UNIPSY enhances the mental health skills of maternal health care workers in the NWR

By Api Precious

Participants at the workshop

Enhancing the mental health skills of maternal health care workers from the Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (EmonC) network in the North West Region was the reason for a two day training organized by the United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA) and the Ministry of Public Health in partnership with the national NGO Psy Universe (UNIPSY). The two day event that ran from the 26 to 27 of March 2021 took place at the Alliance Francaise Bamenda premises.

The training was strategically implemented under the World Bank Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility (PEF) project and has as key objective; to increase participants knowledge (competences) on the risks of maternal psychological health and child development, through the detection of

psychological suffering.

According to WHO (2011) depression is the second most incapacitating or

disabling disease for women at child-bearing age, with a prevalence of about 12-

22%, mainly during pregnancy and the first year after delivery which has effects on the

foetus, baby, child, family; Low birth weight and growth retardation.

The training brought together about 30 participants amongst which were; Doctors, nurses and midwives from different health centers in the Northwest region and focused on topics such as;

▪️Upsets of pregnancy and birth. Some of which were listed as follows;

• INTRAPSYCHIC UPSETS

•NEW TIES TO CREATE (type of attachment)

•FAMILY UPSETS

•SOCIAL CONTEXT OF BIRTH and more

▪️Perinatal stress and it factors such as; pre or antenal period, the period of delivery and postal period.

▪️The risks/states of psychological suffering surrounding pregnancy and birth which includes; Baby blues, perinatal anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, perinatal depression.

The following were listed as frequent parinatal depression symptoms:

• Stress, worries

• Irritability, anger, aggressiveness, violence

• Changes in mood, sadness, down casted

• feelings of abandonment

• Exhaustion

• Enclosure, isolation

• Alcoholism

• Sleep and eating disorders

• Feeling of unsatisfaction in his role of a father.

▪️EPDS (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale) and PDS (Psychological Distress Scale). A valuable and efficient way of identifying

patients at risk for perinatal depression.

The head of Psy Universe (UNIPSY), JOËL DJATCHÉ MIAFO Clinical Psychologist and Psychopathologist Psychotherapist, Psycho-addictologist, and Psycho-pediatrician in his interview said the main objective of the training is to increase information and scale of health worker to be able detect and manage the mental health diseases of the mother in breast feeding and pregnancy.

UNIPSY's head, JOËL DJATCHÉ MIAFO

Clinical Psychologist and Psychopathologist

Psychotherapist, Psycho-addictologist, and Psycho-pediatrician

He also added that there are specific diseases mentioning maternal depression as one of the possible diseases that can cause psychopathology disorders in women before, during or after delivery. To correct this, he spoke about placing treatment where he mentioned psychological technical aspect (counseling), bringing support to the mother, reinforcing family and health worker support to the mother.

Being the second phase of the program, the first phase took 3 months (October - December 2020) in 2 health facilities; Regional Hospital and CBC Nkwen. The training was concerned with Psychological intervention, treatment, evaluation, counseling and education.

He mentioned that Psyco-education was given to more than 1000 mothers, Psyco-evaluation and counselling to about 200 mothers. He says that the main objective of the first phase was to create awareness of mental health problem around maternal period to the health worker, mother and family.

He recommends that such trainings be continued, to reinforce the skills, competence and information to the health workers and supervision be done after. He furthered that, they are working on a system to take care of Psychological problems in mothers especially.

The training ended with satisfied participants who opined that the training met their expectations and beyond.

WhatsApp to switch off messages for all who reject new terms

WhatsApp users who do not accept its updated terms and conditions by the 15 May deadline will be unable to receive or send messages until they do so.

Their account will be listed as "inactive". And inactive accounts can be deleted after 120 days.

Calls and notifications will still function for "a short while" but, TechCrunch reported, probably only a "few weeks".

