The Health Improvement Foundation of Cameroon

               We thank Joseph Deitch, founder of The Elevate Prize, for giving HIF-CAM the opportunity to participate in the Elevate Prize challenge. HIF-CAM is soliciting funding and support from Elevate Prize Foundation because we completed the research for our innovative system a year ago, but lacked the resources for its implementation. It is a novel rural healthcare system that will make healthcare services affordable and accessible to sub-urban and rural communities worldwide. We’ll love to use your powerful platform to share our stories and multiply our impact. If we win we’ll pledge our collaboration with other extraordinary leaders to tackle complex global challenges in other fields. We have registered for email updates in order to keep abreast of Elevate Prize’s latest information.

              If HIF-CAM wins the 2021 Elevate Prize we’ll use it to implement the activities and strategies aimed at accomplishing the objectives of the new system. It will also be used: to defray operational costs and fundraising costs for creating a support base of partners and donors for the novel system. For effectiveness, growth and sustenance the beneficiary communities of the system need to partner with healthcare providers, health insurance providers, local agricultural experts, donors, etc.   

                 I am Chief Lewindia Nicholas, the Executive Director and founder of The Health Improvement Foundation of Cameroon (HIF-CAM). I hold a degree in Health Education (University of Ibadan –Nigeria) and a diploma in health service management (WHO – Lagos). I am a Traditional Ruler (Chief) of Nveh village in Njenawung clan – Cameroon, ruling over 2,000 inhabitants. I have worked for the Ministry of Public Health (Cameroon) in various administrative capacities for 22 years. In May 2008 I was awarded the Cameroon National Order of Merit (in honor of my achievements as the CEO of HIF-CAM).

                    (HIF-CAM) is a Non-governmental, nonprofit organization incorporated under the Cameroon law on the 30th June, 2003. HIF-CAM’s mission is “The need to help the less privileged people in the rural communities of Cameroon to gain access to healthcare services, safe drinking water and sanitation, educational opportunities for children and humanitarian assistance to the poor”. HIF-CAM was created to pursue the above mission. Our vision is to save and change lives locally and globally through healthy communities. My goal for the future is to partner with other NGOs and nonprofits in order to attain this vision. 

Rural healthcare inaccessibility is an acute problem in Cameroon. Hundreds of villages, each with a minimum population of 4,000 inhabitants, have no access to healthcare services. Health centers are located 10-15 kilometers apart. Many rural and suburban communities of most third world countries are facing similar problems of poor rural healthcare coverage (The ILO report of April 27, 2015). The governments of these countries concentrate healthcare facilities in urban areas. Owing to the high rate of illness and death in rural communities the people have resorted to indigenous traditional medicines for treatment, despite their ineffectiveness.

Chief Lewindia Nicholas, the Executive Director of HIF-CAM has researched and perfected an innovative system of healthcare called “The Community Ownership and Partnership Healthcare System” (COAPHS). Through the system affordable and quality healthcare services are made accessible to people in the sub-urban and rural communities. The community is empowered to establish its own healthcare institution and co-manage it with the healthcare providers it trains. HIF-CAM’s role in the project is to guide their Health Management Committee in implementing  activities and strategies aimed at achieving the system’s objectives. We will also monitor and evaluate the system during and after its implementation respectively.                   

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My work is innovative for several reasons:

·       “The Community Ownership and Partnership Healthcare System” (COAPHS) is a new system of healthcare which has never been tried anywhere. COAPHS is different and by far better than other rural healthcare systems such as the “bare foot doctors”, the primary healthcare system or the district healthcare system (currently used in Cameroon) because they have many limitations: the practitioners embezzle funds meant for sustaining the system; non-natives are unwilling to work in enclave rural areas; voluntary service over the years frustrates the workers; no discipline or control over government health workers.

• The system is unique in that the healthcare institution is owned and controlled by the community people themselves. Though the community co-manages it with healthcare providers it could dismiss and replace any erring employee.
• One of the system’s unique features is that it serves as a springboard for community development because the Health Management Committee partners with agricultural experts, business experts, who will empower the communities at no cost.
• The training of several specialized categories of health workers is a feature of the system which boosts the quality and impact of their work.

 

The impacts of our healthcare, WASH, educational and humanitarian programs are aimed at producing the following effects on humanity: prevent and save lives; promote farmers’ health and thereby boost food production; facilitate individual and community development; and improve the people’s standard of living.

                     The planned impacts of COAPHS will include the following: the specialized training of the health workers makes them very effective in the delivery of healthcare services; the beneficiary communities (represented by the Health Management Committee) acquire knowledge, skills and attitudes from experts on the personnel and financial management of their healthcare institution; hundreds of lives will be saved following the prompt diagnosis and treatment of common diseases; a decline in maternal and infant/child mortality will follow the provision of vaccines and pre-and post natal care; partnership agreements with others will lead to effective management and availability of more  resources; boosting of family incomes through increased agricultural productivity; the healthy growth of children leads to regular school attendance and performance.                       Activities and expected outputs which will lead to the attainment of the objectives will be monitored strictly and reported by HIF-CAM’s program manager weekly. This step is effective because problems spotted early will be promptly corrected.