Mbiame Health Clinic

Current State

Mbiame, a municipal area in North West Cameroon, is home to nearly 50,000 people. It has but a single doctor and six healthcare locations, five of which are rated to be in poor condition. This is an area of rough and rural terrain about the size of Chicago, 220 square miles, where cars are sparse and walking is the most common mode of transport.

Malaria, Cholera, and AIDS are persistent issues, as are many other waterborne ailments.  Less than 40% of the population have access to piped drinking water, an even smaller percentage of which is treated in any meaningful manner, and less than half of Cameroon's 23 million people have access to proper sanitation.  

The maternal mortality rate (mother's death/100,000 live births) is 596, the 15th worst is the world; 42.5 times the rate in the United States.

So what are we going to do about it?

The infrastructure

Our clinic is designed in a somewhat modular fashion with usability and future expansion in mind. We'll start with four patient rooms, each with two beds, built with local techniques by local experts.  The main public space of the building includes an office, lobby, storage, and bathroom, with another bathroom and kitchen facilities by the patient rooms.  The kitchen will allow the patients, families, and staff to prepare meals using clean-burning alcohol or vented biogas stoves rather than the traditional open wood fire kitchens common to the area and will provide purified water for both cooking and drinking.  Due to the lack of reliable electricity, we are investigating alternative sources of power, such as wind or solar.

The care

Initially, the GHS facility will offer basic care for what ailments are most common in the area. In addition to basic first aid, vitals readings, and prenatal care, we will offer dental hygiene accessories, blood sugar testing, and arthritis pain management. Over-the-counter medications will be available for purchase as will various fortified foods to combat childhood malnutrition. Prenatal and maternity care are very important and in very short supply; our workers will be trained to provide the best possible care for mother and baby. Proper documentation and record keeping will be an important added benefit allowing for information tracking, transparency, and accountability.  

The people

There is a shortage of healthcare workers in Cameroon, according to the World Health Organization.  We believe this is due in part to the lack of opportunities, not lack of personnel.  Based on our first hand knowledge and contact with community members, we have identified numerous staffing possibilities including lab technicians and nurses who are certified, trained, and looking for work.

The money

Being on the low end of the economic scale (nearly 25% of the country lives on less than $1.90 per day) means that a good wage for a nurse is about $100 per month; the average yearly per capita income (GNI) in Cameroon is $1340. Our goal is to have a self-sustaining clinic that does not need to rely on external sources of funding to survive.  However, in planning, building, and implementing the clinic, GHS is the sole benefactor and we get the majority of our funds through personal donations.  So think of it this way: your donation of $100 keeps a nurse employed at our clinic for another month! Community members whom have been deemed trustworthy and have a history of working with similar projects in the past will be selected to form a committee which will oversee the operations of the clinic in our stead. Locals interested in utilizing the clinic will be asked to pay a small copay or prepay monthly for visits; medicines and related items will be offered for sale at low cost.  Once the clinic has shown to be self-sustaining and a workable model, it will be transferred to the control of the local committee with limited GHS oversight.

The future

Phase two of the clinic will mean expansion, not just physically, but services offered as well.  The clinic itself has been designed for good patient care and with future additions in mind. Apart from simply adding more beds and safe cooking capacity, we will add a full lab so our nurses and technicians can provide tests for glucose levels, electrolytes, liver function, and blood/waterborne pathogens. A regionally centered lab of this sort would be able to provide new insight into the health of the community and enable GHS to provide more targeted assistance, it will empower the villagers to combat their health problems head-on armed with knowledge and resources which are scarcely existent today.