COL Cameroon Link Project Shared With FECABPA

By Cameroon Link
Email:camlink99@gmail.com
The different articulations of the Commonwealth of Learning were shared with the members of the Federation of Cameroon Breastfeeding promotion Associations, FECABPA, on the 18th February 2011, at the head office of Cameroon Link in Douala on the occasion of the 8th ordinary general assembly. Members of FECABPA used the opportunity to review their past activities in 2010 and exchanged on ways of introducing the open distance learning strategy into their 2011 action plan.
Considering that the World Breastfeeding Week, WBW, celebrated in August each year falls within the scope of maternal and child health protection, FECABPA resolved to work with the COL Cameroon Link partnership liaison for the preparation of activities at the national level with the support of the ministry of public health.
The theme of WBW 2011 – “Talk to Me! Breastfeeding, a 3D Experience” was discussed. The theme is made available each year by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action, WABA. This year’s activities will focus on youths around the world.
World Breastfeeding Week is an annual celebration and awareness campaign highlighting and recognizing the benefits of breastfeeding in communities across the globe. While there has been overwhelming support for breastfeeding from various international agencies (UNICEF, WHO, etc), women still face significant barriers and obstacles in their breastfeeding experiences. WBW aims to bring breastfeeding to the forefront of community agendas so everyone can be part of the dialogue!
Within the planned activities of mother and child health care radio design programmes, COL Cameroon Link exchanged with members of FECABPA on the meaning of the WBW theme, what the different nutrition and health associations want to accomplish in 2011,
Issues related to the theme include;
 Poverty Reduction, Hunger & Breastfeeding – MDG 1
 “double burden” & breastfeeding – MDG 4
 Maternal health & breastfeeding – MDG 5
 Unethical formula marketing – Quick fact about the Code,
 Environmental protection & breastfeeding – save x% waste from conserving on trash & cows milk
 Breastfeeding in the workplace – one of the places gov. play the BIGGEST role is policy to allow mothers to work and breastfeed
 Youth & breastfeeding and
 Breastfeeding and human capital development
The COL Cameroon Link Partnership Liaison, James Achanyi-Fontem, who doubles as the International Coordinator of WABA Men’s Initiative for promoting, protecting and supporting lactating mothers called on FECABPA members to work on ‘community’ or ‘communication’ oriented action ideas and highlight new ideas suggestions to improve the promotion breastfeeding activities using communication and youth involvement as well as other humanitarian movements (as organizations that work on the right of the women and children, gender issues, violence against women’s and children’s ,etc)
He added that research highlights will fit in this programme context, if associations looked at “Recommendation” section of studies that deal with counselling breastfeeding mothers, because often it seems like information is passed, but mother does not abide by the advice given by medical professionals. Participants during the events organized from the 1st – 7th August should highlight disparity and need for proper communication.
“With so many communication channels at our finger tips, now is the time to truly share and empower. It is also a challenge for us to think creatively about how to get the timeless message across and involve non-traditional audiences. All a mother needs is to feel supported, and this support must come from all angles, and all social contacts. This year’s theme is meant to remind us that breastfeeding really is a 3D experience – an outreach opportunity, an investment in a healthy future, and ultimately, a unique lens by which to see the world. Remember, men often are uninformed, women need encouragement, and youth are our future, questioning everything. We are the world out there, and we want to know. Please, Talk to me!!”
16 members representing 9 active infant and young child feeding associations based in Limbe, Yaounde, Ebolowa and Douala took part in COL Cameroon programme sharing exchanges meeting, which was reported on Cameroon Radio Television (CRTV) and Canal 2 Tv.
On the way forward, members adopted the following general orientations during the year 2011:
 Expand on COL and FECABPA action partnership to include ministry of public health, ministry of education, ministry for women and the family, WHO, UNICEF, and other potential funding organisations.
 Focalise activities on youths in conformity with the theme of the World Breastfeeding Week 2011, “Talk to me about Breastfeeding”
 Organise more COL Cameroon Programme sharing of activities outcome with more national groups, as a means of reinforcing capacities of their members.
 Work closely with associations at health district level for targeting grassroot populations.
 The next national working session with associations was scheduled for Ebolowa, in the south region of Cameroon on Saturday, 25th June 2011.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Donates To Farm Radio International

