On January 2, 2018, Wholesome Health Promotion (WHP) kicked off the new year by donating 1,000 Nitrile gloves to the Integrated Health Center in Bokwango, in Buea. This was part of an ongoing WHP effort to boost health facilities in rural areas of Cameroon with usually overlooked but very critical supplies.

During the visit to the Health Center, a small 20-bed facility at the foot of Mount Fako, which serves surrounding rural communities such as Likombe, Gwasa, Mapanja, etc., the WHP team met with the staff led by Mrs. Sally Efeti Itue, the Chief of Center. Mrs. Itue was extremely grateful for the timely donation which will go a long way to assist financially-strapped patients. Currently, the standard practice in this and many other health facilities in the area is to charge patients the sum 200 Francs CFA for the gloves used to examine them during consultations. Thanks to the WHP donation, patients in the clinic will receive examination gloves for free until the current stock is depleted.

The Chief of Center gave the WHP team a tour of the Health Center and highlighted some of the challenges faced such as difficult access to water (WHP immediately purchased 60 bottles of water for the patients), and an acute shortage of basic non-medical materials such as bed sheets.

In her brief remarks, Terese Tande, WHP Founder and CEO, said the donation was a token of appreciation of what the center has been doing for local communities for decades. She promised that her organization will be back to work with the Health Center.

In addition to the CEO, the WHP team consisted of Christian Fonkam, Brand Ambassador; Workshop Facilitator, Noella Lyonga; and volunteers Calvino Wallang (Graphics Design), Simon Efokoa Jr. (Video/Photography), and Joyce Nchari (Food Preservation).
The visit to the Health Center reinforced the point that access to healthcare, particularly in rural areas of Cameroon, was not just question of population awareness, but also one of affordability and cost. Patients who are unable to pay for the most basic of services or materials will not get the required level of care. Thus, the WHP seeks to ensure that the healthcare component of its mission should also focuses on strategies for reducing the cost of healthcare in rural and marginalized areas where poverty is rife.

We seize this opportunity to once again thank all our donors, both small and big, without whom this and other WHP projects would not have been possible in 2017. Every penny has counted thus far, and we look forward to your continued support in 2018 and beyond.