Africa has a lot of room for improvement when it comes to healthcare.
In this episode of Bite the Orange, Dr. Ekiti Martin, Founder, Executive Director, and Principal Investigator at the GREY Lab, discusses providing healthcare to underserved communities in Cameroon and Africa’s potential for diverse and inclusive research opportunities. Cameroon has been hit by the rise of non-communicable diseases, increasing the lack of healthcare coverage and becoming a challenge for the country’s healthcare industry. He explains how, with the GREY Lab, he conducts health campaigns and screenings in several places nationwide to increase access to care. Dr. Ekiti also breaks down digital health startups and emerging research infrastructure as promising developments in healthcare that have yet to prove their long-term sustainability due to funding issues.
Listen to this episode and learn more about where Cameroon’s healthcare is at!
FULL EPISODE
BTO_Dr. Ekiti Martin: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix
BTO_Dr. Ekiti Martin: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.
Emmanuel Fombu:
Welcome to Bite the Orange. Through our conversations, we create a roadmap for the future of health with the most impactful leaders in the space. This is your host, Dr. Manny Fombu. Let's make the future of healthcare a reality together.
Emmanuel Fombu:
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to another episode of Bite the Orange. And today, we have a very special guest all the way from my homeland, Cameroon. I happen to hang around LinkedIn, and I saw a fantastic post on technology and innovation out of my own backyard, and I didn't know that existed. So today, we have a guest that, if you don't know him, Dr. Ekiti Martin, which is very interesting because Martin is not necessarily a common Cameroonian name. So, Dr. Ekiti Martin, tell us about yourself. Welcome to the show.
Dr. Ekiti Martin:
Hi! Thanks, Manny. Thanks for having me. Actually, it's funny you mentioned that. You know, back home, my first name is actually Ekiti, and Martin is my last name. Back home, nobody will believe that my last name is Martin. So I always go by Doctor Ekiti, and everybody in my family has the same last name. So my sister is Martin, has the same first name, sorry, because they don't, they don't accept that Martin is our last name. So my sisters are all Martin. My brother is Martin. We are all Martin. Whereas Martin is our last name. That's who I am, Ekiti Martin, so usually, to make it simple, I just, Ekiti Martin, MD, which is what my name is on LinkedIn.
Emmanuel Fombu:
But tell us about yourself. Where did you grow up, and where did you go to school and worked as a doctor? ...
Dr. Ekiti Martin:
So I'm from a small town in Cameroon called Limbe. That's where I'm from.
Emmanuel Fombu:
... a small town. Limbe is a legendary town with fantastic fish. I always say the best fish in the world comes from Cameroon.
Dr. Ekiti Martin:
Oh, you're welcome, you're welcome, anytime. You're welcome anytime. There's some really nice spots for fish that have come up since you left, and I'll be happy to take you. So I'm originally from Limbe, born in Douala, but grew up in Limbe, went to school, secondary school, primary school, Limbe and Boya, which is also in the southwest, and then went for medical school in Yaoundé in the legendary ... in Yaoundé. And shortly after that, I came back to Limbe, where I've been working for the past just over six years as head of medical service for the Sonara, which is the oil refining company in the country. I just recently quit Sonara so that, last month, and in addition to that, I've been doing a number of other things. I'm usually someone who juggles many balls at the same time. So in addition to my work that I do in Sonara, which is occupational health, I'm an enthusiast for community health, so I do a lot of health campaigns going around the country doing free health campaigns, offering free medical services to underserved communities. It's something, it's a passion I birthed while I was in medical school. So we have this association in medical school called the Cameroon Association of English-Speaking Medical Students. And I was president of the association in my time in medical school, and through that, I really got passionate about community health going into communities where they don't otherwise have access to health and trying to provide the minimum amount of services to these communities, and that's on one hand. I would like to say on the other hand, because it's not the only other thing, in addition to that, being a little boy from the agricultural town of Limbe, I was, I grew up around agriculture, and I was very passionate about that as well, and I'm someone who kind of like thinks entrepreneurially. I observed a few things growing up. I observed a few things in medical school, and interestingly enough, I started a company that's like an agricultural company, but then it grew into a bio cosmetics company, and it's called Eva's Beauty Products. I don't know if you remember, Manny, did you ever use the, in Cameroon, we call it mayanga, did you ever use mayanga growing up?
Emmanuel Fombu:
Yes, mayanga. I'm haven't heard about that name for a very long time, yeah. If anyone doesn't know Cameroon, Cameroon is a bilingual country where we have about 10 provinces, 8 speak French, 2 speak English, and we are from the English part.
