Ngah Humphrey Tita: The Tireless, Selfless Community Health Worker!

 “I started as a mobiliser. With the coming of the Coronavirus pandemic and the drop in the number of patients seeking healthcare services, we were retrained to sensitise the public. By telling them Covid-19 is real and that they need to prevent it or get vaccinated. And also encouraging them to bring forth their children for routine vaccination and to seek medical help for other health challenges,” explains Ngah Humphrey Tita. The Community Health Worker with Azire Integrated Health Centre, located adjacent the Bamenda Regional Hospital, has been volunteering since 2011.

Ngah has also been a key stakeholder in the World Bank-funded Pandemic Emergency Financing, PEF project. It is implemented by the Ministry of Public Health with the technical and financial backstopping of the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF. The project seeks to ensure the continuity of healthcare and services despite the socio-political crisis in the North West and South West Regions. And the Coronavirus pandemic that has caused many to shun health facilities – wrongly perceiving them as most probable places for Covid-19 contamination.

“I sensitise on Coronavirus and routine vaccination. We sensitise in markets, churches and in private homes. People now accept that Covid-19 is real and are coming forward for vaccination. More pregnant women and nursing mothers also come forward for antennal clinic and for their babies to be vaccinated,” Tita discloses with a grin of self-fulfilment.

However, one of Humphrey’s major challenges is the persistent allegation that he has been paid a huge amount of money by the Ministry of Public Health to carry out his work. “Of course, this is not true! I am only a volunteer without pay. I tell such people that vaccination is for their personal good. I also remind them that we have always had routine vaccination. And...