Good health is the fundamental guarantor of every other thing a person can hope for!
Improving on the health of individuals is a clarion call for all. Be it for self, family, community, nation and the world. After all, a healthy person is a wealthy person and a healthy nation is a rich nation!
Health goes beyond looking at diseases and treating them. It involves looking at the determinants of public health by addressing the 11 essential Public Health Functions which includes amongst others, good governance, social participation in health, human resource development and trainings, health promotion, control of risks and threats to public health, research and strengthening of institutional capacity.
With good health as the foundation, individuals, communities and nations can develop, striving to meet their developmental goals. Without good health, there can be no sustainable development.
In Cameroon, the already global bad picture is made worse. Health is not only degrading, but progress towards better health is slow.
This is a task not limited to the state. It involves the public and private sector, all the stakeholders including international organizations. The now Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and poverty reduction- the Poverty Reduction Strategy is a global challenge to all. There is a global need for coordinated, intersectoral and focused actions to address the multidimensional phenomenon of health and poverty for the following reasons;
- Participation of all the stakeholders in the transformation process is needed.
- Social determinants are to be analyzed in order to understand the geography, ethnicity, race, generational groups and why women and youths are disadvantaged.
- Health outcomes are not dependent only on health care but also on many factors beyond care that may be obstacles to accessing care.
- Social determinants in which people live and work are critical as they relate to health.
- The need to identify factors inside and outside the health sector that affects health outcomes.
Health Development Consultancy Services (HEDECS) a non profit non governmental organization in Bamenda Cameroon was created to rise to that challenge and is ready to learn, share, enhance and connect capacities with others to make its own contribution towards achieving the SDGs and poverty reduction. HEDECS is ready to participate in the global debate and particularly in Cameroon to take health and development to the next level. We are ready and willing to work with or and for you in improving on health and development while reinstating human dignity.
Thanks
Bolima Nancy
Executive Director
