COGESID ADVOCATES FOR INFANT

COGESID ADVOCATES FOR INFANT & YOUNG CHILD PROTECTION
The Gender, AIDS & Development Council (COGESID) Baobab – Bonamikano organised an advocacy campaign for infant and young child protection during the working visit of Professor Donna Taliaferro and Dr. Neal Rosenburg to Cameroon on the 10th March 2009. Receiving the guests, the chairlady of COGESID, Mrs. Priscille Mouto, express gratitude and thanks for the acceptance of their invitation to visit their counselling and health care centre in the native village of Bonamikano.
In the brief presentation of COGESID, Mrs. Priscille Mouto, told Pr. Donna Taliaferro and Dr. Neal Rosenburg that the gender council stands for « Comité, Genre, SIDA et Développement » and it represents a summary of the area of activities of the association, which groups men and women to fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS while promoting gender and development within the poverty alleviation Millennium Development Goals.
The association has existed since 2003 and like all newly created organisations, it has got its ups and downs due to the lack of sustainable funding, while problems to be addressed increase on daily basis.
Mrs. Mouto told her guests that at the start of the organisation, the former coordinator of the technical group for the control of AIDS in the littoral, Dr. Rodolphe Mbangué approved the first subvention, which was a seedgrant for their installation and sensitisation of the populations of Bonamikano on HIV prevention during educative talks.
It was during the educative talks and exchanges that the identification of HIV orphans started in the Douala native community of Bonamikano. She acknowledges that working for orphans and vulnerable children is not an easy task, especially as the subject of HIV/AIDS is still surrounded by taboos and the systematic refusal of some individuals of the existence of AIDS.
With different strategies of sensitisation, it has been observed that there is a relative change in the behaviour of the most vulnerable groups, which remain the adolescents and young persons.
This is measured by the number of persons who now accept to do the voluntary test for HIV. At the COGESID counselling centre, the nurses convince all persons, men, women and youths who are received for health care reason to do the HIV test. Generally, when the rapid test turns out to be positive, the patient is referred to the District Hospital in Bonssama, for confirmation of the results before any prescriptions.
This is how the COGESID centre in Bonamikano works in partnership with the District Hospital of Bonassama in the area of HIV prevention and other diseases. It is shocking to witness the great number of orphans in Bonamikano in need of adequate nutrition, clothing, recreational possibilities and assistance to continue their education. The strategy of COGESID is to integrate these children in families for prevention of stigmatisation, though this often increases the care load, especially as other children in the families are also in need.
With the presence of Pr. Donna Taliaferro and Dr. Neal Rosenburg from the Washington Univeristy at St. Louis, USA, COGESID launched an appeal for aid in dignostic materials and primary essential medication, IT appliances to equip their centre with materials for collection of data, and support for capaciting the staff on infant and young child feeding.
As a humanitarian organisation, COGESID works in partnership to support communities in health care delivery, the promotion of well being through the creation of micro-income generating activities and participation in infant and young child nutrition campaigns and sensitisation on the immunisation of children. All help that would assistance in the expansion of the work of COGESID will be welcome. For more on COGESID partnerships, click on http://cameroonlink.blogspot.com or write to camlink99@gmail.com cogesidmbappe@yahoo.com