By Kini Nsom
The Director of Operational Health Research in the Ministry of Public Health, Dr. Pierre Ongolo-Zogo, has called on Cameroonians to sleep under mosquito nets as a means of preventing malaria.
Dr. Ongolo-Zogo was speaking at the monthly press conference organised by the Cameroon Coalition Against Malaria, CCAM, in Yaounde recently. He said the disease poses a threat to the economy and survival of households with children below five and pregnant women being the most vulnerable to malaria.
According to him, 95 percent of insecticides used to fight mosquitoes are not effective. Most of the insecticides, he stated, are not strong enough to kill mosquitoes in certain areas. Ongolo-Zogo said sleeping under an insecticide-treated mosquito-net is cost effective and remains the most effective way of shielding oneself against mosquito bites.
A net costs FCFA 3.000 and is treated after six months for FCFA 500, he said. The Director said it is advisable for every pregnant woman to sleep under a mosquito net and take intermittent preventive treatment against malaria.
2 Soldiers Beat Up Teacher
A Senior Warrant Officer, Peter Fonyuy, and one other soldier by name Emmanuel Leimnyuy allegedly beat up a teacher recently when he 'refused' to buy them drinks. It is reported that Ernest Fuh of Mbiame High School in Mbven Subdivision met the soldiers at Millennium Bar in Rifem Mbiame - the hotel belongs to the son of the Senior Warrant Officer.
Fonyuy is said to have asked Fuh to buy them drinks but he said he had no money. Fonyuy, assisted by Leimnyuy, reportedly pounced on Fuh and gave him a beating that earned him twenty-seven days incapacity. Following Fuh's ordeal, some civil servants of Mbven wrote a complaint to the Senior Divisional Officer, SDO, for Bui and went on a sit-down strike on October 29.
It was at the backdrop of this strike that the BUI SDO, Daniel Panjouono held a meeting with the civil servants. He condemned the act perpetrated by the two soldiers and said this is not the era when such things can be tolerated. The Millennium Bar was closed down at once and the SDO said the establishment should remain permanently closed until the matter is ironed out.
He also instructed the Divisional Officer and the Brigade Commander of Mbven Subdivision to arrest Peter Fonyuy immediately he sets foot in Mbiame for law to take its course.
By Peter Adi Fonte
Man Punishes Own Daughter With Bites
By Olive Ejang Tebug Ngoh
A man of Nigerian origin whose only name we got as Chiemeka almost killed his daughter recently in Kumba after biting her all over the body. According to eyewitness accounts, Chiemeka instructed his daughter to lace up his shoes early in the morning. When the child delayed, Chiemeka started biting her as a punishment.
He bit her hands, legs, buttocks, ripping out his daughter's flesh. As the six-year-old wailed while bleeding, neighbours rescued her from her father's teeth and took both of them to the Fiango Police Post. At the police station, Chiemeka said the child was disobedient and biting her was a means of punishment.
But the police, who realised there might be something more behind the biting, transferred Chiemeka to the State Counsel for Kumba, Charles Mbiatem for questioning, while the bleeding girl was rushed to the Kumba District Hospital for treatment. Chiemeka divorced his wife some years ago and it is suspected that he wanted to use his daughter for sacrifice.
Heavy Rains Worsen Meme Roads
Persistent heavy rains have made the already bad roads in Meme Division worse than before. The worst hit is the Kumba-Mbonge-Eknodo Titi-Mundemba road, the Kumba-Tombel road and Kumba-Mamfe road. This situation has led to increases in transport fares and a hike in the prices of basic commodities.
Speaking to some passengers at the Three Corners Motor Park, one Edward Dibo, a businessman who supplies garri to Kumba, lamented that travelling to Mamfe is hell because the fare has risen from FCFA 5000 to FCFA 7000. They now spend about two days from Mamfe to Kumba. To make matters worse, the price of petrol is still very high.
Consequently, a bucket of garri that used to cost FCFA 3000 in Kumba, now sells at FCFA 4,500. In the same light, prices of rice, beans, groundnuts, maggi, and palm oil and so on have increased in villages. A housewife, Felicia Ikom of Kombone Mission, lamented that the government should do something about the roads, which causes them a lot of misery.
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