Dr. Ekiti Martin:
That's right. So mayanga, actually, that's a very interesting thing because just like you 95, 98% of the country, Africans, in general, have used that once at some point in their life. But today, nobody, very few people use it anymore. We all started out life using that as our only beauty product or cosmetic product, but today nobody else uses it. So in my entrepreneurial spirit, I decided to see how to present mayanga in a better way. So I invite you and all our listeners to go to Eva's Beauty Products. We're on Instagram, on Facebook, and we try to present mayanga, which is Palm Kernel oil. So it's the oil from the kernel of the oil palm, tree that is indigenous to Africa, and we produce cosmetic products out of oil palm, palm kernel oil, and then shea butter as well. So that's another thing, another arm of the things that I do. And on a more personal side, I'm married, I'm a father of three kids, and I have a wonderful family. So I have a lot of things going on at the same time. And basically, that's it, that's it about me.
Emmanuel Fombu:
Which is a bunch of like great things. Although you mentioned, you went to ... which was, at the time when I was in Cameroon, was the only medical school in the country. And to get in that school, you had to be extremely smart and a genius.
Dr. Ekiti Martin:
Oh, wow, yeah, yeah. I remember we were 5000 who wrote the entrance exam, and I think, like, we got in about 100 or 150. I'm not mistaken. Yeah.
Emmanuel Fombu:
So how was the medical school experience like? Because being here in the US, for example, there are many drugs that are branded drugs that never make it to Africa in general, right? So I'm sure there's a lot of generic drugs. So how does that work? Is it access to drugs easy? What are the biggest challenges facing healthcare in Cameroon?
Dr. Ekiti Martin:
I would say for me, the most important thing and the most challenging thing with healthcare in Cameroon is that we don't have healthcare coverage, right? So people pay for healthcare out of pocket, which is very extremely limiting to patients, right? So that's the one reality we have to deal with as medical practitioners in Cameroon. Most of the patients you treat would either not have enough money to do the tests that you're going to request, or they're not, probably not going to even have the money to purchase drugs that you prescribe. And that's particular to us when we're going through medical school, because we are taught, for example, to prescribe generic drugs. And we are cautioned not to prescribe specialty drugs, which exists in our market. Most of the time it's not affordable or unavailable to the common average Cameroonian, so we usually prescribe generic drugs. Those who have jobs, which is a minority, those who have healthcare coverage from their employers, which is even a smaller minority, have access to all what the country has to offer. And we have a very diverse platform for healthcare, we have a healthcare system, which is pyramidal, it's pyramidal. Why do I say that? So we have primary healthcare facilities which are in the peripheries, and then the more you ascend the pyramid, the more specialized care you can receive. And we have some pretty specialized care that we offer in Douala and Yaoundé. But the mainstay is that usually requires patients to pay out of pocket, is really generally not affordable, or not available.
Emmanuel Fombu:
But with that being said, you think prevention should be something that is central or core, right, to society, having access to care? And you mentioned a lot of things. Our diets are completely different. The way we consume things are completely different. So what is the biggest health challenge of facing Cameroon? Is there a lot of diabetes, attention, and things like that?
Dr. Ekiti Martin:
So initially, over the past decades, we've had a real burden. The real burden of healthcare was on infectious diseases. But as you would imagine over the past few years, as we've Westernized our habits and our culture in general, we have this thing that we call an epidemiologic shift where we are seeing a lot of the more Western conditions or healthcare problems like non-communicable diseases like chronic kidney disease, diabetes, hypertension, which is a lot of what I do in the work I do with the GREY Lab. So the GREY Lab is the arm with which we do the community-based health. And we are seeing a lot of increased burden in diabetes, hypertension, chronic kidney disease. And a lot of people are not aware of it because these are conditions that are insidious in their nature, they develop very slowly, and people generally are not aware until it's really late. So I think the real emphasis, like you said, prevention, that's one thing, but early detection is another thing, and it's where we really focus our activities in the GREY Lab on. We try to go into the communities and meet people before they come to the hospital because as you would imagine, in a setting where people have to pay out of pocket for healthcare, they don't go to the hospital just for the fun of it, so they only go there when they absolutely need to. So you have to actively go into the community where you will find these people before they have the need to come to hospital. And I think that's something that we, that is very prominent agenda in Cameroon. It is prevention all, one thing, but also early detection as things that we as healthcare professionals can do and should do.