By James Achanyi-Fontem, Cameroon
Email: camlink99@gmail.com
The Executive Director of Farm Radio International, Kervin Perkins, has informed its African Partner Organizations that Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will continue to give support to FRI work in 2011. This information was made known in the FRI Weekly Bulletin of February 2011
To break the news, Kervin Perkins said, 2011 is off to a great start, at a time FRI completed the 42-month African Farm Radio Research Initiative (AFRRI) and was already pulling together reports and spreading the news about what it learned because of the research.
FRI director acknowledged that FRI gathered compelling evidence, for the first time, that participatory radio works and works well! This means that when radio programs feature farmers' voices and perspectives and features practical, sustainable farming practices they are very widely listened to and have a measurable significant impact on farmers' knowledge and most importantly, their practices.
On the strength of these findings and the outstanding work of Farm Radio International's staff in Africa and Ottawa, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has offered a second grant to allow us FRI extend effective farm radio services to more farmers in more countries! The 92nd script package released in late December 2010, focuses on the very important issue of water integrity in Africa.
Farm Radio Weekly, is FRI electronic bulletin of news and information about small scale-farming for African radio broadcasters, and it passed the 1000 African subscriber mark in 2010. To strengthen its ability to serve these rural broadcasters even better, FRI have opened two small news bureaus in Africa - one in Malawi, and one in Burkina Faso. These bureaus are already generating original stories about farming issues for Farm Radio Weekly. Another exciting piece of news is that the 2010 winner of the George Atkins Communication Award, Grace Amito, will visit Canada in March 2011.
Grace is the producer and host of farm radio programs at Mega FM in Northern Uganda. During her travel to Canada, she will meet with and give presentations to friends of Farm Radio International in Ottawa, Toronto, Guelph and Montreal. Friends and donors to Farm Radio International will get hard facts about Africa and the work of FRI during the rounds. Brenda Jackson at brenda@farmradio.org is booking appointments on this eventful trip by our African colleague. If you have any comments, questions or suggestions on how to expand FRI work in Africa, please email Kervin Perkins through kperkins@farmradio.org.

Pauline Kisanga Directs COUNSENUTH Tanzania

By James Achanyi-Fontem,
Cameroon Link
Email: camlink99@gmail.com
The Centre for Counselling, Nutrition and Health Care (COUNSENUTH) has announced the election of Pauline Kisanga as new Executive Director for COUNSENUTH, effective from 1st January 2011. According to the organisation, this change is part of COUNSENUTH’s usual process of activating leadership. Mrs. Kisanga takes over from Ms. Restituta Shirima who served as Executive Director from January 2007 to December 2010.
Mrs. Kisanga is taking to the centre a wealth of experience and expertise which is expected to make COUNSENUTH grow, expand and flourish. Mrs Kisanga has long experience in nutrition and management, which includes the years served as a Director for Community Nutrition and also Director for Nutrition Education at Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre (TFNC) in the 1990s.
From Tanzania, Pauline Kisanga served as Regional for the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) Africa, based in Swaziland for 12 years. COUNSENUTH is excited having her and looks forward to very fruitful years ahead for the organisation under her leadership.
Cameroon Link will join all the members of the WABA Men’s Working Group to accord her the cooperation that previous directors have enjoyed. Cameroon Link appreciates the partnership/collaboration it has always had with COUNSENUTH, and looks forward to
even stronger partnerships and working relations in order to continue efforts towards improvement of the quality of life of all mothers and children in Tanzania, Cameroon and Africa as a whole. The chairperson of COUNSENUTH, Mary G. Materu, announcing the good news said, “Together we can make a positive difference”.Congratulations! Pauline. For information, visit the website or write to: Mary G. Materu, MSc., Chairperson The Centre for Counselling, Nutrition and Health Care (COUNSENUTH)
432 United Nations Road, P.O. Box 8218, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.
Cell Phone: (255) 754 279 145
Website: counsenuth-tz.org
Blog: http://www.jipende.com

