Health

No cases of infections from the Zika virus has been reported in Cameroon, the representative of the World Health Organisation, Dr. Jean Baptiste Roungou announced during a meeting with Health professional to raise awareness on the disease. The Yaounde meeting presided over by the Minister of Public Health Andre Mama Fouda was an occasion to present Cameroon’s riposte strategy and emmergency measures in the situation where a case is suspected. Public Health Minister Andre Mama Fouda noted that although the virus is not yet in the country preventive and response mechanisms have already been put in place. He said all major ports of entry into the country were under surveillance. The National Emergency response Center has been upgraded to measure the scale of the disease and has been equipped to handle any suspected cases while the Center Pasteur Medical Laboratory has been set to carry out diagnosis on any suspected cases. 

Health experts explained that unlike the female anophelex mosquito that spreads malaria, the Aedes Aeygpti mosquito that is a vector of the Zika virus is very dangerous as it attacks during the day and at night. The Aedes mosquito species also spreads chikungunia, yellow fever and dengue fever and is widespread in Africa, Asia and parts of Central and South Africa where several cases have been reported. Professonals however the say the virus does not generally kill and treatment is symptomatic. The professionals from the Ministry of Public Health and the World Health Organisation, WHO, recommended preventive measures especially to pregnant women who are the most vulnerable group.

Dr. Omer Pasi, Country Director for the Centre for Disease Control hinted that it was not yet clear if the virus was responsible for the a rise in microcephaly which is the deformation of the featus leading to babies with enlarged heads. However, wearing long clothing that covers the enitire body, placing nets around windows and doors to reduce the mosquito population and sleeping under treated mosquito nets are essential preventive tips. In this regard, WHO officails saluted Cameroon's initiative to distribute long lasting insecticide treated mosquito bed nets.

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Ngwa Bertrand

10.Feb.2016

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Lassa fever killed 101 people in Nigeria over a time span of six months, the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) said Saturday. Cases of the hemorrhagic disease, both confirmed and suspected, stood at 175 with a total of 101 deaths. The NCDC said as of today, "19 (including Abuja) states are currently following up contacts, or have suspected cases with laboratory results pending or laboratory confirmed cases." Health authorities say the virus is under control, but there are fears that the actual scale of the outbreak is under-reported. Large quantities of drugs, including Ribavirin tablets, and bottles of hand sanitizers have been distributed across the country to stop the spread of the deadly virus. The epidemic was first reported in January, but the first case of the disease occurred in August 2015. Last year, 12 people died in Nigeria out of 375 infected, while in 2012 there were 1,723 cases and 112 deaths, according to the NCDC. 

In neighboring Benin, at least nine people have died of Lassa, with a total of 20 suspected cases, health authorities said February 2. The number of Lassa fever infections across West Africa every year is between 100,000 to 300,000, with about 5,000 deaths, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The disease belongs to the same family as Marburg and Ebola, two deadly viruses that lead to infections with fever, vomiting and, in worse case scenarios, hemorrhagic bleeding. Its name is from the town of Lassa in northern Nigeria, where it was first identified in 1969. The virus is spread by rats or after coming in direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person.

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Ngwa Bertrand

07.Feb.2016

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Cameroonians and the international community have on the 4th February 2016, observed the World Cancer Day under the theme “We can. I can”. Commemorative activities included free cancer screening and tests at the Yaounde Teaching Hospital. The medical examinations were scheduled to run till Saturday 6th February, 2016. 

This year's World Cancer Day theme explores how collectively or as individuals, everyone can join to reduce the global burden of cancer. The day aims at saving millions by raising awareness and education about cancer. Statistics from www.worldcancerday.org indicates that 8.2 million people die from cancer worldwide every year, out of which, 4 million die prematurely (aged 30 to 69 years).

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Ngwa Bertrand

07.Feb.2016

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Cameroonian youth particularly young girls will have a place where they can seek medical advice on health issues related to their stage in life as well as learn how to handle other health-society problems, thanks to the Yaounde Gynaeco-Obstetric and Pediatric Hospital. In line with activities to mark the 50th anniversary of the National Youth Day, authorities of the Yaounde Gynaeco-Obstetric and Paediatric Hospital have opened an adolescent clinic for all young people in the country. The Deputy Director General of the Yaounde Gynaeco-Obstetric and Paediatric Hospital, Dr Charles Nsom Mba said the hospital preferred to launch the teenage health platform dubbed “Adolescents Clinic” because they want to emphasise on the care the hospital is giving to youth health problems. It is a special occasion which gives adolescents especially those aged between 10 and 19 years to come to the hospital and discuss problems related to their health. 

