Category: Medical

Some 782 deaths are reported in every 100 000 births in Cameroon, and nearly half of the cases are maternal deaths (45%), linked to bleeding.

These figures were revealed by the Minister of Public Health, Dr Manaouda Malachie on Wednesday, June 7 2023 in a press conference he granted at the Emergency Management Unit of the Ministry of Public Health in Yaoundé in prelude to the World Blood Donor Day. This day will be observed on June 14, 2023, under the theme “Give blood, give plasma, share life, share often.”

The Minister revealed that three children aged 6-59 months who survive, suffer from anemia and urgently need blood transfusion. This case of blood need, adds to cases of accidents and chronic anemia thus the need to donate blood.

According to the minister, it is this gesture of generosity, solidarity, citizenship, and selflessness that will save millions of lives. He used the opportunity to thank all those who voluntarily and regularly participated in the process of blood donation which is important in saving lives.

The health boss also reminded the National Blood Transfusion Centre (CTNS) of its role in ensuring a secure, efficient, and perennial blood transfusion system that will be able to supply quality blood and blood transfusion services to needy patients.

A total of 147, 034 blood bags were collected in 2022, the minister revealed. A net progress as compared to 2021, but not enough to satisfy the yearly demand for blood in Cameroon which is estimated at 400 000 bags of blood.

Mr. Manaouda Malachie personally took the engagement of donating blood to pave the way. He also called on Cameroonians aged 18-60 and in good health to participate in the blood donation process so as to increase the quantity of blood bags to be collected this year.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

The 2023 edition of the World Food Safety Day (WFSD) was celebrated on Wednesday, June 7, 2023, under the theme “Food Standards Save Lives” as designated by the World Food Organization.

It is being observed to draw attention and inspire action to help prevent, detect, and manage foodborne risks, contributing to food security, human health, economic prosperity, agricultural production, market access, tourism, and sustainable development.

This day comes as the production of food crops is being threatened in the grass field. Inhabitants in the Babadjou subdivision in the Bamboutos division as in other parts of the grass field, who mainly rely on agriculture to survive, say they have been victims of climate change year in, year out which might lead to critical food crises in years ahead.

They have been victims of huge material damage after seeing their crops destroyed by the effects of desertification. Beans, corn, cabbages, tomatoes, and other food crops, mostly consumed by households, and exported to other parts of the country were completely destroyed this year as farmers went in to plant after the first rains in March this year.

“The beans I planted this year have been completely destroyed. I planted after the first rain which was in March and was expecting that rain will continue. To my greatest surprise, the dry season instead resurfaced,” Ma Pauline, a victim of climate change said. “I don’t know if I’ll have even a bucket of beans this year. Even the corn I planted is really in danger. ” she Pauline adds.

The normal planting season which in the past decades, used to be in the month of March is not the case these past years. The first rain at the beginning of March is now followed by weeks and sometimes months of sun. This gap between the first rain and the normal rainy season as noticed, has been increasing in recent years and some fear it might be a complete shift of season in the years to come. This might lead to a serious food crisis in the area and other parts of Cameroon, experts warned.

Gardeners on their part, especially those at the foot of Mount Bamboutos are used to applying irrigation methods to survive. At the peak of the dry season, they face a water crisis that directly leads to food crises in the area.

According to the World Health Organization, every year, 600 million people get sick due to the 200 different types of illnesses that can be transmitted by food. Young people and populations with limited resources are among the most affected. Foodborne illnesses cause 420,000 preventable deaths every year.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

The Regional Disaster Risk Management Committee (RDRMC) in the Kavango East Region is calling on Government to declare a state of emergency on drought in the region.

This is one of the recommendations the RDRMC made in a report submitted by the chairperson, Damian Maghambayi, to the Office of the Prime Minister on Sunday following the death of 16 people due to reported food poisoning at Kayova village last Saturday.

A total of 24 family members at Kayova village in the Ndiyona Constituency ate porridge made from the flour of mahangu millet residue from traditional beer, known as mundevere.

“The region is currently facing serious drought due to lack of rain during the last rainy season, causing hunger among the majority of rural households who depend on agricultural crop farming,” Maghambayi told Nampa on Monday.

He informed this news agency that the Namibia Vulnerable Assessment of 2023 did not target the primary affected areas, adding that the Ndiyona Constituency where the incident happened was not part of the primary sampling unit, resulting in the Kavango East findings not being accurate.

The Namibia Vulnerable Assessment is an annual assessment coordinated by the Office of the Prime Minister under the auspices of Namibia Vulnerable Assessment Committee (NAMVAC).

NAMVAC was established in 2012 to collect and analyse livelihood and food security data to inform policy decision making on an annual basis.

Maghambayi said the RDRMC in its report also recommended the urgent need for two ambulances at the Nyangana District Hospital.

He explained that the Nyangana District Hospital, where the food poisoning victims were taken, only has one ambulance which is old and always has mechanical problems.

The chairperson further stated that Sambyu Health Centre, which is 95 kilometres away from Nyangana District Hospital, as well as the Rundu State Hospital which is 107 kilometres to Nyangana, had to assist in transporting the victims.

The RDRMC also recommended the urgent need for a well-equipped intensive care unit, stating that if the district hospital was properly equipped it could perhaps have saved the lives of some food poisoning patients.