WABA Secretariat Revamped

By James Achanyi-Fontem, Coordinator, WABA MWG
Email: camlink2001@yahoo.com
Sarah Amin, Director of WABA, has announced two very important promotions within the secretariat of the organisation on February 1, 2011. The announcement was done on Kong Hei Fatt Choy - The Chinese New Year’s day. The Chinese new year of the metal rabbit came with the good tidings of two promotions within the WABA Secretariat:

The first is the promotion of Julianna Lim Abdullah, IBCLC, our very own International World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) Coordinator, to Deputy Director of WABA. Julianna started her new position as of 1 February 2011 and is taking on more of the administrative and management task of the office; working closely with Sita Letchmi and the director.

The second promotion is Sita Letchmi, who moved from Coordinator of Administration and Governance to Senior Coordinator also started 1 February 2011. She is taking on more of the financial responsibilities together with the director of WABA.

The Financial Officer, Dorothy Teng, is reported to have resigned as of 1 February 2011. The Secretariat will be advertising the position for a new Accounts person soon.
Bravo! Julianna and Sita from the Men’s Working Group and Cameroon Link

World's Oldest Person Passes Through Transition

By James Achanyi-Fontem
Email: camlink99@gmail.com
Eunice Sanborn,114, from Texas, USA died on Monday, January 31, 2011, Eunice was believed to be the world's oldest person on earth until she passed away, although she had maintained she was actually 115.
Eunice Sanborn died at 6 a.m. at her home in Jacksonville, her close friend and caretaker, David French, told the Jacksonville Daily Progress. David French, Sanborn's “adopted” son and caretaker, said her death was a peaceful one.“The Lord just called her home,” he said. “He had been using her as a powerful witness for 115 years.
“It was a very peaceful death. She was not uncomfortable.”
Sanborn has been a Jacksonville icon for years, thanks to her involvement in the community and her ownership of Love's Lookout. She rose to nationwide fame in April 2010, however, when she was declared the oldest living person in the U.S.
Not long after, in November 2010, she was declared the world's oldest living person upon the death of Eugenie Blanchard, a nun from the French West Indies.
Sanborn turned 115 in July 2010 and lived at home with 24-hour care until her death.
She was born July 20, 1895, in Lake Charles, La.
Jacksonville Daily Progress / AFP / Getty Images
Eunice Sanborn, who was recognized as the world's oldest person, died at her home in Jacksonville, Texas. According to official records, she was 114 years old, but she maintained she was really 115.
"The Lord just called her home," French said. "He has been using her as powerful witness for 115 years."
Census records show Sanborn was born on July 20, 1896, in Lake Charles, La., according to the Los Angeles-based Gerontology Research Group, which listed Sanborn as the world's oldest person.
But French said Sanborn always maintained the Census Bureau had made a mistake and she was really born in 1895. She celebrated what she believed was her 115th birthday on July 20, 2010 Agence France-Presse reported.
Sanborn became known as the world's oldest person on Nov. 4, when French nun Eugenie Blanchard died at age 114 on the French Caribbean island of St. Barthelemy, The Associated Press said.
The distinction now goes to 114-year-old Besse Cooper, who was born on Aug. 26, 1896, and lives in Georgia, the Gerontology Research Group said. Walter Breuning, of Montana, also 114, now becomes the world's second-oldest person. He was born Sept. 21, 1896.
Sanborn was married and widowed three times, according to a 2008 profile in the Houston Chronicle. Her third husband died in 1979. She also outlived her only child, a daughter.

