OUR STORY

Wholesome Health Promotion is a not-for-profit organization whose goal is to encourage people in rural and marginalized communities in the Republic of Cameroon to live an active and healthy lifestyle thereby preventing lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure that are on the rise.

The Challenge

According to a 2016 report by the World Health Organization (WHO), for example, the number of people, 18 years and over, living with Diabetes in Africa increased from 4 million in 1980 to 25 million in 2014. This increase is primarily due to lifestyle factors such as poor diet and a lack of regular physical activity. Individuals with these chronic diseases in Africa face the additional challenges of the lack of access to quality and affordable care. The International Diabetes puts the number of Diabetes patients in Cameroon at slightly over half a million in 2015.

According to WHO, in 2008, 46% of adults aged 25 and older in Africa had high blood pressure. Regarding Cameroon specifically, a 2015 study reveals that the prevalence of hypertension increased two- to five-fold in rural and urban communities largely due to “the high rates of obesity, physical inactivity, diabetes, increased salt consumption, and tobacco use.” In fact, Cameroon’s Ministry of Public Health has declared hypertension an emerging healthcare problem.

Our Approach

The lifestyle factors that have given rise to a multitude of chronic diseases across Africa are modifiable through behavioral and environmental changes. Hence, the solution can be found in implementing innovative and creative prevention strategies and mechanisms that keep these lifestyle diseases at bay particularly in underprivileged and underserved communities whose members can ill afford the cost of managing these diseases.

OUR MISSION

To promote general wellness and provide nutrition and health education in rural areas and underprivileged communities in Cameroon.

OUR VISION

We provide the individual with resources and knowledge necessary to live an active, healthy, and fulfilling life for the benefit of self and community.

We will:

• Enlighten the public on the dangers inherent in unhealthy lifestyles
• Inspire individuals and communities to adopt wholesome lifestyles, and
• Challenge them to live by the creed that prevention is always better—and cheaper—than cure