Quality Care to all

Editorial: The Relevance of CBCHS’ Mission and Vision

The Good Book says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish" - Proverbs 29:18. The importance of mission and vision for the health of any Organization cannot be over-emphasized! More

A Mission statement defines the primary objective of an organization; the business, products or services, and customers. It provides detailed information about what the organization does, how it does, and who it does it for. So indeed, it helps focus the Organization on what really matters - to itself as well as to its stakeholders. Whereas, the Vision statement focuses on its goals and aspirations, which describes how the future will look if the organization achieves its mission. The mission and vision of any veritable organization should be timeless.

The vision and mission statements provide a focal point that helps to align everyone with the organization, thus ensuring that everyone is working towards a single purpose. This helps to increase efficiency and productivity in the organization. (From Blog Article by Colour Infusion, Cochrane AB - https://colourinfusion.ca)

Not having clear mission and vision statements would be like going on a journey without knowing the direction you are to follow or the destination.

The CBC Health Services is a Nonprofit, Faith-based, Humanitarian and Inclusive healthcare Organization that addresses both clinical, social, and public health problems affecting individuals and communities in Cameroon in particular and Africa at large. It is one of the departments of the Cameroon Baptist Convention (CBC). CBC founded in 1954 is a living fellowship of churches growing in grace, strengthening one another in faith and working together in obedience to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission of Jesus Christ through worship, preaching, teaching, healing and social ministries. (www.cbc-cm.org).

Quality care to all!

The Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Service (CBCHS) has as mission to provide care to all who need it as an expression of Christian love and as a means of witness in order that, they might be brought to God through Jesus Christ. Thus, the CBCHB shall provide exemplary Health care with genuine compassion and with overriding purpose of evangelical witness. This is drawn from Matthew 9:35-36. Her vision is, “Quality care to all”.

The CBCHS since its establishment has been operating in Cameroon striving to further her mission and by no means deviating from it. They strive to PROVIDE CARE TO ALL WHO NEED IT AS AN EXPRESSION OF CHRISTIAN LOVE AND AS A MEANS OF WITNESS. If you go through the Scripture, Jesus ministered to all – those with leprosy, the prostitutes - I mean all who were rejected in the society; even those who hated Him. He had a goal in mind, His goal was the salvation of mankind. As the arm of the church, the CBC Health Services seeks to provide Care to all who need it as an expression of this Christian love and equally as a means of evangelical witness. Jesus fully aware that Judas Iscariot would later betray Him did not disown him but ministered to him as well.

Quality care to all!

The CBCHS has stood the test of time even in the current crisis situation; She has never deviated from providing care to all who need it. She has been seen in hard-to-reach areas. This is because, she developed a clear sense of her values even before the crisis. CBC Health Services' mission statement indicates a clear concern regarding a commitment to "quality and maintaining the highest standards of honesty and integrity in its dealings with all stakeholders”.

We equally praise God for the transformational leaders in the CBC Health Services who inspire, energize, and intellectually stimulate and stir employees to look beyond their own self-interest for the benefit of individual work groups and the organization as a whole.

The CBC Health Services has used her mission statement as a constant guide for her actions. She is out to satisfy customers’ needs. The mission of the CBCHS is clear: equality ("the proposition that all men are created equal and in the image of God")

Persevering through tragedy is not easy. The CBCHS has not let her shortcomings to keep her from her work. Staying true to her mission and vision has kept her in focus to learn from any challenges and sailing through when and where many are failing!!!
“Every woman living with a fistula can be treated” – Dr. Ngock

Girls and women living with fistula can now heave a sigh of relief. An Obstetric fistula is an abnormal connection More

between a woman’s genital tract and the urinary tract (vesicovaginal fistula) or between the genital tract and the rectum (rectovaginal fistula), predominantly resulting from obstructed labor.

Dr. Ngock George, lead surgeon and clinical supervisor of the Hope and Healing International-HHI project emphasized that obstetric fistula is not a myth but a health condition that can be prevented and also treated.

Dr. Ngock made the assurance during a capacity building workshop for some 30 doctors and nurses on fistula diagnosis and confirmation. The workshop held at the Baptist Center in Bamenda on November 17, 2022, with participants drawn from CBC Health Services facilities seeing and treating obstetric fistula in three regions of the country namely: Adamawa, West and North West.

The workshop covered the burden of fistula, causes, risk factors and prevention, diagnosis, classification, treatment, pre and post operation care, follow up of post repair girls and referral pathway.

