Saturday, 4 February 2012

Personal Health Seminar with Cameroon's Red Cross

Today was the second workshop of a two-part community health series with Cameroon's Red Cross. Personal health topics included discussion and prevention of common diseases such as malaria, typhoid, cholera, etc. as these are the all-too rampant reasons people become sick (and die from) in the community and worldwide. These are diseases that can be prevented and cured, yet the facts from the World Health Organization are startling:

-A child dies from malaria every minute

-A person has less than a five-day window to receive medication for the harshest type of cholera before dying
-1 billion people are affected by one or more neglected tropical diseases each year

The session was spoken completely in Fulfulde, the main local language, with the women and Red Cross staff members trading off stories and clarifying myths. Everyone was highly participative and the session went well (of course with the exception that we started two hours late because of "African time!").

Link

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