Dear GlobalGiving Community,
We had the great honor to institute our first Aviva Scholar, studying medicine at the University of Bamenda. She has the following statement to share, as she accepted the opportunity:
"I am passionate about enabling people to live a healthy life and to fulfil their life objectives. I am a lover of Children. As part of my clinical practice in the hospital in Bamenda, I have witnessed how the inadequate medical facilities and personnel have led to the dead of several babies, deferring the dreams of their parents. I dream of becoming a neonatologist in order to promote good maternal and child health to reduce infant mortality in our community. I believe every child has the right to live and to fulfil their dreams".
In addition to the pomp and pageantry that accompanied the celebrartion of the Aviva Day 2022, the insitution of the Aviva Scholar comes to add more momentum to the concept of curbing neonatal mortality through health research and education, which we have been actively promoting in the community.
In the last few weeks, we have been working on finalizing our biggest health outreach program for community women in some of the remotest parts of the conflict-affected North West Region of Cameroon. In partnership with "Talk Pregnancy with Dr Noella", an NGO that fosters marternal and child welfare, we hope to reach more people especially pregnant women and young girls in dire need of medical care.
We thank you for supporting this humanitarian cause. As more medical personnel at Open Dreams sign up to this responsibility, we believe in greater accomplishments ahead. We count on your donations to keep going.
Best Regards,
Dear Donors,
In December 2022, in 9 hospitals across 6 regions of Cameroon among them the North West, West, South West, Littoral, Centre and North Regions, Open Dreams Scholars dedicated days in the community for preparenthood education with focus on sexual reproductive health. The exercise took place at the neonatology department of most of the hospitals where our scholars listened to medical professionals and parents share their daily challenges handling children born different. They also had lots of Christmas gifts for the children overstaying their Christmas at the hospital due to their challenging conditions. Our 2022 Aviva Day theme was, "A Nip In the Bud". Thus prevention of congenital anomolies through research and education, early detection and treatment were central in our conversations.
This year the program was more engaging with:
- over 10 partner organizations joining us in the outings;
- new areas where the most vulnerable are found, included in our outreach;
- the very firest Aviva Scholar instituted by the director of the regional hospital. A third year medical student, she is expected to conduct research in the area of curbing neonatal mortality.
By January 2022, we plan to have more community outreach programs and officially commission some final-year medical students into research on safe pregnancy and safe delivery. We hope their research can help us understand why some defects occur during pregnancy and how we can scale down neonatal loss.
With an increasing number of scholars getting on board Open Dreams, we hope to continue to lead efforts in some specific areas of productive health and wellbeing.
Thank you all for partnering with us through your donation.
We wish you a very Happy New Year, 2023
Links:
Dear Donors,
The year has been momentous; we had held weekly meetings and had set everything to administer the Aviva Women in Science Program with success. Not only do we now have more female top doctors to provide mentorship and supervison of programs, we have a bigger base of female medical doctors and students and a bigger community ready for the volunteering programs.
Hence:
- We had more community talks and sensitization/educational programs this summer, with a bulk at our summer academy in both Yaounde and Bamenda;
- we have reached out to orphanages in Bafoussam and Bamenda and provided support to neglected children who need family care;
- we have extended the application deadline for the Aviva in Women Science Fund to attrack more applications in order to select the very best;
- we have strengthened our partnership with academic institutions on the group for research programs.
As a new academic year begins soon, we will be diving to another level of impact. Thank you for always being supportive and for believing in us.
Best Regards,
It's always an honor to reach out with words of thanks to you all who make our work possible through donations.
On April 24th 2022, The Call for Applications for the Aviva Women in Science Program incorporating the Aviva Scholar Program was launched. It took four months of dedicated work spearheaded by a team consisting of four Medical Doctors, three members of the Open Dreams team to set the terms of and the tone for the Aviva Women in Science Program, one of our most cherished initiatives.
The Aviva Day 2021 was marked under the theme: "A Dream Deferred" and below is one of the messages we sent out: "What happens when the high expectations of a bouncy baby, especially for a new couple, turn out to be a long stay at the nursery of the hospital or frequent hospital visits, as a result of the baby being born with congenital anomalies? What can we together do to improve on maternal and child health? How can we improve on survival and wellbeing for infants? How can we reduce neonatal mortality? Catch up with some members of the Open Dreams Family as they explain the concept of the Aviva Day in this video and this one." We had weeklong community engagement activites, most of them centred on providing assisting for health care and giving out health talks.
At the moment, we are visiting universities and institutions and seeking oppportunities to promote research and community outreach programs as contained in the launch of the Women in Science Fund. We are all at the peak of it all.
Thank you for believing in us. Together, we work on promoting maternal and child health and human development.
Links:
December 2020 was a remarkable month. For the first time, Open Dreams Scholars in Bamenda, Buea, Douala and Yaoundé - Cameroon went deep into the hospitals with assistance to parents and kids enduring birth challenges. The outreach was unique and full of lots of lessons to learn. The scholars engaged medical practitioners, pediatricians, nurses, hospital authorities, social services and health-care providers on the major challenges they face while helping pregnant mothers to deliver safely. It's been a year long period of studies, research and engagement in medical education. Several communities where only basic medical services are available have been visited and health talks delivered alongside essential handouts. We have stepped up discussions on sexual reproductive health on the media while encouraging parents to take it as a duty a home; we also encourage schools to have that as part of their curriculum. The climax of that occurred as part of our team of scholars, had the Minister of Youth Affairs and Civic Education, chair the launching of a manual for schools in Cameroon which they authored.
This year, we have a focused group of female doctors who have taken up this cause. Some of them have had admission into graduate program on full scholarship. They are extremely active in community education on social media, TV/Radio Channels and community visits (volunteering).
As December 2021 approaches, we are looking into several outreach programs, accessing new communities and delivering essential medical assistance and sensitization. We are also looking into supporting more girls in medical schools working in the area of preventing maternal and infant mortality. All of these programs are planned for December 2021 and January 2022 and we are so excited about the prospects of working on this life-saving endeavor at a higher level. Your support to keep us going is so essential. Thank you for enabling us to serve the community in very impactful and life-saving ways
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