Men Supporting Mothers through COL

Learning from Community Media:
Participation, Education & Development
By James Achanyi-Fontem
Email: camlink2001@gmail.com
Sir John Daniel, the President and CEO of the Commonwealth of Learning, COL, Prof. Asha Kenwar and Ian Pringle respectively, are names that media professionals, who attended the 6th Pan COL held at Kochi, India from the 24th – 28 November 2010 will live to remember for consolidating partnerships on how the agenda of Mother and Child Health Care can be taken one step forward.“Linking Media to Health Development”, which Cameroon Link addressed, was demonstrated through a Radio in a Box experiment at the Meridien Forum Centre in Kochi.throughout the period of the forum attended by over 600 delegates.
The Vice President of Col, Prof. Asha Kenwar, who also doubles as the Programme Director, was taken live on “Radio Commons” at the PCF6 Centre. This COL Forum Initiative aimed at showing how all sectors of the community can be involved in project design, decision making, execution, monitoring and evaluation for Mother and Child Health Care promotion.
The WABA Men’s Initiative Coordinator and Executive Director of Cameroon Link highlighted the current project in Lebialem, south west region of Cameroon producing programmes on the issues of “Mother and Child Health Care” delivered through Lebialem Community Radio as a good example.
Cameroon Link mapped the community’s human resource, and gave equal participation opportunities for involvement of both men and women, including young persons living within the community to tell their stories as a Community of Learning process.
The involvement of men and youths in communities for mother and child health care support creates an enabling environment where men and youths, particularly fathers or partners, participate actively in sharing responsibilities with women as far as caring for their infants and young children is concerned.
In mapping the human resource capital, representatives are drawn from the radio station, the public service sector, traditional leadership, health, education, social welfare and civil society organisations. In effect, the mother and child health care community of learning action is participatory.
The small people in the community are used to address big issues. They are invited for exchanges and decision making meetings regularly. It is during the community development committee meetings that the issues are introduced. Those selected are people who are readily available and accept to service as volunteers, they are respected and accessible by their peers within the community.
During the process, it is often discovered that most of those elected for training to produce the radio programmes are already playing a role of animators within their community or development committee.
Almost every man or woman in the community is known to belong to a meeting group, where regular exchanges take place on weekly basis. Training the members of the orientation committee of local broadcasters only comes to add to their existing skills and capacity; especially as the language of delivery of the healthy community learning programmes for behaviour change is a popular local language.
Cameroon Link’s current activities focus on “Mother and Child Health Care” rights as part of the men’s advocacy channel for behaviour change communication.
As such, the health programmes,
• Continue to challenge trade laws that prioritize profit over access to life-saving possibilities.
• Create men’s, women’s leadership and ownership training opportunities within local communities by the establishment of or collaboration with local health area men/women gender councils and related health taskforces.
• Educate, inform, lobby funding organizations and service providers for the involvement of young persons, especially teen mothers in care and support activities,
• Promote social norm change campaigns through publications, participation in local community radio and television programmes, fostering relationships with media outlets and through well recognized male and female celebrities for the promotion of women and child rights.
• Participate in planning, organizing and broadcasting programmes during UN international and national days with women’s involvement in radio live shows and pre-recorded programmes on Mother and Child Health Care rights..

OBJECTIVES
The Community Learning Programmes on Radio
* increase the awareness of need for and the value of male and youth to participate equqlly in the execution of the radio programmes.
* disseminate information updates on mother and child health care though the radio programme.
* create optimal conditions for the provision of support to the mother

Specific objectives
It is understood that the subject of mother and child health care is very vast and this explains the reasons for putting in place an orientation committee to discuss and decide on the issues treated during the week’s session. This explains why the specific objectives are:
- To inculcate the mastery of basic principles of mother and child health care.
- To advocate for gender equality and women's empowerment through government’s increased allocation for gender-sensitive policies and programmes.
- To vulgarize the main points on the support that mothers merits from their partners;
- To create radio mothers’, fathers’ and youths’ support clubs within the communities to encourage mothers to breastfeed their babies for the first six months exclusively and continue with complimentary feeding, thereafter with continued breastfeeding up to six months and beyond.
- To educate youths and men on the international code advocacy and monitoring of marketing by formula producing companies and distributors.
- To Organize HIV prevention and home care radio campaigns.

