Azi Development Organisation Joins COL Initiative in Yaoundé

By Ojong Helen Ayamba, Email: helenayamba@yahoo.com The Azi Development Organisation (Yaounde Branch) led by Fonge James Ngufor joined the band wagon for the promotion of mother and child care last July 24, 2012 when the organization endorsed the national action plan for the World Breastfeeding Week this year. The exchange workshop was chaired by the sub director for food and nutrition at the ministry of public health in the presence of COL Cameroon Link partnership liaison, James Achanyi-Fontem. Speaking during the exchange workshop for preparation of the launching of the World Breastfeeding Week in Cameroon by the Minister of Public Health, Andre Mama Fouda, Azi elites in Yaoundé announced plans to carry out activities in Menji during the celebrations in collaboration with Lebialem Community Radio. The world breastfeeding week will be launched at the health district of Biyem Assi – Yaounde on the 17th August and activities will continue up to 23rd August 2012. The theme is . The members will contribute to radio story design programming on infant and young child feeding with the mother and child health care and rights initiative launched on the station in October 2010. The Azi Development Organisation Branch in Yaoundé was set up on the 4th February 2011. The objective of the organization is search means of securing and guaranteeing opportunities for the promotion of the well being of its members and the development of common initiative activities for the socio-economic advancement of the local populations in Lebialem. The organisation inculcates a strong sense of responsibility, discipline, fraternity, unity and solidarity amongst its members and the people from Azi – Lebang in Lebialem. Members meet in Yaounde on the third Sunday of each month to share experiences and gifts. Azi Development Organisation, Yaounde Branch, promotes excellence amongst its members and youths from Lebialem Division in the south west region of Cameroon. World Breastfeeding Week this year commemorates the 20th anniversary of the World Breastfeeding Week and the called for implementation of the Ten Steps in all maternity facilities with the context of Global Strategy launched by WHO/UNICEF in 2002. For this reason, it would be strengthening communities in Lebialem to increase greater participation and responsibility in promoting, protecting and supporting breastfeeding and optimal young child feeding rights Its activities will focus on Information, education and sensitisation of communities through Lebialem Community Radio and the organisation of briefings with educative talks, coach mothers’ support groups on the importance of breastfeeding and encourage the communities to be more supportive of breastfeeding mothers and their families.. t is expected that by the end of the World Breastfeeding Week in Cameroon on the 23rd August, 2012: • More people would have been aware of the risks of not breastfeeding • More people would be aware of the benefits of breastfeeding • Unethical Marketing Practices will be better monitored • More people would bee involved in Code monitoring activities • More Mothers would be supported by Fathers Support groups • More radio programmes on breastfeeding promotion would have been realised by the community rural radio stations with jingles and spots carrying specific messages at particular periods. The exchange workshop was an opportunity for sharing past experiences and impact of community of learning activities. For more information, write to fonge James Ngufor – email: fongejames@yahoo.com or the secretary, Achajeng – email: achajeng@yahoo.com

