By Syntia Fotabong
The CBC Health Services has launched a new project known as “Rehabilitation Compass for Inclusion (RCI)” aimed at improving access to quality of rehabilitation services for children, youths and adults with disabilities through the training of physiotherapists (PT), Occupational therapists (OT) and Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) workers in Cameroon. The project was launched through a virtual conference on Thursday June 24, 2021 at the CBC Health Services Resource Center of Excellence, Mvan-Yaoundé, participated amongst others by the presence of Minister of Social Affairs, Irene Pauline Nguene, the Director of CBC Health Services (DHS), Prof. Tih Pius, the Director of the Liliane Foundation and the Director of the AFAS Foundation.
The Minister of Social Affairs in her launching speech noted that “The RCI initiative was not only necessary but urgent as they perfectly add up to other efforts that the government is doing to meet up with the WHO expectations under the 2030 agenda which targets an increase access to quality rehabilitation services as a major milestone for Universal Health Coverage”. The Minister stated that the project is a huge opportunity to step up rehabilitation services in the country. In this light, she pledged to continue to support the CBC Health Services and it partners to ensure that all expectations are met for the good of children, youths and adults living with disabilities in Cameroon. According to Agho Glory, the CBCHS-EDID Program Manager, the situation of persons with disability in Cameroon is very pathetic and needs urgent solution especially those in remote areas of Cameroon because there are no trained personnel to reach out to them. To the Director of CBC Health Services, Prof. Tih Pius, “The opportunity to positively impact the disability landscape in Cameroon is here and the CBC Health Services is happy to be championing the attainment of this milestone in the country”. Prof. Tih said with 250 physiotherapists in Cameroon, it is pretty difficult to give quality care to people with disabilities given that such a task can only be performed by trained specialists. The DHS went further to explain that “The Community Based Rehabilitation training will be done in the CBC Health Services Nursing school in Kumbo in the Northwest Region, the physiotherapy training will be carried out in the Baptist Institute of Health Sciences in Mbingo and we are partnering with State Universities like the Universities of Yaoundé, Buea and Bamenda. For Occupational therapy, Prof. Tih stated that “We’ve been working with the University of Cape Town, South Africa to develop the curriculum for the training and we hope to either partner with them or with other Universities that are offering training on Occupational therapy. He announced that “Classes of the Community Based Rehabilitation and Physiotherapists are due to begin in September at the start of the new school year”.
Over a period of 4 years, the CBC Health Services will collaborate with the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Ministry of Higher Education and partners to develop standard curricular, support some Universities and institutions of higher learning to initiate and run certificate courses ranging from Diploma to Master level. The RCI project will be funded by the AFAS Foundation in collaboration with the Liliane Foundation as a strategic partner.
