Local Health, Nutrition Governance Project : East Region Mayors Commit To Attain Objectives

“Nurturing Vaccination Through Improvement of Local Quality Cold Chain System and Health Promotion in Cameroon,” or LOKALE II project was launched in Cameroon’s East Region on Wednesday, October 12, 2022. The ceremony was followed by a three-day workshop for mayors and council officials on the promotion of vaccination, school health; prevention of obesity and anaemia, fostering nutrition in communities, and mobilising resources to prevent and fight diseases. Amongst the topics discussed during the workshops were health, council police, good governance, vaccination, school dropout… 

Four East Region Councils Involved
Lasting from 2022-2023, the project, which is in its second phase, was rolled out in Bertoua, headquarters of East Region by Dr. Ismael Teta, the Cameroon Country Director of Helen Keller International, which is implementing it. Financed by the German Technical Cooperation, GiZ, the project covers 23 council areas in the West, Adamawa and East Regions. Including Atock, Ngoura, Bertoua I and Garoua-Boulai councils in the East Region.

Helen Keller Donation, Mayors’ Pledge
At the end of the workshop, Helen Keller International donated computer material, motorcycles, vaccine conservation equipment and promised personnel to monitor health, nutrition and welfare activities in project councils. Rising from the training on October 14, 2022, the four mayors from the East Region issued a statement. Members of the Network of Cameroonian Councils for Nutrition, RECC-NUT; “… committed to engage in more intercommunity efforts in the areas of health, nutrition, welfare and vaccination as pillars of local development in their policies; and to pool their competences and resources to achieve better project results.”

Field Visits Requested
The mayors expressed the wish to see a joint RECC-NUT-Helen Keller International team tour their council areas to finalise paper work required for council action plans and others for submission to councillors during ordinary council sessions due to begin on November 15, 2022. They assured Helen Keller International, workshop facilitators and the donors of their commitment to share project experiences with other councils.

Helen Keller’s Promise
“We learnt so much from the workshop. We are now being sent out as good ambassadors with the good news of promoting local health and nutrition governance,” commented Olivier Cromwell Bembell D’lpack, Mayor of Bertoua I Subdivisional Council. Responding to the mayors, Helen Keller International Cameroon Country Director promised that his organisation will visit all four project councils in the East Region to work with the Mayors and councillors in pushing forward the project. Dr Ismael Teta said the five measurable recommendations from the workshop had to do with the work on the ground. Promising, &ld...