Perspective
It is the role of the radio station to create conducive environment for their involvement of men and youths to appropriate and own the programme through their support to mothers.
- The other media, tv and newspapers, are used as complimentary channels and tools for community outreach on the involvement of men and youths for mother support.
- Youths Social mobilization conferences are organized in colleges for students of examination classes. This is seen as a special target in the community for the acceleration of behavior change.

Cameroon Link Activities Sheet
Cameroon Link, acting as COL Partnership Liaison makes sure that an activity sheet is designed and used for monitoring and evaluation. Key activities on the sheet are:
• Radio Press Releases
• Radio, television and video programming.
• Radio Press Conferences
• Past Events Film Screening on market days
• Recycling and organization of workshops for community broadcasters
• Seminars for community leaders and heads of educational institutions
• Organisation of panels recording of programmes.
• Photos, posters, story and drama competitions for colleges
• Lectures, educative talks, debates and testimonies
• Concerts, street drama, plays and theatres
• Community social mobilisation: Organisation of Radio Quiz, distribution of stickers, message leaflets, information kits and other promotion publications

8th IBFAN Africa Conference Holds in Mauritius

By James Achanyi-Fontem
Email: camlink99@gmail.com

Africa rekindled child survival and maternal health interventions towards the attainment of Millennium Development Goals through effective integration of Infant and Young Child Feeding Programmes at Port Louis, Mauritius from the 20th September 2010.Men were really involved in this conference. Just read through this page and discover it for yourself.It was also gender oriented...
The conference was organised by the International Baby Food Action Network, IBFAN Africa with the support of the World Health Organisation,UNICEF and the government of Mauritius.It would be recalled that the Regional IBFAN Africa office supports 32 countries: 27 countries in Anglophone Africa:Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Comoros, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe and 5 countries in Lusophone Africa:Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique and Sao Tomé & Principe.
Countries in the African region as well as world-wide, pledged to reduce under-five mortality rate by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015. “Child survival and maternity health” is the Millennium Development Goal 4.
Subsequently, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued Infant Feeding Guidelines which recommended that infants should be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life to achieve optimal growth, development and health. Thereafter, to meet their evolving nutritional requirements, infants should receive nutritionally adequate and safe complementary foods while breastfeeding continues for up to two years of age or beyond.
It is estimated that 10% to 15% of under-five deaths in resource poor countries can be prevented through achievement of 90% coverage with exclusive breastfeeding alone. Studies highlight that breastfed infants have fewer respiratory and diarrhoeal illnesses, with an overall decrease in the hospitalization rates than non-breastfed infants.
It is estimated that reaching all infants with a package of interventions to protect, promote and support optimal infant and young child feeding practices - breastfeeding and complementary feeding can contribute to preventing 1.4 million and 600,000 child deaths respectively, or just over a fifth of the total annual child deaths.
The good news is that breastfeeding rates are not declining any more on a global level and have increased during the last decade in many countries, due to concerted programming efforts. Recent data highlights that there has been substantial and encouraging progress over the last 10 years in over a dozen countries, where exclusive breastfeeding rates increased by 20 percentage points or more (UNICEF database, 2007).
Many of these countries are in sub-Saharan Africa. These successes show that progress is possible, even in challenging situations. Positive outcomes are achieved when countries implement at scale, a comprehensive approach to improving infant feeding practices. This could include efforts at the level of policy and legislation, health system strengthening and capacity building, community-level action and behaviour change communication initiatives.
Improving breastfeeding practices requires behaviour change, something that does not happen
spontaneously and without encouragement and support at the family and community levels. This effort is recognized in the Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding, which includes community based interventions as one of the new operational targets.
Given the fact that women’s capability to breastfeed is determined by both social and cultural factors, as well as medical and technical factors, mainstreaming IYCF requires both communication for behaviour change at all levels of the population, as well as skilled counseling and guidance given to women from the time of childbirth onwards. Mainstreaming of optimal IYCF, inclusion of breastfeeding indicators in outcome evaluations, capacity building for effective improvement in breastfeeding rates and building public awareness on the importance of breastfeeding is crucial to meet MDG-4, for improving child survival is of immense importance for the Africa network as well as to fulfill the global desire to achieve the MDGs for nutrition and child survival.
Evidence based preventive measures like optimal infant and young child feeding are important tools to achieve these goals. For the African continent, there is an urgent need to contribute to the ongoing efforts by various partners including NGOs, government and UN agencies.
Each member of the network must impart the essential service of infant feeding counselling to the mothers and families coming in contact with him/her. This may require sensitization of everyone coming in contact with the mother and counselling on infant feeding by a trained person.

