Cameroonian Pharmacists in the US Share Knowledge, Experiences During Denver Convention

Africa Agen­da

Exec­u­tives and Plan­ning Com­mit­tee mem­bers of CAM­PhA USA receive recog­ni­tion from nation­al pres­i­dent, Dr. Hil­da Bih Ndikum. Sat­ur­day, Octo­ber 26, 2024

Amer­i­can phar­ma­cists of Cameroon­ian ori­gin play an impor­tant role in the med­ical com­mu­ni­ty by deliv­er­ing care at home and abroad. Yet, in a world chal­lenged by mis­in­for­ma­tion and neg­a­tive stereo­types, their con­tri­bu­tions and that of the broad­er African dias­po­ra to nation­al and inter­na­tion­al devel­op­ment nev­er receives the atten­tion it deserves. 

A Shared Professional Experience

But how do we know this, or even under­stand and appre­ci­ate the impact of this work that goes unno­ticed? Well — it is a tough and thank­less job to do, espe­cial­ly when car­ried out­side of the bub­ble of the high­ly exclu­sive, frag­ment­ed, and often biased US media echo chamber. 

This ques­tion stuck in the back of my mind when I stepped out to attend the 5th annu­al con­ven­tion of the Cameroon­ian Phar­ma­cists Asso­ci­a­tion or CAM­PhA-USA held in Auro­ra, Col­orado between Octo­ber 24th and 27th. 

It seemed to me the idea of shar­ing their knowl­edge and expe­ri­ences gained and car­ing for the com­mu­ni­ty stood out as a top rea­son to start and fos­ter CAM­PhA-USA. So, they came pre­pared — dressed up, not just to par­ty — but to make their mis­sion clear. At least that’s the mes­sage I took away dur­ing my encounter with this group of US-based local phar­ma­cists and doc­tors who are mak­ing a huge dif­fer­ence in our own backyard. 

“Six years ago, some­body had a vision. It’s not like this was not tried before. It was, but this lady had a vision. She want­ed to take this pro­fes­sion to a dif­fer­ent lev­el, “said Dr. Hil­da Bih Ndikum, nation­al pres­i­dent of CAM­PhA USA, who kicked off the annu­al con­ven­tion gala at 14^th Street Hyatt Regency hotel in Aurora

Care for the Local Community

The four-day event brought del­e­gates from all over the US, includ­ing Mass­a­chu­setts, Mary­land, Texas, North Car­oli­na, and Col­orado. With their pro­fes­sion­al work accom­plish­ments as a back­drop, they expressed con­cern and jubi­la­tion about their com­mu­ni­ty and how they want to serve it. 

“We’ve had great oppor­tu­ni­ties to net­work, we’ve learned from sea­soned pro­fes­sion­als, fac­ul­ty mem­bers from the Skag­gs School of Phar­ma­cy, from our own CAM­PhA mem­ber col­leagues who have a school of knowl­edge, and they want to share with us.”

Ndikum’s open­ing remarks includ­ed a his­to­ry of the nascent asso­ci­a­tion that she said was start­ed through an idea from the found­ing pres­i­dent, Dr. Julie Besong. Besong was hon­ored for her unwa­ver­ing ded­i­ca­tion to CAMPhA’s mis­sion of serv­ing the community.

In their meet­ings, the group held a com­mu­ni­ty health clin­ic at Christ Peace Her­itage Min­istries in Auro­ra. They offered oppor­tu­ni­ties for free med­ical exams to the pub­lic. This includ­ed the admin­is­tra­tion of free flu shots, blood pres­sure, and blood sug­ar mon­i­tor­ing. Ndikum told me “they are try­ing to serve our African and immi­grant com­mu­ni­ties” that need their care. Oth­er events orga­nized around the city includ­ed an edu­ca­tion­al work­shop and a tour of the Den­ver metro area. 

Mem­bers of CAM­PhA were rec­og­nized by their peers for excel­lence in phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal work. 

“I am here to rec­og­nize those mem­bers that always go the extra mile to make this orga­ni­za­tion suc­cess­ful,” said the vice pres­i­dent of CAM­PhA, Dr. Hubert Sind­jui while giv­ing out awards to deserv­ing mem­bers of his association. 

Africa Agen­da

Dr. Renadin Sia­gat receives the 2024 Pres­i­den­tial Award for exem­plary lead­er­ship from CAM­PhA USA pres­i­dent, Dr. Hil­da Bi Ndikum.

Development Outside the United States

A major high­light of the evening was a keynote speech deliv­ered by Cameroon­ian-born Dr. Wil­son Eseme, a prac­ti­tion­er in occu­pa­tion­al and envi­ron­men­tal med­i­cine in Louisville, Kentucky. 

“The best way to have an impact is through the active par­tic­i­pa­tion of the ben­e­fi­cia­ry. As you embark on your projects, you are going to face chal­lenges,” Eseme said.

He gave exam­ples of how the gov­ern­ment of Gam­bia dealt with a malar­ia cri­sis by respond­ing to the cul­tur­al sen­si­tiv­i­ties of its cit­i­zens, and also how the indi­genes of Cameroon used local resources to deal with the HIV-AIDS cri­sis in the ear­ly 90s. Eseme stressed the need to engage not only the local gov­ern­ments at home in Cameroon, but also their col­leagues in the pro­fes­sion if they want to have a mean­ing­ful impact on their work.

“When you say the truth, it has uni­ver­sal res­o­nance, valid­i­ty, and sig­nif­i­cance across space, cross time, and across all disciplines.”

Spe­cial guests at the gath­er­ing includ­ed Dr. Ter­ri Richard­son, a retired inter­nal med­i­cine physi­cian, and Dr. Char­ment Mous­sa­ta, the founder of Den­ver-based Clin­i­cal Trust Solutions.