WhatsApp announced the update in January. There was a backlash among many users who thought it meant the company was planning to change the amount of data it shared with its parent company, Facebook. It later clarified this was not the case - the update is actually aimed at enabling payments to be made to businesses.

Notifying users

WhatsApp already shares some information with Facebook, such as the user's IP address (a sequence of numbers attached to every device which connects to the internet, it can also be used to pin down its location) and purchases made via the platform.

But this is not the case in Europe and the UK, where different privacy laws exist. Following the initial announcement, platforms such as Telegram and Signal saw a huge surge in demand as WhatsApp users sought alternative encrypted-messaging services.

WhatsApp delayed the initial rollout and has now changed the way it is notifying users of the changes.

Culled from BBC news

Covid infection in Lagos 'may top Africa's official total'

A Covid-19 antibodies survey in Nigeria suggests that four million people in Lagos state alone have had the virus - more than has been officially recorded for the whole of Africa.

The official figure for Nigeria is 153,000 cases with 1,862 deaths.

The study was done on 10,000 people from four Nigerian states to estimate the extent of coronavirus in Africa's most populous nation.

It was conducted before a second wave began in early December.

High rate of infection

The findings of the seroprevalence survey, carried out in September and October by Nigeria's Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the Institute for Medical Research (IMR), are staggering, reports the BBC's Mayeni Jones from Lagos.

Rates of infection were initially thought to be low during the first wave of the pandemic, our reporter says. The country recorded its highest daily infection rate in January, when it logged 1,600 new cases, suggesting many more people were infected in the second wave.

What does the survey show?

The results found that one in five of those tested in the states of Lagos, Enugu and Nasarawa had been infected. In the north-eastern state of Gombe, the proportion was one in 10. The country recently approved the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for use, but it is not clear when it will receive them.

Why are statistics important?

Experts say having an accurate picture of who is dying, from what and where, is crucial when it comes to allocating resources and funding.

The number of positive cases and fatalities from coronavirus in Africa could be higher than reported because of low testing and poor registration of deaths.

Nigeria is among countries on the continent that do not have a compulsory system to register deaths, a BBC investigation found.

Only Egypt, South Africa, Tunisia, Algeria, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, Seychelles and Mauritius have a universal death registration system.

Infections in men was higher and people living in urban areas were particularly vulnerable to contracting the virus, the study said.

For the head of the NCDC it shows that a large portion of Nigeria's 186 million inhabitants are still at risk from the virus. "Eighty to ninety per cent of the population in these four states are still susceptible to the virus which makes the vaccination efforts we are about to start in Nigeria even more important," said Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, Director-General of the NCDC.

Culled from BBC news

COVID-19: NW Governor challenges population to respect strict barrier measures to fight #COVID19

Press Release signed by NW Governor,  Adolphe Lele L'Afrique 

The Governor of the Northwest Region,  Adolphe Lele L'Afrique has in a communique indicated that there is another wave of the virus which may escalate if the efforts to fight the virus are not reinforced.

He made this call recently in Bamenda as he precided over  a regional advocacy meeting with some stake holders in the region. He revealed that for over the last 10 days, the Northwest region has recorded about 116 positive cases and 5 deaths related to the virus. Statistics shows that, 1189 persons tasted positive and over 935 recovered,173  active cases are on treatment and 81 deaths were recorded, he added. It should be noted that 40 of these deaths occurred in health facilities while 41 were from the communities. 

It is equally worth mentioning that Mezam  division, Boyo, Donga mantung and Ngoketunjia are so far the most affected divisions in the region.The entire population is equally expected to actively participate in  a covid 19 campaign expected to run for the next  three months in all health facilities.

Moreso, the population must continue to put on their face masks in all gatherings, maintain social distance, carry out testing, regularly wash hands with soap and running water and in cases where there is no water use a hand sanitizer.