Azi Development Organisation Joins COL Initiative in Yaoundé

By Ojong Helen Ayamba, Email: helenayamba@yahoo.com The Azi Development Organisation (Yaounde Branch) led by Fonge James Ngufor joined the band wagon for the promotion of mother and child care last July 24, 2012 when the organization endorsed the national action plan for the World Breastfeeding Week this year. The meeting was chaired by the sub director for food and nutrition at the ministry of public health in the presence of COL Cameroon Link partnership liaison, James Achanyi-Fontem. Speaking during the exchange workshop for preparation of the launching of the World Breastfeeding Week in Cameroon by the Minister of Public Health, Andre Mama Fouda, Azi elites in Yaoundé announced plans to carry out activities in Menji during the celebrations in collaboration with Lebialem Community Radio. The world breastfeeding week will be launched at the health district of Biyem Assi – Yaounde on the 17th August and activities will continue up to 23rd August 2012. The theme is . The members will contribute to radio story design programming on infant and young child feeding with the mother and child health care and rights initiative launched on the station in October 2010. The Azi Development Organisation Branch in Yaoundé was set up on the 4th February 2011. The objective of the organization is search means of securing and guaranteeing opportunities for the promotion of the well being of its members and the development of common initiative activities for the socio-economic advancement of the local populations in Lebialem. The organisation inculcates a strong sense of responsibility, discipline, fraternity, unity and solidarity amongst its members and the people from Azi – Lebang in Lebialem. Members meet in Yaounde on the third Sunday of each month to share experiences and gifts. Azi Development Organisation, Yaounde Branch, promotes excellence amongst its members and youths from Lebialem Division in the south west region of Cameroon. World Breastfeeding Week this year commemorates the 20th anniversary of the World Breastfeeding Week and the called for implementation of the Ten Steps in all maternity facilities with the context of Global Strategy launched by WHO/UNICEF in 2002. For this reason, it would be strengthening communities in Lebialem to increase greater participation and responsibility in promoting, protecting and supporting breastfeeding and optimal young child feeding rights Its activities will focus on Information, education and sensitisation of communities through Lebialem Community Radio and the organisation of briefings with educative talks, coach mothers’ support groups on the importance of breastfeeding and encourage the communities to be more supportive of breastfeeding mothers and their families.. t is expected that by the end of the World Breastfeeding Week in Cameroon on the 23rd August, 2012: • More people would have been aware of the risks of not breastfeeding • More people would be aware of the benefits of breastfeeding • Unethical Marketing Practices will be better monitored • More people would bee involved in Code monitoring activities • More Mothers would be supported by Fathers Support groups • More radio programmes on breastfeeding promotion would have been realised by the community rural radio stations with jingles and spots carrying specific messages at particular periods. For more information, write to fonge James Ngufor – email: fongejames@yahoo.com or the secretary, Achajeng – email: achajeng@yahoo.com

Cameroon link Participates In Health Partnership Strategy Workshop

By Camlink News, Email: camlink99@gmail.com The Cameroon Cooperation Division of the ministry of public health organized a three-day workshop on partnership strategy and contract initiation in Douala from the 19th – 21st July 2012 for leaders of health development organizations and health district service heads in the littoral region.

Closing the workshop on July 21, the regional delegate for public health in the littoral, Dr. Yamba Beyas Martin, expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the exchanges between the public and private health sector representatives and the excellent delivery of content by the team from the cooperation division led by Maina Djoulde Emmanuel.

Other facilitators included Mrs. Abena Yolande, Dr. Bahanag Bassong, Mrs. Wonje Martine, Mrs. Mbango Anne and Ngah Emanuel , all top level officials of the ministry of public health in Yaoundé. Cameroon Link was amongst the ten health sector civil society organizations including the association for assistance and well being, mother and child association, association for women’s development and the association for the vulgarization of health information. The chief of the cooperation division at the ministry of public health told the participants that health sector partnership has a very long history before Dr. Bahanag Bassong presented the different judicial tools and structures for partnership realization. The Cooperation division chief discussed the changes made in the new health sector partnership document as he explained the judicial norms for establishing a partnership contract document. Each participant received the new Cameroon health sector partnership strategy document, which covers the period 2007 – 2015. The health sector strategy, reviewed and adopted tunes with the growth and employment strategy in Caùmeroon, which is the general reference frame work of health policies and programmes since 2001. The new document sets major guidelines and priority strategic directions of action as far as health delivery is concerned with the support of national and international partners.