Emmanuel Fombu:
That's why the GREY, like you mentioned, the GREY Lab. So what is the GREY Lab? How was it started, and what is the mission of the GREY Lab?
Dr. Ekiti Martin:
So the GREY Lab is not for profit health research organization, and our vision is really to avail primary healthcare services to the underserved communities in the country. So we started out in, it was actually born from a study that I did in a sugarcane plantation. So over those in kidney disease in the nephrology space would know about something called CKDU, which is chronic kidney disease of undetermined etiology or unknown etiology, and over the past few years, it's been rife, especially in Central America, where you have large plantations in an equatorial climate. And it's been discovered that there's a lot of this kind of disease in hotter climates where people work in the farm. So I did a study in the sugarcane plantation in Cameroon in Banjul in 2015, I remember, and I found out that with a few interventions, so in Cameroon they ... A lot of drinking water available to the people in the fields, and we saw that drastically improved the kidney health. So we didn't see as much of CKDU in that population, like we saw in subsequent populations that similar studies were carried out. So after 2015, when I did that work in Banjul, the team that I worked with in that year did subsequent work. For example, in Kumba, you would know Kumba, and cocoa workers that are like smallholders. And we saw that in that setting where people are just working for themselves, no organized structure, no occupational health in place. We saw that there was a lot more of CKDU in that population, and that just got me thinking, people don't know something as simple as just give just drink water before going to the farm, and while you're in the farm. And it got me thinking, what can we do to inform, to educate the communities where these big companies are not organized to protect the health of the workers? And so we started thinking about how we can improve the health of agricultural workers. That's how we started in 2017. How can we improve the health of agricultural workers? And shortly after that crisis in Cameroon started, and it was difficult for us to deploy our services in the Southwest where the sociopolitical crisis was rife, and so, we had to pivot and generalize our activities to all workers. So like I said, I do occupational health in my 9 to 5 or in my regular job, and through the GREY Lab, we tried to do like occupational health in the community. How can we improve the health of workers in the community so that we can contribute to a positive increase or improvement of their productivity? So that's what the GREY Lab is all about. So we carry out health campaigns where we do mobile clinics, we go into the community, we do like health sensitization, health education. We also do screening. So we are proponents of early detection. So we do screening. And one of the things that we did, for example, in the last year, our partnership with the US-based Nova Biomedical, we're able to take point-of-care devices. I'm sure that's where you, the post you saw on our page, and also caught your attention. So we have this device developed by Nova Biomedical, and it permits you to go into the field or wherever it is, and with a drop of capillary blood test for serum creatinine in under 30 seconds. I was really fascinated when I heard about this device, and I contacted the company, I said, we need this in Cameroon because I remember the study I did in Banjul, and I realized that I remember that, when I was in Banjul, our team needed to collect blood, centrifuge it to collect the serum, go to the lab, test for it, do all of that. It took about half a day to a full day to get serum creatinine results, but with this device we're able to do it in 30 seconds, in whatever village in Limbe, and that's what really pushed us and encouraged us in the work that we're doing. So we're really like the legs on the ground, the boots on the ground for any organization really, that has the will to do healthcare interventions in the community, but they have neither the personnel, the lay of the land, or the knowledge of the area and the tools to be used. So we like position ourselves to, if you're an organization that wants to do a health campaign, for example, in a village, we have the people, we have a team of about 50 volunteers that we work with, and they are trained to go into any community and in a few hours set up, screen hundreds of people, get quality results, and get out in a few hours. So that's what we do in the GREY Lab, and that's what our vision really is, to provide access, to improve access to healthcare for the community, especially those who would not otherwise go to the hospital because they can't afford.
Emmanuel Fombu:
So what are you saying, that's the job, by the way. So why did you set up as a nonprofit? Why not for profit?
Dr. Ekiti Martin:
Because the whole point is providing medical or healthcare to underserved communities. So who would our clients be, right? So that's why we started as a nonprofit because people go into communities. I don't know how we're going to have to charge those people who cannot otherwise afford to go into a hospital, so how about we partner with organizations that are philanthropic in nature, and then we provide these services as volunteers. We go into the community, and we avail these services free of charge to the community. So that's the original idea, and that's how the lab has been set up so far. We, in our other endeavors, for example, with Eva's, what I was talking about earlier, it's also the profit-making venture, but that is improving the lives of the community because we buy our palm kernels from the community, from the villagers who otherwise just throw it away when they make their palm oil, right? So we go we purchase this from them, it improves their economic viability, and then we go back and process this and produce oil. So we do a number of things that improve the community, some of them are profit-making, some of them are non-profit, but the GREY Lab is non-profit. Eva's is probably profit-making in the long run because we sell our kernel oil and whatnot. That's the way we're set up, basically.
