The Chia Report

Personalization of problems as a potent antidote in fight against cancer?

By Innocent Chia - from Boston for DUNIA Magazine

Two days and over 18 hours of serious and significantly important presentations and discussions at the 2016 Global Health Catalyst Cancer summit were more than anyone needed to be jolted to the urgency of now in the fight against Cancer. The April 29th – 30th event, at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard in Boston-Massachusetts, was an interdisciplinary meeting place of passionate minds and professionals who are racing for solutions to a scourge that devours life with time – cancer. In spite of remarkable scientific progress in cancer research and treatment, the growing numbers of new cases is a daunting reality. Participants at the annual summit inescapably had to answer the question whether to go at it alone and faster, or go together with other stakeholders and go farther?

Fighting back against Sickle Cell in Cameroon - Will you Join?

By Seth Vignes - Culled from http://www.gofundme.com/SCDinCameroon

Bringing a Novel, Low-Cost Diagnostic Test for Sickle Cell Disease to Bamenda, Cameroon

Each year over 200,000 infants are born with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) on the African continent. A vast majority of them are not properly diagnosed at birth, or during their lifetime, because of the prohibitive cost of laboratory tests required for a definitive diagnosis (e.g. hemoglobin electrophoresis or genetic screening). Within West Africa, 9% of these infants will die before reaching adulthood due to complications arising from their disease (primarily infections) – most of these deaths can be prevented through administration of prophylactic antibiotics, folic acid, fluid therapy and lifestyle adjustments, if SCD is properly diagnosed early in life.

Diabetes – Cameroon’s ticking timebomb

By Hinsley Njila (with Intro by Innocent Chia)

An extrapolation from the latest British Medical Journal, the Lancet, indicates that diabetes is on par to be the leading killing disease among Cameroonian women. According to the study that spans almost three decades, from 1980-2008, there has been a 60% increase in the prevalence of diabetes in the Cameroon female population. Compare this number to the 15-30 % increase during the identical timeframe among the male population. In the following piece, Hinsley Njila speaks his heart through his mind, imploring the government and Cameroon media to spring to live before the clock runs out of the ticking timebomb. The call for a sense of urgency stifles popular cliches that "Black men love their women fat".  

God!!! Why Haiti Again?

By Pastor Eric Mangek Ngum* (Intro and Editing by Innocent Chia)
The human toll in the natural calamity that has blanketed Haiti may be reaching the six figures (100,000) by the time a complete count is done. Unfortunately, that “complete” count may never be complete even as eye reporters are conveying tales not only about mass graves, but also the doubling, tripling and squeezing of corpses into old crypts. Its ugliness is so compounding one easily forgets recent man-made and natural disasters that have sworn the kiss of death on the impoverished Island of Black descent that gained independence in 1804.

Worldwide cheap calling cards

 
  
In the several paragraphs that follow, Pastor Eric Ngum Mangek takes the approach of the healthcare professional that must apply iodine to a fresh wound to cut off the bleeding and stop possible infection while the patient is cursing under their breadth. I, Innocent Chia, personally thank God for “Passing Over” the offices of several Cameroonians working in Haiti. Some names that come to mind are Collins, Mengale and our regular contributor on the Chiareport – Julius Fondong. Another friend, Laura was devastated on her Facebook page as she watched helplessly on TV from Cameroon. But could God not Passover the entire Haiti and spare its already afflicted people? 

Will Mankind Self Destruct or Agree To Save Itself? - Dr Richard T. Munang on Climate Change

Interview conducted by Innocent Chia
 
A little less than a month from today (Dec. 7th – Dec. 18th), in the Danish cosmopolitan capital city of Copenhagen, environmental experts like UNEP’s Richard Tingem Munang will  look to President Obama and his peers to provide political will and leadership on the pressing issue of climate change. While the big boys, and girl, club will be making these far-reaching decisions of global import, a looming concern for activists is what will happen to the Africas of the world that pollute least but are set to suffer most if nothing is done? As climate change Deputy Project Manager at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Cameroon-born Richard T. Munang (PhD) is part of a team charged with the daunting task of saving the world from itself with smart policies that build communities while saving the world.  

Thanks to the convenience of social media networks, Chiareport caught up with Dr. Richard T. Munang for an exclusive focusing on what Climate Change means to Africa and Africans.