In effect, all forces have been federated to fight against poverty through the health sector strategy and this gives the opportunity for contracting interventions with the following objectives: • To promote and render operational the complementarities between all health stakeholders at the national public, private and community levels, and the international development partners who support Cameroon’s health sector action. • To reinforce the decentralization of the national health system in order to ensure result-based management at the peripheral level. The review of the new health sector partnership strategy was participatory and lays the frame work of collaboration between all health stakeholders. It is strongly held that this constitutes a basic instrument capable of contributing to promote collaboration between the public, private and traditional sub-sectors in order to ensure quality health care. According to the Minister of Public health, André Mama Fouda, this marks the adherence of all health stakeholders to a single collaboration frame work. International partners including the European Union, French Technical Cooperation, GIZ, UNICEF and WHO contributed in designing the Cameroon Health Sector Strategy for promoting partnerships. This frame work is a result of consensus between all stakeholders because the development of the partnership strategy involved the participation of the ministry in charge of public health, related ministries, private organizations, denominational bodies, professional associations, NGOs, bodies representing bilateral or multi-lateral co-operation institutions as well as the population. The partnership strategy is drawn with inspiration from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with the hope that it would make it possible to improve health care quality and preserve the principles of equity and ethics in health care provision. The partnership strategy axes include putting in place a legal and institutional framework and technical support, implementation of a contractual approach among stakeholders of the public and private sub sectors, setting up of new relations framework among stakeholders of the public sector, supporting and monitoring of implementation of the partnership. Collaboration documents shared for effecting health sector partnership included the collaboration agreement letter, frame work convention; performance contract, obligations and resources frame work, miscellaneous and final provisions.

The 40 participants were drawn from the regional delegation for public health in the littoral, the Health District Services, municipal councils and health associations. On the third day of the workshop participants constituted three work groups to share experiences and evaluate the pertinence of the new health sector strategy. The work group session led to participants conceiving sample frame work documents as described in the Cameroon health sector partnership strategy (2007 – 2015). The first health sector strategy covered the period from 2001 – 2010.This did not produce the impact expected and it has been reviewed putting into consideration the weaknesses of the first health partnership strategy document. The health strategy workshop gave the opportunity for sharing past and current positive experiences of Cameroon Link and Community of Learning partnership during the radio story design initiative pilot phase just ended in Lebialem. Cameroon Link aims at bringing on board the ministry of public health through the department for health promotion to support the scaling up phase at national level. Sharing of COL Cameroon Link partnership impact continues as it was made known that activities related to the promotion of mother and child health care would be introduced into the Cameroon budget from the year 2013. Cameroon Link strongly holds the opinion that babies don't wait and the collaboration arrangements should avoid any partnerships with conflict of interest.

COL Cameroon Link Story Design Strategy Shared In Yaounde

By Ojong Helen Ayamba Email: helenayamba@yahoo.com

The Sub Director for Food and Nutrition of the ministry of public health, Okala George, presided over a one-day workshop to share COL Cameroon Link story design strategy, as part of preparations towards the planning and organization of the 2012 World Breastfeeding Week. The 24 participants came from Ebolowa, Edea, Mambanda, Bonamikano, Biyem Assi, Bojongo, Nvog Ada, Nkomba, Mbalmayo, Douala and Yaoundé communities.