SEEFF Project Officer, Yasmine facilitating 2

In an overview of the project, Ayenjika Yasmine, Project Officer of the Socio-Economic Empowerment of Females with Fistula (SEEFF) project said, the burden of fistula is greatest in the northern part of Cameroon with a long-standing culture for early marriages and in the Southwest and Northwest regions due to the waging crisis that is pushing many women and young girls into unorthodox circumstances such as early marriages, prostitution and rape. She said victims of fistula are mostly characterized by poverty, limiting them from seeking medical care. Victims of fistula, Yasmine continued, are enveloped in shame and sometimes rejection and isolation, the reason why community sensitization is key in identifying and bringing them to the hospital.

“Half a million women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, the Arab States region, Latin America and the Caribbean are estimated to be living with fistula, with new cases developing every year. Yet fistula is almost entirely preventable,” Mboni Loveline, Wound Care Supervisor noted in her presentation on the Causes/Risk Factors and Prevention of Fistula.

Drawing inspiration from the book of Luke, Rev. Fongoh Godwin, Chaplain at the CBCHS Central Administration admonished the doctors and nurses to treat females with fistula with love and compassion.

Checking participants' expectations

Rev. Ekwo Emmanuel, HHI Coordinator on behalf of the Director of Health Services and SEEPD Program Manager, encouraged the doctors and nurses to understand that they are a critical partner to the project. Although HHI focuses on girls 0-18 years, the Project Coordinator advised the doctors and nurses not to leave any woman with fistula behind. “Refer and treat everyone,” Rev. Ekwo directed.

Mboni Loveline examining the causes, risk factors and prevention of fistula

Hope and Healing International (HHI) is combination of five projects running under the Socio Economic Empowerment of People with Disabilities (SEEPD) program of the CBC Health Services with focus on assisting children and young girls with disabilities seek hospital-based care in three regions namely: Northwest, West and Admawa. HHI Canada is funding these activities for one year running from June 2022 to July 2023.
CBCHS News Correspondents cautioned against Sensational Reporting

Prof. Tih Muffih, Director of Health Services (DHS) has admonished news reporters and journalists of the Cameroon More

Baptist Convention Health Services (CBCHS) to always crosscheck the information they gather and disseminate.

“How will this information help the services to grow, how will it help you as a reporter to grow in journalism, and if it is not beneficial, informative or educative, discard it,” Prof. Tih told the close to 50 news reporters from across the CBCHS institutions who converged on the Baptist Center in Bamenda for two-day workshop on news reporting from November 4-5, 2022.

Prof. Tih, DHS admonishing news reporters

In his greetings, the DHS used the opportunity to frown at the recent unorthodox practice of posting unverified and sensational information using the android phone. The DHS urged the budding reporters never to send any information to the CBCHS Website or social media page without authorization from the Communication Unit which has the sole responsibility to do so. Prof. Tih also had kind words for the participants, who have opted to volunteer as field reporters to the Communication Unit in addition to their primary assignments. They included: finance clerks, secretaries, security guards, laboratory staff, pharmacy staff, housekeepers and a chief of center among others.

Drawing inspiration from Scriptures, in his devotional, Rev. Fongoh Godwin, Chaplain at the CBCHS Central Administration admonished the reporters to report truth that leads to life.

Clementina Njang Yong Head of the Communication Unit of the CBC Health Services

The CBCHS Communication Unit team of facilitators led by the Head of Department, Clementina Njang Yong schooled the reporters on the basics of news reporting beginning with the definition, Format/Sources/Qualities/Importance of news, Techniques of newsgathering, Interview Techniques, Photojournalism, Elements of Good Writing, Identifying and Initiating success stories and Editorial Policy among others.

Manager CBC Radio Bamenda, Ba-Tokoh Emmanual facilitating

The workshop provided an opportunity for participants to work in three groups and write news reports based on the principles learned. Before the workshop rose, the news reporters expressed gratitude to the facilitators for a job well done. At the time of this report, some reporters were already filing in reports of activity from their respective stations.
Staff of Plan International build Capacity on Disability Inclusion

Some 42 staff from Plan International have developed their capacities in disability mainstreaming. This was during a More

2-day training organized by the SEEPD Program of the CBC Health Services in response to a request from Plan International to provide capacity building for its staff on Disability and Inclusion. The workshop which recently took place at the Baptist Center Nkwen Bamenda brought together two categories of staff from Plan involved in different project orientations within the organization; the Monitoring and Evaluation staff and staff of the SIDA-Hum Project.

SEEPD Project Officer training participants on disability inclusion

According to the SEEPD Program Officer and lead facilitator of the workshop, Lohshie Eugene, the objective of the workshop was to build the capacity of the designated staff of Plan International on disability mainstreaming and the collection, management, and reporting of disability disaggregated data. He expatiated that with the design of the current phase of the SEEPD Program and with the present situation of the Northwest Region in humanitarian crisis, there is a need to support humanitarian organizations working in the field to ensure humanitarian actions are tailored to meet involved persons with disabilities.

For 2 days, the two groups of participants were trained on Understanding disability as an evolving concept, Barriers to inclusion, Models of disability, Legal framework promoting inclusion in Cameroon, Gender and safeguarding, and Washington Group Short Set Questions.

Exposing participants to the 2010 law on the rights of persons with disabilities and the CRPD, Asheri Ngah noted that it is an advocacy tool especially for organizations seeking to promote inclusion. It is a tool also used to hold the organizations accountable as duty bearers and service providers to be inclusive in their approach so that the law will not be used against them. Thus, she encouraged the participants to ensure that they use the law in their interventions and for the benefit of the population knowing that they are working in accordance to the law.

On his part, Lohshie Eugene schooled participants on disability related concepts, which gave participants a broader understanding of disability and impairment as well as barriers to inclusion, highlighting that, they must be intentional in putting strategies in place to break those barriers to promote inclusion in their interventions. Tina Ashiyo in her presentation called on them to respect the right-based approach to disability inclusion and be sensitive and intentional in identifying the needs of persons with disabilities.

Participants also acquired skills in Gender and Safeguarding with a focus on how to respond, report, and prevent child abuse cases and gender-based violence as field staff. Achateseh Godswill took participants through an elaborate session on the use of the Washington set short of questions. The presentation had as objective to ensure participants understand the need to reflect on access to various services by people with disabilities in all program-level reports.

Speaking on behalf of the participants, the Project Coordinator of SIDA-HUM Project expressed gratitude to the SEEPD Program for always being available to provide capacity building in very relevant areas of their work as Plan International. Ben Gaille charged the participants to use the knowledge gained in approaching their work. She testified that the past workshops have been very useful to Plan International staff in making their interventions inclusive.

SEEPD Program Manager pledges availability of the Program to strengthen systems on inclusion

The SEEPD Program Manager, Awa Jacques Chirac underlined the willingness and availability of the SEEPD Program to continue such partnerships which ensure disability mainstream in community actions.

The SEEPD Program implements this activity with support from the Australian Government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program.
HHI Workshop strengthens Pathways for PWDs to access Healthcare

More Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) are needed in the West and Adamawa regions of Cameroon to access More

hospital-based care and benefit from support from the Hope and Healing International (HHI) projects pegged under the CBC Health Services’ Socio-Economic Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (SEEPD) program. A three-day workshop held in Bafoussam from October 24-26, 2022 to empower stakeholders to redouble efforts in searching and identifying PWDs who are eligible to be supported by HHI within the one-year campaign period.

Declaring the workshop open, the HHI Projects Coordinator, Rev. Ekwo Emmanuel outlined the objectives of the workshop being to provide hope and healing to persons with disability especially children, brainstorm on strategies to meet the project targets and develop a realistic referral pathway among others. He called on the participants, mainly PT and CBR workers on day one, Community Based Organizations (CBOs) on day two and Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs), religious and traditional authorities on day three to redefine their messages to communities and families with PWDs by engaging them to partner with the program in ameliorating the health challenges of their children with disabilities.

Rev. Ekwo explained that HHI supports five projects within the SEEPD program for a period of one year running from July 2022 to June 2023. He challenged the stakeholders to take advantage of this initiative by working hard to meet the project targets of identifying 65 or more women and girls 18 years and below and 200 children with musculoskeletal (bone) diseases who can benefit from ‘free’ surgical intervention within the project duration.

“It is better for us to identify more cases and we lack the funds to treat them than identifying less than the target number and we are required to return the funds to the sponsors,” Rev. Ekwo encouraged. He clarified that the support is not 100 free but a partnership which the family of the PWD is required to make an effort to borne at least the transport and feeding expenses during the period in hospital.

Mr. Fabombi Dickson, Administrator of Bafoussam Baptist Hospital added his voice to that of the HHI Coordinator by admonishing stakeholders to take their responsibilities seriously. He charged them to help their community members by referring them early to hospital where they can receive appropriate care.

Cross section of community leaders

Day one of the workshop focused on the Integrated approach to Managing Disabilities from Musculosketal Deformities in Children 0-18 years in the West and Adamawa regions. Mr. Fandon Timothy, CBCHS Physiotherapy Supervisor and Mr. Che Manasseh, Coordinator of the Musculoskeletal Project educated the stakeholders on the various deformities that can be treated through surgery.

Dr. Ntungwe Ekwelle of Bafoussam Baptist Hospital and Mrs. Kenchi Hope, senior midwife and CBCHS MCH Coordinator presented on obstetric fistula, which they defined as a child birth injury that leaves women incontinent (passing) out urine and or stool uncontrollable) through the vagina due mainly to difficult and prolonged labour. They named other factors to include: child and forced marriages, home births, late access to obstetric care, rape and sexual violence among others. The consequences are shame, social isolation and stigmatization etc.

The following Treatment Centers of obstetric fistula are: Nkwen Baptist Hospital, Mbingo Baptist Hospital, Baptist Hospital Banyo, Ngounso Baptist Health Center and Bafoussam Baptist Hospital.

Boyo Maurine, Child Protection Officer of the Socio-Economic Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (SEEPD) program resounded that children especially those with disabilities have rights just like adults do. “Rights of children must be protected because it is a crime punishable by law,” Mrs. Boyo stressed.

Maurine posited that a minor according to Cameroon law, is anybody below the age of 18 and below the age of 25 for those with disability in the context of the CBC Health Services. She pointed out that these children go through physical, psychological and sexual abuse including rape. The West and Adamawa regions, she highlighted, have a culture of early marriages, which is a major cause of child abuse. Our attitude towards children such as calling them names like ‘my wife’ when they have no notion about marriage is a driver for abuse when the perpetuator has the opportunity.

The OPD leaders, traditional and religious authorities were particularly concerned with the rampant cases of child abuse in their regions resulting from early child marriage. For this reason, they pledged to redouble their community influence in bringing the ill to the barest minimum through sensitization and taking positive actions to stop it.

Noun Divisional Delegate of Social Affairs

Chief of Ngounso pledging to work in the interest of PWDs in his community
m-MIST Project brings Hope to Pregnant Women in Hinterlands

Medical intervention via mobile phone to pregnant women who attend peripheral health facilities is now a possibility More

in Cameroon. Stakeholders of the Mobile Information Service via Telephone (MIST) project made this revelation on October 21, 2022 during an evaluation meeting of the pilot phase conducted in Ndop Health District and Nkwen Baptist Hospital in the past one year.

The meeting that held at the Director of Health Services Conference Hall at the Baptist Center in Bamenda brought together stakeholders at the point of care to pregnant women. These included: Dr. Ambe, representing the NW Regional Delegate of Health who was unavoidably absent, District Medical Officers across the region with their maternity ward head nurses, experts from the CBC Health Services led by the Director, Prof. Tih Pius Muffih and experts from the University of Alabama (UAB) USA led by Prof. Allan Tita who participated via zoom.

Opening the workshop, Prof. Tih Pius Tih Pius said the m-MIST project is a welcome initiative that has its place in Cameroon’s public health system given that the country still tops the list of maternal and child deaths in the sub region. He thanked the University of Alabama for pioneering and sponsoring the project so far. The public health expert pledged to collaborate with the Ministry of Health through her NW Delegation to foster the project beyond the pilot phase. Prof. Tih challenged participants to contribute significantly through their discussions in the meeting towards building the capacities of nurses and midwives to better serve pregnant women in the hinterlands.

Sitting for the Regional Delegate of Health, the project focal point at the Delegation, Dr. Ambe rejoiced that the pilot phase of the m-MIST project in Ndop District proved a strong point to give credit to the thought of expanding the project to all the 20 districts in the NW region.

Attentive participants following Prof. Allan via zoom

In a brilliant presentation via zoom, the project initiator, Prof. Allan Tita and his team from the UAB disclosed that the n-MIST project is a novelty, not only in Cameroon, but also in Alabama USA where the response is even more rapid. According to the experts, the project has successfully gone through the first two phases; to adapt, develop and introduce the n-MIST initiative to Cameroonians and to test the project in a district in Cameroon, which was in Ndop. The third phase, Prof. Allan revealed, was to evaluate the pilot phase and take a decision alongside all the stakeholders to replicate the project to the 20 health districts in the NW region.

The purpose of the study is to assess barriers, develop and evaluate an integrated mobile phone-based m-MIST provider support system to improve pregnancy care and outcomes in Cameroon, Africa. The m-MIST intervention include a clinical support-hotline presently based at Nkwen Baptist Hospital, where a pregnant woman that visits a peripheral facility receives direct consultation via the hotline staffed by maternity care workers backed-up by obstetrics and pediatric experts.

Prof. Allan joined his voice to the opinion of other stakeholders that this project could subsequently extend to other health conditions. He hailed the collaboration of the NW Delegation of Health and congratulated the local team for a job well done.

It should be noted that m-MIST is a collaboration between the University of Alabama led by Prof. Allan Tita, the CBC Health Services led by Prof. Tih Pius, the University of Buea having as leader, Prof. Halle Ekane and the Delegation of Public Health for the NW region.

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“Every woman living with a fistula can be treated” – Dr. Ngock

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