Protect yourselves and your loved ones from the virus

By Amambo Carrey-Pride 

COVID-19 is real: How health personnel manage their safety

Health personnel in PPEs

The first human cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus causing COVID-19, subsequently named SARS-CoV-2 was first reported by officials in Wuhan City, China, in December 2019.

When Cameroon received its first case in March 2019, there was a lot of panic among the population and a rise in misinformation. The  barrier measures were strictly respected then than as at now.

The people who are at the forefront to fight COVID-19 are health personnel and the auxiliary staff who are open to infections. According to Dr. Nsame Denis, the Director of the Regional Hospital Bamenda during the traditional Wednesday Coordination meeting he enjoined all healthcare providers to be more vigilant for the Corona virus is still much around. He indicated that all barrier measures must be respected to minimize the infection rate. According to Dr. Nsame all health personnel have carried out their COVID-19 testing even right down to student nurses and doctors on internship to make sure that their status are known before they are sent to the wards where they will serve.

At the entrance to the Regional hospital is a triage where rapid COVID-19 test are done for everybody who request for it.

Screening boot at the entrance 

Mr. Teteh Kingsley is Senior nurse and internal medicine coordinator at the Regional Hospital Bamenda incharge of the solidarity ward which harbours the isolation rooms for COVID-19. Quizzed about the safety measures him and his team take he says " the first thing we do when we get here is get into our scrubs while keeping aside all other clothing we came with, compulsory wearing of facemask, that is to say all our Personal Protective Equipment PPEs are at work. We equally have a nursing working space which is for the nurses and we can view a patient in the isolation room from this station because it is demarcated by glass so we can view through. Once a nurse or Doctor walks into that room from the nursing station, they don't come back through that same door they pass through another exit door, get decontaminated before they move in. During his or her stay with the patient, they have no writing material. There is someone outside who takes down whatever history is gotten from the patient. At the end of the day we have to remove whatever we used at the center and get into out home attires before going home so as not to infect others when we leave".

Nurse at the solidarity center 

The customer service at the Regional Hospital is headed by Mrs Morikang Caroline who has as duty to walk round the wards and make sure that customers are well catered for. She holds that in doing so she too can be exposed to infections because she goes in close contacts with patients. To her she has her facemask on before even getting to her job site and while on sit, she puts on her white rub, when she finishes from her ward rounds, she comes back to her office, takes off her rub and  sanitizes her hands.

Talking to Mr. Nforgwei Jones chief of ambulance driver at the Hospital,  he says that he works in a unit where they have to transport people at any given time so he makes sure that he has his gloves, mask, sanitizer and disposable gowns in the car so that he protects himself. He equally noted that at some point there are emergencies that will warrant prompt action and there will be no time to wear a glove in such an instance Mr. Jones says he will carry out the safety operations for the patient and as soon as he gets back, he washes his hands and sanitizes them.

Hand washing top at the main entrance to the Regional Hospital Bamenda 

All these measures cited above are part of the many measures including social distancing which since the outbreak of COVID-19 have been echoed by governments to respect. On January 23, Cameroon's health Minister Dr. Manaouda Malachie tweeted 

Cameroons Minister of Public health's tweet

"We have just recorded 07 deaths in one week and witnessed a rise in contaminations, especially in the Littoral, Centre and North Regions, representing 1607 new cases in just one week”. It is therefore a clarion call for each and every family to respect strictly all measures put in place to protect themselves and loved ones.

By Amambo Carrey-Pride

UB Journalism Students Equipped With Skills To Fight Fake News, Hate Speech Online

Cross section of UB Final year students during the session

Final year students of the department of Journalism and Mass Communication (JMC) in the University of Buea (UB) have been drilled on the technics of spotting and countering fake news, misinformation, disinformation, ‘malinformation’ and hate speech on social media.

The capacity building workshop Thursday 21 January 2021 was organised by members of the Africa Fact-checking Fellowship (AFF) Cameroon under defyhatenow – a hate speech mitigation organization. 

