Julius Niba Country Director CBM
The Country Director of CBM for Cameroon and Central Africa, Julius Niba revealed that launching 2 giant Projects with the CBC Health services, is part of an emergency response in the ongoing crisis turned an armed conflict.
"We started in Southwest in 2020 to the North West with a program that is focused on persons with disabilities. This is for the next 24 months to the tune of of 1.4 million Euro that is about 980 million". Country Director CbM.
The Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services, CBCHS and the Christian Blind Mission (CBM) launched 2 giant Projects, targeting over 2700 persons living with disabilities, in order to provide Inclusive Humanitarian Response, while targeting displaced persons and their host communities.
It was revealed during the launch that, these projects; "Disability Inclusive Humanitarian Action" and the "Inclusive Eye Care project," are expected to run from June 2021 to May 2023. The projects according to the Country Director of CBM, will be made affordable as it will be implemented in the context of Covid-19.
"We are launching two projects the inclusive emergency response project in the context of COVID-19 to bring important and affordable eye care to the region given that COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted the capacity of eye care partners to continue providing eye care services" Country Director CbM.
According to him, the absence of these services is a high risk for blindness. Reason why a support of 400,000 Euros had been made available to ensure that patients and care givers are protected and highly equiped to continue providing eye care services to prevent blindness.
"At CBM our technical domain is health and protection but we understand the response to the crisis includes other domains so we aspire to mainstream disability to other humanitarian actors so that in their domains of work they also include persons with disabilities".
Persons with Disabilities in attendance
Sign language interpreter
Most of these persons living with disability have cried foul that they have been neglected since the humanitarian response phase of the crisis started; not being part of the people that recieve aid in the Northwest region, while others only hear of it when it is already over.
Director CBC Health Services
To meet the needs of those in the Interior, community mobilizers, volunteers and other health providers will be trained and equiped to effectively implement the project. Professor Tih Pius Mofih says the CBC Health Services will be the implementing partner to have these persons living with disabilities have access to health care services.
"The current prevalence of disability in the north west region stands at 10.5℅ and it's expected to increase as a result of the ongoing crisis. The CBC Health Services will conduct over 200 medical outreach campaigns, yet the beneficiaries will have need to pay a charge which will be their transport to get this basic care" Director of the CBC Health Services,Prof. Tih Pius Mufih.
Cataract surgical services, dispensing of quality eye glasses, primary eye care service and many others are some of the areas of interest. The CBC Health Services just like the Christain Blind Mission, CBM has a main objective to support these persons with disabilities.
The project is under the sponsorship of the German Federal Foreign Office (FFO) through the Christian Blind Mission (CBM), with implementing partner being the Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services, CBCHS.
By Ndefru Melanie
678415536
civiclensweb@gmail.com