Meanwhile, Maghambayi said a memorial for the 16 people who died will be held on Friday and the burial on Saturday.

The government, through the Office of the Prime Minister, has indicated that it would cover the funeral costs of all the victims and provide the bereaved family with food.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed inaugurated the Unity Park Botanical Center, the Unity Archive, and the Prime Minister Office Medical Center.

Adequate and productive use of spaces is essential in value creation, Prime Minister Abiy twitted.

Moreover, he added that the Unity Park Botanical Center has been developed from scratch in a none utilized space while Unity Archive and the Medical Center have undergone extensive renovation and restoration works to bring them up to standard.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

The population of the city of Bafoussam was sensitized to the harmful effects of the use of plastic packaging. They were also encouraged to keep their environments off, of plastic waste, as means of environmental protection.

This was during an awareness walk against the use of plastic packaging and collection which took place in the city of Bafoussam on Thursday, June 1, 2023, prior to the commemoration of the 51st edition of the World Environment Day on June 5, 2023.

This year’s Environment Day is commemorated under the theme “Solution to Plastic Pollution”.

Throughout the walk, in addition to the collection of plastic packaging and tree planting, essential messages on the consequences of the use of plastic materials on human health and the environment were passed across.

The public walk was led by the secretary general at the office of the West Regional Governor, Adrey EPENTE TAZEU.

The secretary-general said that “this sensitization is to help the population to have the habit not only to stop the use of these plastics but if they are used they should be properly disposed of. They should avoid disastrous consequences, especially in their health which is caused by plastic usage, non-biodegradable packaging, and plastic pollution”.

Still linked to the celebration of the 51st edition of World Environment Day, some 500 plants were planted in Bamelo in the district of Babadjou.

The apotheosis of this whole week of activities was scheduled to take place on Monday, June 5, 2023.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

Sustainable management and utilization of biodiversity is a crucial step for Africa in order to realize the seventh goal of Agenda 2063, AU Commissioner Albert Muchanga said.

In his speech at the conclusion of the AU, Caribbean and Pacific High-level Conference on Biodiversity, he pointed out that the conference is vital to the agenda of the continent as it aims to protect its biodiversity and ecosystem, and defines ways and mechanisms to domesticate the global frameworks and resolutions taking into account Africa’s realities.

In this connection, conserving biodiversity for Africa should not be an option but rather a vital necessity, he added.

According to the Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals Commissioner, “the draft African Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan is our new vehicle for addressing the triple crisis of biodiversity losses, adverse impacts of climate change and disasters in ecosystem resilience.”

Ministerial Segment Chairperson and Botswana’s Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism Minister, Philda Kereng said biodiversity is vital for the cultural heritages of Africans, and it is a cornerstone of the economies.

“Losing biodiversity threatens our existence and civilization and progress and livelihoods. As a continent, this is a risk that we cannot afford. Unless we are all aware, the environment has its own harsh way of responding to abusive actions of humans and other actors.”

Africa is endowed with vast natural wealth and cultural heritage, intricately connected to its ecosystems.

Despite the rich and varied natural endowment, the continent is not immune to the threats posed by the erosion of biodiversity, the impacts of climate change and the emergence of global health crisis, according to the minister.

She further noted that “if we continue on the current trend and continue not to make enough progress with our meetings and our dialogues and our program delivers, we risk losing about 50 percent of the bird and mammal species by 2100 and about 20 to 30 percent of the productivity of our leads, and mainly due to pollution, habitat fragmentation and others.”

As leaders, we have a duty to ensure that we preserve the benefits for future generations. This will involve a multifaceted and multi-stakeholder approach.

Kereng stated that it should also cover transboundary efforts, including at continental sub regional levels as well.

Furthermore, we need to harness the collective strength of our commitment to speak as one. “We always talk about one Africa voice; but here I wish that we can be able to put more attention on to how we can actually effectively build this voice as a process.”

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

Outgoing World Health Organisation (WHO) representative to Namibia, Charles Sagoe-Moses has said there is a need for Namibia to continue strengthening its health personnel capacity to ensure universal health coverage and primary health care.

Speaking to the media during a courtesy visit to President Hage Geingob at State House on Tuesday, Sagoe-Moses said Namibia should invest in community health workers in efforts to provide universal health coverage so every Namibian has access to a full range of quality health services, without financial hardship.

“We need to invest in community health workers and the grassroots to continue emphasising on primary health care in support of universal health coverage where every Namibian, regardless of where you are… You get the health care you need when you need it without any financial burden on you,” he said.

He further noted that there is a need to continue strengthening the area of communicable diseases, epidemic prevention, preparedness and response, saying that COVID-19 experiences has made Namibia more prepared and ready to address almost any outbreak.

Sagoe-Moses indicated that recently, WHO assisted the ministry of health and social services with over N.dollars 51 million through an emergency flagship initiative aimed at strengthening the provision of emergency health care.

He commended Namibia for its improved maternal death rates over the past two decades, noting that since 2008 Namibia remained polio free, despite bordering polio-prone countries. Namibia equally won the fight against Hepatitis E.

President Geingob thanked Sagoe-Moses for his tremendous work while in Namibia, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency