Journalists and District Health Workers empowered to advocate for Persons with Disabilities
Some eight journalists from six media houses and over 30 health workers from all the districts in the West region have received training in two separate workshops to gain skills to better serve persons with disabilities. The twin workshops were held simultaneously in Bafoussam on October 6, 2023, sponsored by Hope and Healing International Canada via the Socio-Economic Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, SEEPD program of the CBC Health Services.
The workshop for the district and community health workers trained them on the identification of children with disabilities while that for the journalists helped them to learn the rubrics of producing a 15-minute program titled, “Hope and Healing Time” to be aired on the six radio stations weekly, five in the West region and one in Adamawa region, to raise community awareness on healthcare services available to persons with disabilities, especially children.
Declaring both workshops open, the representative of the West Regional Delegate of Public Health, Mr. Nkouongnam Inoussa, in charge of Rare Diseases, hailed the partnership with the CBC Health Services and the West region that has come to stay. In particular, the Regional Coordinator for Rare Diseases charged the district and community health workers to redouble their efforts in identifying, treating, and referring children with disabilities so that ‘Our statistics in 2023 will be better than that in 2022’.
The Regional Delegate’s representative expressed satisfaction that with the help of the CBC Health Services with support from her partners, many children with clubfoot and other related disability conditions were discovered and either treated or rehabilitated in the West region in 2022. It is for this reason that he personally committed himself to ensuring that participants from all the health districts in the region make it to this workshop. He promised a reward to districts that worked harder in 2023 to fish out and attend to people and children with disabilities.
Drawing inspiration from 2 Samuel 9:1-8 in a brief devotional, Rev. Ekwo Emmanuel, Coordinator of the Hope and Healing International portfolio of the CBC Health Services admonished the participants to cherish children with disabilities.
Mr. Tamon James, Assistant Program Manager of the Socio-Economic Empowerment of People with Disability (SEEPD) initiative presented the key components of the Hope and Healing International portfolio: service delivery, education, livelihood, child safeguarding, Monitoring and Evaluation, and reporting.
The journalists were marveled to receive a key presentation titled, “The Role of the media in influencing uptake of health services” from a person with a disability, Bonkung Handerson who is speech impaired, and a seasoned journalist. In the words of the Manager of Magba Community Radio, “The CBC Health Services speaks and acts with examples to show for”.
Participants of both workshops received posters and brochures on the Integrated Approach and the Socio-Economic Empowerment of Females with Fistula projects to aid in their sensitization drive.