Emmanuel Fombu:
But being Cameroonian myself, you mentioned the fact that a non-profit ... because the people cannot afford it. But we know, and I know how much money people spend in bars drinking in Cameroon, right?
Dr. Ekiti Martin:
Oh, you're absolutely right?
Emmanuel Fombu:
So saying something, as let something grow, then you have to understand the need to have it that. But in Africa, in general, we tend to depend a lot on donations or grants.
Dr. Ekiti Martin:
Aid.
Emmanuel Fombu:
Yeah, right, on aid, which does not sustain itself and grow. You have to apply for grants every single time, and the grants don't necessarily fit what your mission and goals are. So additionally, a system in which we can build something that make people vested in the idea of their own health, right? And show the benefits of their own health to make them for us to live healthier lives.
Dr. Ekiti Martin:
I'm entirely open to that. I'm open to a discussion to see how I can present the model that we have and see how we can make it viable and self-sustainable. That would be a great conversation, I think.
Emmanuel Fombu:
Good. That being said, many people are listening that come from the venture space investment space. I think that's something that you could reach out to. Dr. Martin or myself, we'll have this contact information below the podcast notes. So reach out to him. Let's coach my country, and let's coach that society and create this idea of ..., right, are things that you could benefit from healthcare because now ... big, massive industry around the rest of the globe on digital health like digital technologies that anyone has a phone and people have wearable technologies that could monitor people and make sure that people live healthier lives. So with that being said, that's one side of, I'm done being ... Let's go back to the key point that you mentioned about research. There's a big problem with research right now for drugs being developed, and we don't have many blacks and women represented in clinical trials. How is the research infrastructure in Cameroon?
Dr. Ekiti Martin:
Just interesting question. The research, I was listening to one of the, one of your podcasts, and I don't know, I don't remember who the guest was, but he was talking about bridging the gap for reducing inequalities in research clinical trials, and found out very interesting because he, I don't remember what his name was, but he had a, he has a model where he can go into a space and set up a clinical trial site and be able to manage it remotely. And I found that very fascinating because we have a massive population in Africa, we have a massive population in Cameroon especially, and a very diverse population, right? Because Cameroon, as we call it, Cameroon is Africa in miniature because in the same country, we have different races who are people from the Sahara region or the Sahelian region, as it's called, where people from the grasslands, or people from the coastal regions, and we have such a genetically diverse population. And I think that there's a lot of benefit that can be generated by including the population of Cameroon into research that will have a more diverse pool of participants. Even from a genetical point of view, we have hospitals that are set up. We have researchers that are set up. The main issue in Cameroon with research is funding, right? Because I don't think our systems are built to sustain the kind of funding that international organizations usually require. So that's something that we need to do capacity building of, for our researchers in general on how to present themselves in a way that they're more attractive to funders in general. But I think the research potential for Cameroon is massive given our genetic diversity in the country.
Emmanuel Fombu:
That is fantastic. And so what, the point of that question was that Africa is open to the research, right? Like the CROs, they can reach out. They have sites in Africa, because right now, most sites are in the US, South America, or Europe. And we have no, like barely any sites in Africa they represent. We have a solid black population that could solve for that particular problem. So I think.
Dr. Ekiti Martin:
That's right.
Emmanuel Fombu:
Yeah, and everyone ... CRO ..., please reach out to Dr. Martin as well, because we need that expertise and knowledge to help build this kind of foundation in Africa to make it sustainable and also create employment for the youths that are there and educate people about the ... With that being said, how, is digital health something that is common in Africa or Cameroon in general? Have you heard of digital health?
Dr. Ekiti Martin:
Yes, I have. We have a few startups in Cameroon, one very recently, I'm not going to mention the name, but they've done, had some success in setting up telehealth consultation platform, and we have some digital health startups. We're yet to see how sustainable they're going to be in the long run or in the long term in the country. But yeah, we, in Cameroon, we have some digital health startups, and I think there's a lot of potential in Cameroon for digital health.
Emmanuel Fombu:
That's fantastic. So today, for example, the Apple Watch Fitbit, so a lot of other companies have these algorithms that can predict if someone is having a heart attack or not. I've lost friends myself, the young age from heart attacks, like it's very common, like people just these days. I guess as you get older, people get older as well. But it's not something that people in the community have in these apps or engaging with people. Let's say someone has a disease, for example, right? Someone has diabetes; do they have an app they could talk to other patients like themselves and learn more about them?