Conference Background

IBFAN Africa Regional Meeting is a strategic planning activity that is held once every three years for IBFAN members in the Anglophone and Lusophone countries. The meeting hosts National Coordinators of infant and young child feeding programmes and group leaders from about 33 member countries in Africa. To attend these meetings, IBFAN friends, partners, donors and collaborators are also invited.
The Regional Meeting in Muritius was an opportunity to:
• Enrich and update participants on new issues and developments on Infant and Young Child Feeding;
• Provide a forum for reviewing progress of our work and sharing of experiences and information;
• Create consensus on interpretation of new knowledge and matters of mutual benefits, and
• Make recommendations on the strategic direction for the Network in IYCF for the next 3 years.
• Regional Meetings are also an opportunity for IBFAN members to elect the IBFAN Africa Advisory Committee (IAAC) members. The term of office of Dr. Lourdes Fidalgo of Mozambique as chairperson was extended for another three years. The Advisory Committee formulates major IBFAN regional policies and advices the Regional Coordinator on issues of implementation and coordination of regional programme.

ABOUT IBFAN

IBFAN represents a global network linking over 200 groups in around 100 countries both in the North and the South. It was founded by a number of NGOs in 1979, following a WHO/ UNICEF international meeting on IYCF. This meeting culminated in the adoption of the International Code on Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes. The Code was adopted in 1981 by an overwhelming majority of 118 Member States. IBFAN was given the mandate to support governments in adopting, implementing and monitoring compliance to the Code.
The 8th IBFAN Africa Conference in Mauritius was the first during the mandate of the current Regional Coordinator, Joyce Chanetsa.
Joyce brought in key international facilitators to the conference in Mauritius: Dr. Linda Beyer of UNICEF presented the paper on the work of her organisation and current orientations, Dr. Charles Moses Sagoe of WHO spoke on the new recommendations relevant to breastfeeding in the context of HIV, Dr. J.P. Dadhich, who is National Coordinator of the Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India(BPNI)to talk about the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative(WBTi), Mr. Hussein H.T. Tarimo, who works with the Ministry of health in Gabrone, Botswana (Food Safety Principal Scientific Officer), Eliane Petitat-Côté from IBFAN-GIFA in Switzerland, who addressed human rights based approaches, as member of the Child Rights Commission and Yousouf Jhugroo, Chief Executive of the Institute for Consumer Protection, Mauritian Action for the promotion of Breastfeeding and Infant Nutrition just to name a few. Yousouf was the key host person of the IBFAN Africa Conference. He put the participants in Manisa Beach Hotel and we use this opportunity to express thanks and gratitude for the hospitality of the hotel management and staff.
The 8th IBFAN Africa Regional Conference was one of success stories, especially as country progress on Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) and community Mother and Baby Friendly Initiative(BFCI) were highlighted amongst other issues. Cameroon chaired the session on Thursday, 23rd September 2010 on collaboration issues and election of the new board.
The peak of the IBFAN Africa conference was the celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the Innocenti Declaration and the award of certificates to meritorious individuals and groups. Cameroon bagged a Certificate of Appreciation for its indefatigable work on behalf of Africa's women and children and assiduous reporting to IBFAN Africa.