Key facilitators were Tagoue Madelene, chief of service for dietetics and nutrition, Mahop Estelle Laure of the department for health promotion and James Achanyi-Fontem, Coordinator of COL Cameroon Link partnership. Okala Georges in his address to the participants reiterated the fact that 2012 is a special year because the WHO and UNICEF are celebrating the Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding launched 10 years ago and the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action, WABA, is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the World Breastfeeding Week(WBW). WBW is celebrated each year in over 172 countries and the ministry of public health, André Mama Fouda, will be launching the mass event in Cameroon at the Health District Hospital in Biyem Assi, a neighbourhood of the capital of Yaoundé City. To understand the past and plan for the future, the COL Cameroon Link partnership liaison made a feed of the activities undertaken since 2011, which gave room for exchanges and how these story design strategy is expected to be scaled up from this year with the support of UNICEF and the Commonwealth of Learning. UNICEF, the Commonwealth of Learning in Vancouver, Canada and WABA Secretariat in Penang, Malaysia with the involvement of health promotion stakeholders designed and produced social mobilization and sensitization for sharing during the mass event in Biyem Assi-Yaoundé and in the different health areas of Cameroon. Each participant was allowed to share past experiences and to propose the strategies put in place for scaling up community of learning within families and the communities in a way to support mother and child health care, fight against malnutrition of mothers and children below 5 years of age. While Cameroon Link shared the experience of using Lebialem community radio as a channel for open distance learning and story design programming to support mother and child health care, the sub director for food and nutrition said activities from 2012 will be guided by the evolution of technologies. This will serve as a mean of sharing essential messages for the promotion of infant and young child feeding. This will also assist Cameroon to tune to the rapid changes in the means of communication technologies for reaching many through mobiles and especially the youths. Context and justification Since the 1990s, efforts deployed by the different stakeholders to promote infant and young child feeding and especially exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months led to an increase from 1% to 21% in 2004, while initiation within the first one hour moved from 11.5% in 1991 to 20% in 2006. The paradox is that 29% of infant below one year die of malnutrition and poor practices of breastfeeding. The Cameroon ministry of public health and its partners would like to use the opportunities offered by the community f learning strategies to sensitize national public opinion on the advantages of exclusive breastfeeding and better maternal care. The objective fixed by 2015 is to increase the level of breastfeeding from 21% to 65% qualitatively. To achieve this objective, community of learning stakeholders have to reinforce training and open distance learning opportunities, increase information and education of the populations, especially the parents, mothers and youths through the use of community radio and mobile technologies now available in many households. Scaling up community of learning in Cameroon will be associated to activities including the briefings of health staff, organization of educative talks, the use of sports events to reach many during sensitization, training on story design programming, promotion of youth health clubs to animate health dramas, concerts, organization of radio quiz and public conferences on the protection of mother and child health care. To scale up activities, partnership strategies have included mobile telephone enterprises for sending out key messages on infant and young child feeding to all their subscribers during World Breastfeeding Week, the use of community radio for story design, while UNICEF, WABA and COL Cameroon Link partnership have produced communication materials, t-shirts, folders, flyers, exercise books with key messages on their covers and promotion banners. Policy makers of public, private and traditional institutions would be involved in advocacy drives in a way to lobby support for mother and child health care in Cameroon. Local health associations involved for the scaling up phase at national level are CIFAS Yaoundé, CASAMAC Ebolowa, NORFOWOP(No Limit for Women’s Projects) Biyem Assi, AFFE Mbalmayo, Alternative Santé Yaoundé, COGESID Bonaberi, Association of Nurses and Mid wives, and Association of Radio Broadcasters. Difficulties in project delivery During the exchange and sharing workshop, participants used the opportunity to discuss the role of the ministry of public health in Cameroon as the architect of health coverage, the purchaser of services and as a partnership promoter, at a time community of learning goes national. As scaling up of activities focus on durable and sustainability of project outcomes and impact, partnership development in Cameroon is hanging on innovative considerations and this requires a promotion approach with respect to the various stakeholders involved in the health system. The difficulties encountered in the delivery of community of learning activities through training and radio story design in Lebialem included poor state of road infrastructure for accessing enclave areas, few trained staff at the community radio station with more untrained volunteer broadcasters with university degrees, unstable supply of energy and irregular and snail internet access, lack of local enterprises to patronize health care programmes and low income of the local populations of Lebialem. Considering these difficulties, the ministry of public health is taking up its role to mastermind the innovative partnership strategy that would guarantee sustainability of investment in the health sector by its national and international partners. It was agreed that the contributions of other partners in active resource mobilization is having great impact and working positively in complementarily with the ministry of health. This mobilization concerns grassroot communities and civil society organizations, advocacy action with the development partners and external financial resources. This exchange opportunity in Yaounde was followed up with a regional workshop of the Cameroon Health Sector Partnership Strategy from 2007 – 2015 in Douala, littoral region from the 19th – 21st July, 2012. Recommendations 1. Stakeholders of Community of Learning initiative in Cameroon should advocate for technical, financial and material support locally for increasing external assistance for the rapid expansion of the activities in other parts of the country. 2. Lobby should be undertaken in other national and international organizations supporting health activities in Cameroon to get support for mother and child health care. 3. Distribution of materials and transport for community outreach and training activities should be increased considering the recent increases in transport fares in Cameroon. 4. Reinforce training of volunteer broadcasters in rural community radio stations on the techniques of script writing and broadcasting as motivation for improved quality and quantitative programmes production on mother and child health care. 5. The Community of Learning initiative on radio story design programming should be scaled up in the littoral and West regions in 2012/2013 after a survey and selection of the active community radio stations with healthy community programmes.