As explained by Doh Bertrand Nua, Yaounde-based AFFCameroon fellow who doubles as a facilitator, the special meet-up, primarily aimed at training students who will soon join the job market on the dangers of spreading misinformation which appears to be a new trend on social media.

Group Picture of fellows and some participants 

“The journalism profession seems to be facing a lot of challenges these days with the advent of social media. Just anyone can film, take photos, write and publish just anything in the name of journalism. This contributes to the spread of misinformation, disinformation and ‘malinformation’," Doh explained.

He added that the choice of final year journalism students was strategic and motivated by the fact that they do offer a course titled “Online Journalism” which gives them ideas on blogging and other web related journalism practice. 

“We therefore thought it was wise to share ideas with these final year students on the challenges currently faced in the field in order for them not to fall into the same trap like others and avoid running into trouble with their social media outings of publications on the web in the quest to have their sites or social pages become popular through sensationalism and spread of fake,” he added.

Bambot Valentine and Shing Timothy, two other Buea-based members of the team schooled the students on the dangers of spreading hate, how to identify it as well as basic skills on fact-checking and how to counter hate language, encourage peace within their communities among others. 

The trainers explained that their sole objective and that of defyhatenow is to have a hate-free Cameroon. They challenged the students to be peace ambassadors in their community and always strive to be different from other social media users by ensuring what they write or publish online is verified.

Final students press for Peace by defying Hate

Speaking on behalf of his mates, Eyong Eta, president of the Association of Student Journalists in UB, ASJUB, hailed the initiative of former students coming back to contribute to the growth of the department by sharing their experience with the younger generation.

He and his mates promised to extend the knowledge acquired to others within the department and to their communities as well as create a difference once in the job market.

Pedmia Shatu

Social Media: Psychosocial Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused several disruptions in personal and collective lives worldwide. The uncertainties surrounding the pandemic have also led to multi-faceted mental health concerns, which can be exacerbated with precautionary measures such as social distancing and self-quarantining, as well as societal impacts such as economic downturn and job loss.

Despite noting this as a “mental health tsunami,” the psychological effects of the COVID-19 crisis remains unexplored at scale. Consequently, public health stakeholders are currently limited in identifying ways to provide timely and tailored support during these circumstances. The psychosocial effects of the COVID-19 crisis by using social media data from 2020, finding that people’s mental health symptomatic and support expressions significantly increased during the COVID-19 period as compared to similar data from 2019. However, this effect gradually lessened over time, suggesting that people adapted to the circumstances and their “new normal”. 

Most people have resorted to purchasing and online businesses which has in some cases gotten them disappointed. Eleanor Kebua is a young Cameroonian based in Douala who decided to buy online and get the good delivered to her home to respect all barrier measures to survive COVID-19.  Upon delivery,  Eleanor laments that the goods she received was not quite what she ordered for. She had no choice than to remain with the fabric. Like Eleanor, Sandrine Nahnyounga requested for a dress online and when it was delivered, she posted on her social Media Handle what I ordered vs what I got. Lamenting that it didn't meet her expectation. Never the less other have hard luck in their purchase and delivery.

Sandrine's order which got her disappointed 

More so,  the pandemic has cancelled trips and traveling opportunities and conferences and has seen a rise in the holding of virtual meetings. The use of the social media has risen as most people have resorted to using their phones and internet for longer hours than they use to do. With this use has equally come a rise in misinformation. 

Talking to Ngala Desmond country Director for Defyhatenow a youth led organization which fights against Hatespeech, fake news, misinformation gets, who holds that users must be cautious with what they receive online and every surfer must develop a Fact-Checkers mindset. 

Ngala Desmond, Defyhatenow Cameroon 

Once they receive any information,  it is important that they verify before sharing, look out for forwarded as received messages, check and double check the sources before they go on to share, Ngala added. He furthered that if all surfers and pay just such attention then the internet would be a safe space for us all.

By Amamboh Carrey-Pride