CBC Health Services Plays Key Role in the Creation of Cameroon NCD Alliance
By Nadege Ngeh
According to the International Diabetes Federation, 425 million adults worldwide live with diabetes with more than 16 million of them living in Sub Saharan Africa. The burden of diabetes in Cameroon is not only high but is rising at a galloping speed.
Statistics of adult Cameroonians over a 10-year period (1994–2004) showed an almost 10-fold increase in diabetes prevalence among adults.
CBC Health Services has been a major participant in global conferences for the fight against Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs). One of such is the West and Central African Conference on Diabetes and other NCDs.
The meeting that held on May 2 – 5, 2018, in Yaounde, Cameroon was organized by the Health of Population in Transition (HoPiT) and the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) in Partnership with the World Diabetes Foundation (WDF) and the International Diabetes Federation (IDF).
The conference brought together delegates from across West and Central Africa. It was a forum to reflect on national commitments, look at national examples and deliberate on the way forward for Diabetes and other NCDs in West and Central African countries following the 2017 progress report released by WHO.
According to the WHO, NCDs constitute the major cause of deaths globally. Yet countries are asleep, walking their way in this catastrophe.
One of the most important outcomes of this conference for Cameroon was the pacesetting role of civil society organisations (CSOs) which the CBC Health Services along with other CSOs were gladly shown to play.
The Cameroonian delegation saw the need to synergize in order to strengthen the NCD response in Cameroon and to better make the case for all NCDs through the creation of the Cameroon NCD Alliance.
The result of the alliance is a strategic positioning of the NCD Community to work collaboratively with the government to curb NCDs in Cameroon and revive the efforts against the negative impact of the rising burden.
The Cameroon NCD Alliance was finally created on May 4, 2018 with Mr. Mbiydzenyuy Ferdinant designated as its National Coordinator. Mr. Mbiydzenyuy is currently the Coordinator of the CBC Health Services’ NCDs Prevention and Control Program and has advocated for such a platform for over two years now.
“I am greatly humbled by the confidence the team gave to me. We have to do our best to strengthen our commitment to curbing NCDs. In very significant ways, everyone should leave no stone unturned in ensuring that all Cameroonians stay awake in fighting NCDs. NCDs affect everybody and we must all say enough to both NCDs and their risk factors and reverse the trend caused by normal business; if not, we will indeed sleepwalk our way into a very sick future,” says Mr. Mbiydzenyuy Ferdinant.
The selection of Mr. Mbiydzenyuy as National Coordinator of the Cameroon NCD Alliance shows the important role of the CBC Health Services in fighting NCDs in Cameroon and beyond. More so, this is an indication of the CBC Health Services’ relentless pursuit of her mission of providing exemplary healthcare to all as an expression of Christ’s love.