Dr Charles Nsom said given that youths at times find it difficult to talk about their health problems, the Adolescents Clinic platform is a unique moment that takes place every Wednesday from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. and which gives youngsters the opportunity to have frank talks with health workers. The platform which started last year was officially opened to all youths during their week as a way to encourage them not to stay behind but come out with those problems that are a burden to them. Throughout the year, hospital personnel will interact with youths on several topics such as HIV/AIDs, family planning, vaccination, how to avoid and handle early pregnancy, how to take care of a baby and also rape matters. Through sketches, youths will be handed knowledge on how to properly wash their hands, clean their mouth and other hygiene related aspects concerning their body. The Divisional Officer for Yaounde V, Mamadi Mahamat, said it is an important thing to support youths in activities that concern their health so that while in good health, they will continue to behave like the exemplary youths the Head of State wants for Cameroon.

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Ngwa Bertrand

05.Feb.2016

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A regional health organization says it needs millions of dollars to prevent the mosquito-borne Zika virus from spreading across the Americas. Carissa Etienne, director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), said on Wednesday that the health body needed an estimated $8.5 million to help member states respond to the virus which is rapidly spreading through the region. "We are mobilizing resources and estimate that we'll need $8.5 million to adequately help our members respond to this," Etienne told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of regional health ministers in Uruguay. Elsewhere in her remarks, Etienne said fumigation had limited effectiveness as a means to wipe out mosquito populations. Fumigation is a method of pest control that completely fills an area with gaseous pesticides to suffocate or poison the pests within. 

PAHO, which was founded in December 1902, serves as an international public health agency working to improve health and living standards of the people of the Americas. Back on Monday, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global emergency over the explosive spread of the virus following recommendations from UN experts and criticism over the lack of response to the virus. WHO has warned that the virus is "spreading explosively" in South and North America and could infect as much as 4 million people in the Americas this year. Cases of Zika virus have so far been reported in more than 30 countries.

The Zika virus is suspected to cause serious birth defects. It is linked to microcephaly, a condition in which babies born to women infected during pregnancy have abnormally small heads and undeveloped brains. Zika virus was first isolated from a monkey in Zika Forest, Uganda, in 1947. Brazil has been the country hardest hit by the outbreak. In Brazil, three people were reported dead due to the Zika virus in November 2015. Media reports say several people in the United States have also been diagnosed with the virus over the past few days. There is currently no specific treatment for the virus and no way to prevent it other than avoiding mosquito bites. The affected countries are reportedly doing their best to eliminate the breeding grounds for Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which bite all day long.

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Ngwa Bertrand

04.Feb.2016

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The Organization of African First Ladies against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA) has called for more global effort in the fight against the epidemic. During a Monday meeting in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, the African First Ladies stressed that more resources are required to prevent new HIV infections among children and to broaden access to testing services. Addressing the meeting, Michel Sidibé, the executive director of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), said that ending the AIDS outbreak by 2030 is possible if the right decisions are made now. 

“We need your leadership now more than ever to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030 by protecting our girls, by ensuring that young women and girls have access to reproductive health services and rights, and by ending violence against women and girls,” Sidibé noted. Lordina Mahama, the OAFLA president and the First Lady of Ghana, urged the participants to join hands against the disease. “Let us use our voices to bring an end to the AIDS epidemic among children and improve the sexual health and rights of adolescents.”

HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is no longer a death sentence. With the appropriate medical treatment, an early diagnosis of HIV can lead to the individual living a healthy and normal life. People successfully treated with the potentially deadly disease are also less likely to transmit it. According to the World Health Organization, some 37 million people are living with the viral infection worldwide, out of which about 26 million are in Africa. Scholars around the globe have launched various initiatives to raise people’s awareness of the disease and help end the plague. American economist Emily Fair Oster said in a speech that “people are going to have an incentive to avoid AIDS on their own” if the living conditions in Africa improve. “If people have no incentive to avoid AIDS on their own, even if they know everything about the disease, they still may not change their behavior,” she said.

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Ngwa Bertrand

02.Feb.2016

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