By WFAH J. NDE
In his maiden visit to the North West Region, last Wednesday April 25, 2018, the US ambassador to Cameroon, Henry Peter Balerin communed with people living with HIV at the CBC Health Services Center, CBCHS where he valorised the role these people play in the society.
In a soul-touching address by 10-year-old Cynthia Nyako on behalf of 333 young people living with HIV who make up one of the support groups under the CBCHS, the youngster entreated the guest to an emotional, melancholic speech wherein she condemned stigma and praised the CBCHS for rekindling hope in them. To this, the US scribe replied saying “their stories touched me deeply as a parent and as a human being”.
In a tour that lasted less than two hours, the US diplomat patiently went round the Nkwen Baptist Hospital, having a close touch and chat with the Hospital staff and patients. This he was doing while reading testimonies of people who have benefited from the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, PEPFAR through the CBCHS carrying placards which read messages as “thank for saving my son” “we thank you the US government for bringing back hopes to our lost hope….”
The senior statesman equally made a stop at the exhibition stand of some HIV Support Group members where they displayed craft works, healthy products which they produced thanks to the empowerment from this initiative. Here, the US representative was treated to praises to his government from an excited 50-year-old lady who has been living with HIV for 15 years and says thanks to the US support and the Support Group, she lives a good life, taking her treatment and with much hope empowered by psycho-social workers of the Support Group.
Created in 2010, the CBCHS Support Groups Programme is aimed at providing a forum for people living with HIV and AIDS to interact, fight against stigma and learn new skills and economic trade. This has so far recorded huge successes as Madam Bridget, one of the beneficiaries testifies that “I’ve learnt many new skills through this programme which have greatly boosted my economic strength. Besides, I live a stress free life like any normal human being in society and I give credit to this programme for building up our morale”.
While receiving the august guest at a working session, the Director of CBCHS Prof Tih Pius, recalled successes recorded so far on the HIV-Free project with full funding from PEPFAR. Highlighted that targeting four regions which include: North West, South Wes, Littoral and Centre, the project has reduced the mother to child transmission of HIV from 9% in 2011 to less than 3% in 2017 while the prevalence rate of HIV and AIDS has dropped from 6% to about 4% in respective years with 172,595 cases on treatment across the four regions.
He further pledged their support to the UNAIDS vision 2020; “our hearts are filled with happiness and the desire to collaborate more with you so that we can help the people of Cameroon reach the UNAIDS vision 2020 that 90% of all HIV positive people should know their status and that 90% of those who are HIV positive be on treatment and for all who are on treatment, 90% of them should have viral suppression”.
Speaking to the press on his exit from the Nkwen precinct, the US ambassador expressed satisfaction on the level of projects realisation towards combating HIV and AIDS while calling on the public to respect and treat people living with HIV like equal human beings “I am very impressed with the partnership and the level of collaboration that we have with this institution and the Cameroon government in the fight against HIV and AIDS. I assure you that my government is going to remain committed to her support to Cameroon to fight against these diseases around Cameroon. I equally urge that we treat people living with HIV as normal human beings to fight stigma because they too have great potentials to contribute to nation building”.