Broadway musicals “Mame” and “Gypsy” and solved endless murders as crime novelist Jessica Fletcher in the long-running TV series “Murder, She Wrote”, has died. She was 96.

Lansbury died Tuesday at her home in Los Angeles, according to a statement from her three children. She died five days shy of her 97th birthday.

Lansbury won five Tony Awards for her Broadway performances and a lifetime achievement award. She earned Academy Award nominations as supporting actress for two of her first three films, “Gaslight” (1945) and “The Picture of Dorian Gray” (1946), and was nominated again in 1962 for “The Manchurian Candidate” and her deadly portrayal of a Communist agent and the title character’s mother.

Her mature demeanor prompted producers to cast her much older than her actual age. In 1948, when she was 23, her hair was streaked with gray so she could play a fortyish newspaper publisher with a yen for Spencer Tracy in “State of the Union.”

Her stardom came in middle age when she became the hit of the New York theater, winning Tony Awards for “Mame” (1966), “Dear World” (1969), “Gypsy” (1975) and “Sweeney Todd” (1979).

She was back on Broadway and got another Tony nomination in 2007 in Terrence McNally’s “Deuce,” playing a scrappy, brash former tennis star, reflecting with another ex-star as she watches a modern-day match from the stands. In 2009 she collected her fifth Tony, for best featured actress in a revival of Noel Coward’s “Blithe Spirit” and in 2015 won an Olivier Award in the role.

But Lansbury’s widest fame began in 1984 when she launched “Murder, She Wrote” on CBS. Based loosely on Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple stories, the series centered on Jessica Fletcher, a middle-aged widow and former substitute school teacher living in the seaside village of Cabot Cove, Maine. She had achieved notice as a mystery novelist and amateur sleuth.

The actress found the first series season exhausting.

“I was shocked when I learned that had to work 12-15 hours a day, relentlessly, day in, day out,” she recalled. “I had to lay down the law at one point and say `Look, I can’t do these shows in seven days; it will have to be eight days.‘”

CBS and the production company, Universal Studio, agreed, especially since “Murder, She Wrote” had become a Sunday night hit. Despite the long days — she left her home at Brentwood in West Los Angeles at 6 a.m. and returned after dark — and reams of dialogue to memorize, Lansbury maintained a steady pace. She was pleased that Jessica Fletcher served as an inspiration for older women.

“Women in motion pictures have always had a difficult time being role models for other women,” she observed. “They’ve always been considered glamorous in their jobs.”

In the series’ first season, Jessica wore clothes that were almost frumpy. Then she acquired smartness, Lansbury reasoning that, as a successful woman, Jessica should dress the part.

“Murder, She Wrote” stayed high in the ratings through its 11th year. Then CBS, seeking a younger audience for Sunday night, shifted the series to a less favorable midweek slot. Lansbury protested vigorously to no avail. As expected, the ratings plummeted and the show was canceled. For consolation, CBS contracted for two-hour movies of “Murder, She Wrote” and other specials starring Lansbury.

“Murder, She Wrote” and other television work brought her 18 Emmy nominations but she never won one. She holds the record for the most Golden Globe nominations and wins for best actress in a television drama series and the most Emmy nominations for lead actress in a drama series.

In a 2008 Associated Press interview, Lansbury said she still welcomed the right script but did not want to play “old, decrepit women,” she said. “I want women my age to be represented the way they are, which is vital, productive members of society.”

“I’m astonished at the amount of stuff I managed to pack into the years that I have been in the business. And I’m still here!”

Source: AP

11, October 2022

Yaoundé sees 100% increase in mental health care seekers ⁰

Officials in Cameroon say the number of mental health patients in the country has more than doubled in the past year, as the country deals with a separatist crisis in its western regions and Boko Haram clashes in the north.

Fonbe Hedwick is the director of the Vine Mental Health Center, in Bameda, capital of Cameroon’s volatile Northwest region.

He says his center was chosen for World Mental Health Day activities in Bamenda because the number of psychiatric patients at the center increased from less than 20 in 2021 to over 100 in October 2022.

“We are receiving those who have gone through traumas, and they are sad, many who complain of sleeplessness, some who cannot be able to control themselves, they are so restless, so agitated. Some with severe anger issues. They present emotional and behavioral tendencies which are uncontrollable,” said Fonbe.

Fonbe said many families lack the resources to care for psychiatric patients at home and either abandon the patients at the center or put them on the streets.

Rebecca Nkwate is the highest government official in charge of mental patients in the Northwest region. She says the number of psychiatric patients seeking help in the region has increased from less than 2,500 to over 6,000 within the past year.

“Some of them come here already abused, so we listen to their story to increase their morale and in the course of looking for solutions, it may require that we go for home visits,” said Nkwate. “We help them at the level of the police and we work with those that go to the hospital when it comes to trauma management. We make sure that they enjoy the same human rights like other people.”

Overall, Cameroon says the number of mental patients in the central African state has more than doubled from about 10,000 to 23,000 in the past 12 months.

The government says with the separatist crisis in western regions and Boko Haram terrorism on the northern border decreasing, humanitarian workers are better able to find and assist patients abandoned in villages where fighting was intensive.

Laure Mengueme is the director of mental health at Cameroon’s Ministry of Health. She says many people lost family members in the conflicts or experienced acts of abuse, violence and trauma, triggering mental health crises.

She urges civilians to seek medical help instead of taking psychiatric patients to traditional healers or pastors who claim they have miracle solutions to mental health problems.

She says a majority of the mental patients government workers are assisting to recover their health are nervous, aggressive, irritated and violent. She simply says doctors and therapists should exercise more patience with psychiatric patients when the patients become violent. She says the country counts very much on doctors and therapists to reduce the growing number of mental patients.

The World Health Organization reports that growing social and economic inequalities, protracted conflicts, violence and public health emergencies continue to take a toll on mental health, in Cameroon and worldwide.

The U.N. says a staggering 84 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced in 2021 leading to an increase in the number of people in need of mental health care.

The 2022 World Mental Health Day theme is “Make mental health and well-being for all a global priority.”

Source: VOA