GEF's Outlook

Time for disaster preparation lessons in W.Africa schools?

(From AIertNet News Blog)

West Africa is exposed to recurrent natural and humanitarian disasters – drought, floods, locust invasions, epidemics, famines, and chronic food insecurity – yet very little practical education on how to prevent, mitigate and adapt to such disasters is given to the majority of the region’s population.

Experts say governments can help reduce the impact these disasters have on citizens by including training in disaster risk reduction in school curricula.

“Education is vital because when people know what to expect and what to do they can undertake activities to reduce the risk and impact of disasters,” Carlos Munoz, the regional disaster risk reduction advisor of U.K.-based charity Oxfam, said at an event to mark International Day for Disaster Reduction, in Dakar.

I spent a good part of my school and work life in Buea, a small town at the foot of Mount Cameroon, an active volcano which is also the highest peak in West Africa. But I don’t remember there being at any time courses or exercises at school that gave us practical lessons on how to prepare for or react to an eruption.

What if there was an eruption and lava started flowing down towards Buea? The most I had ever heard was from local elders who used to say that a mythical mountain god always ensures that the lava from eruptions does not flow into inhabited villages.

Continue reading Time for disaster preparation lessons in W.Africa schools

 

Tooth Decay Ravaging Cameroonian Children

By *Leo Achembong Ndiangang

The average Cameroonian child is presently facing a challenge that past generations did not have. Dental caries is ravaging Cameroonian children, much as it did in the developed world prior to the emphasis on the use of fluoride and dental hygiene. 

This situation has come about due to a number of factors. The increasing popularity of highly refined foods and the neglect of hygiene instruction in primary schools are two contributors. In general, fluoride toothpaste is not affordable or is probably not on the list of priorities for many Cameroonian families. Basic oral hygiene knowledge and awareness of its importance is lacking. 

In addition, there is inadequate infrastructure in the few available dental clinics and a dearth of dental personnel in Cameroon. There are currently about 150 practicing dentists serving 19 million Cameroonians, 80 percent of whom are located in Yaounde and Douala, the two largest cities, where most dentists are in private practice, out of reach of the ordinary Cameroonian. The ordinary Cameroonian has no access to dental care because of the costs involved and the absence of dental providers in most parts of Cameroon. 

Presently there is no dental school, no dental hygiene school, and no government or public health emphasis on oral health. There is also no reliable data on the prevalence of dental caries. Hopefully, stake holders involved with the proposed dental school at the University of Buea will engage in oral health research and start doing research to show the evidence of the enormity of dental diseases in Cameroon.

Fuh Bright Passes On

By George Esunge Fominyen

As the days passed, the pictures on the CRTV website of four year old Fuh Bright became more and more disturbing. Thecondition of the boy's severe retinoblastoma or orbital tumor was worsening. The ailment finally overcame the kid's resistance.

He passed away on the morning of 8 January 2008.

What had become a national (if not international) effort to save his life is left behind him.