NW Governor, Adolf Lele L’Afrique has joined his voice to that of the CBCHS to call on men to accompany their pregnant partners for antenatal clinic (ANC). According to the Governor, the baby belongs to both the man and the woman therefore, “No woman should give birth in the house,” he decried. The NW Governor was speaking on April 23, 2013 at the Conference Hall of the North West Special Fund for Health (NWSFH) during the Dissemination of Year 1 Results of HIV Free Southwest and Northwest Project by the Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services (CBCHS). Governor Lele L’Afrique used the occasion to hail the CBCHS’ indefatigable efforts in the fight against HIV and AIDS in Cameroon as a whole and in the NW and SW in particular.

The Governor equally threw flowers on the US government’s President Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) approved funding through the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to the CBCHS. The project covers a 5-year period (2011 to 2016) and aims at scaling up and improving HIV Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) in the SW and NW regions of Cameroon.

For his part, Dr. Ndoforchu Victor Afanyi, NW Regional Delegate of Public recommitted his support to the CBCHS as one of the leading healthcare providers in Cameroon. The Regional Delegate prayed that the objectives set by the CBCHS for ANC update in the NW and SW would be met for service improvement in these regions.

The high point of the event was the power point dissemination of Year 1 Results of the HIV Free SW and NW Project by Prof. Tih Pius Muffih, Principal Investigator and Director of Health Services (DHS). The DHS presented a balance sheet showing improvement above targets in all the seven main objectives of the project for both the NW and SW regions. Prof. Tih said over 8000 pregnant women had access to care just within the first year of the project from September 30, 2011 to September 29, 2012. By the end of year one, the project had reached a total of 555 facilities with PMTCT/MCH services (230 in the SWR and 325 in the NWR). The project exceeded its average target for both regions moving from 37.4% to 45.4% by the end of 2012 for population coverage of pregnant women tested for HIV and who know their results.

Although the percentage of men as partners in PMTCT remains negligible, the DHS commended the slight improvement of three percent and called on the men to accompany their partners to ANC at least once during the period of pregnancy. Prof. Tih said this will give an opportunity for the entire family to be tested and stay healthy.

The project faced major challenges during its first year of implementation. Some of these include: difficult terrain in places like Bakassi, Akwaya, Furawa, Ako and Nwa; inadequate/absence of health personnel in remote communities, occasional stock out of ARTs at Care and Treatment Centres, the existence of unregistered health facilities offering services to pregnant women (a situation which the DHS appealed on the Redional Delegate to crack down), and the absence of a tie breaker test, which the project is depending of the Ministry of Public Health to approve and supply one.

In spite of these challenges, Prof. Tih assured that the future is bright by urging all pregnant mothers to attend ANC. “We’re improving on services, but only you can improve on your health, “ the public health expert cautioned. The DHS acknowledged CDC/PEPFAR for choosing the CBCHS to implement this major grant in Cameroon. He thanked the partnership with the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) and the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) as well as the Ministry of Health for the confidence and support given to the CBCHS. Above all, the DHS appreciated the entire project staff for a job well done.

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CBC Pays Tribute to Fallen Former Principal of PTSHP Banso

Convention leaders, missionaries, government officials, traditional rulers, hundreds of staff and former colleagues all converged at CBC Church Kumbo on Saturday, April 20, 2013 to celebrate the life of Sister Kathryn Anne Kroll, former missionary and long serving principal of the CBC Private Training School for Health Personnel (PTSHP) Banso. Sister Kathy Kroll, as she was fondly called, passed unto eternity on March 12, 2013 after battling with her failing health for five long years.Kathy Kroll came to Cameroon in August 1970, when she was barely 25 years old as a missionary of the North American Baptist Conference. She joined the Medical Board of the CBC in 1972 as chief of post and nurse midwife at Mbem Baptist Health centre, after serving as a school nurse and teacher at Saker Baptist College for close to two years. In 1984, she moved to BBH and two years later she was appointed Principal of the CBC Private Training School for Health Personnel. She held that position until 2008 when she suffered a severe brain damage and was flown back to the USA for medical attention.

It is from this backdrop that Rev. Ncham Godwill, General Secretary of the CBC and main speaker at the memorial service exhorted Christians in a message drawn from 2 Corinthians 1:8-11 on the topic, “Our sufferings  as servants of God”. Contrary to some school of thoughts that hold that suffering is not the portion for believers, Rev. Ncham Godwill said he believes suffering plays an important role in the life of a child of God, as it brings him or her to a place of total dependence upon God. The CBC scribe explained that it is in times of suffering that we come closest to God. According to the man of God, suffering does not negate our identity as children of God; instead, it enhances it as our reaction to it speaks tons to onlookers. Drawing inspiration from the life of Sister Kathy who left her comfort zone and lived a  frugal life in a foreign land, the General Secretary called on all present to emulate her example of love, sacrifice and selflessness in their service to mankind. While praising the missionaries for their commitment to their call, Rev. Ncham encouraged them not to depend on their abilities, but to totally lean on the never failing strength of their great God.

Sister Kathy Kroll spent 38 years of her life serving the people of Cameroon, from the Bamouns to the Bamilekes, through the many indigenous groups of the North West Region in various capacities. As the CBC Director of Health Services, Prof. Tih Pius puts it, she will be remembered as one “who fully identified with the poor, sat by pregnant women in labor and assisted them to give birth, and was everything to everyone”. Adieu Sister Kathy Kroll!!

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