Dr. Ekiti Martin:
No, that's my knowledge, none of that so far. The most we have in digital health now is if you can talk to a doctor through telehealth, but you like personal follow-up or to be able to have a device like the wearable devices that tell you about your health, we basically just import what's available abroad. So a lot of people in Cameroon would wear the Apple Watch, a lot of people wear the other smartwatches, and that's it. But something that's been developed specifically for the market, I don't think so. But I think that that's something we should definitely look into.
Emmanuel Fombu:
It's already available in the market. I think ... are, humans just like every other human around the world, right? So these things are, these algorithms, and I would like to come visit you in Cameroon, and we could create some awareness around this technology. Because I work with these technologies, and I developed this research on these technologies because my grandmother died in Washington, DC, about 15 years ago from heart failure, .... of course. But I wish she was alive today for me to be around her. But the idea was this prevention things to intercept diseases before things happen. And I'm wishing that this technology could get into the hands of our people, right, because we are not being represented in datasets, all right? Which means that algorithms in this world of artificial intelligence, we are underrepresented. So I think it's a call to action where we need support from every company that is also a big pharmaceutical company, the CROs, any stakeholder in healthcare, health systems in the US even, to help support places in Africa to lay the infrastructure for them because it helps open up the market. Africa has a business, Africa has a market. We have a market, we have money ... afford certain things like.
Dr. Ekiti Martin:
That's right.
Emmanuel Fombu:
Right? So I think just like Facebook could be in Cameroon, Instagram could be in Cameroon, ... can be in Cameroon. It's a better healthcare. I'm talking to you right now virtually, correct?
Dr. Ekiti Martin:
Correct.
Dr. Ekiti Martin:
You are in Cameroon, I'm here in New York, we're having a conversation. Same way, you have second opinions from experts in the West that could help also help people down in Cameroon. So that's the kind of idea that we're trying to push. And so the idea behind the podcast called Bite the Orange is that change is difficult, and so idea is, Bite the Orange, you know, that bitter skin. But once you go ..., it's sweet. That's the outcome, sweet inside. So it's just a way of changing the world with tech and pushing these things forward in our communities. So do we have you as an advocate for us in Cameroon?
Dr. Ekiti Martin:
100%, I'm on board. You can count me in.
Emmanuel Fombu:
Thank you. So in the next couple of months, I'm going to pay a visit to you in Cameroon, and we are going to share this knowledge with people. I'll join you on this, and we'll come back and track it down and see how people are using this technology, how healthcare is improved. But with that being said, one last question for you before we go out. Is there any such thing as an electronic health record in Cameroon? If someone goes to doctor, do you ... or do you have a computer system that logs in the patient's information?
Dr. Ekiti Martin:
Oh, no, everything is done on paper. Everything is done on paper, and the hospital patient comes with a book, he writes in the book, and even more disturbing is that usually, every single time the patient comes, it's a different book. So even in the same place, it's really hard to follow a patient. So that's a real issue with the way we provide healthcare in Cameroon. And I think it's something that is that can be improved, can really, really be improved.
Emmanuel Fombu:
There you go. That's another business idea to happen that someone could make this electronically available, so we have datasets that matter. Let people to understand disease, understand ... evidence, understand the impact of treatments on patients, because right now, there's no way adapted to find out if the drug they gave the patient works or not if they leave and they go to a different hospital. So we have this beautiful thing called, Africa is a good position to leap, right? Recently I was in Saudi Arabia, I was ..., and they had this conference called Leap, and the idea is that they could leap into the future. Today, you don't need to crawl, instantly get here today. So another call to action for you. Is there like a hospital administration, or community association or something, or doctors' association that we can talk to and try to introduce electronic records in Cameroon? Because that will open up the ability for Western companies to come into Cameroon and actually do research, right? Because they can't do research on paper. So those are the things that we need to integrate that we don't need governments to do this. This is on us doing it, but it has to be for-profit, not non-profit.
Dr. Ekiti Martin:
Yeah, I think that does the ... bodies. There's actually a body right now that is very involved with the Ministry of Public Health in Cameroon. It's like a combination of all medical healthcare professionals of Cameroonian origin in, both in the diaspora and in Cameroon, and they really open to endeavors that work, and they're very, very much in touch with the Ministry of Public Health to implement some of the things that can potentially really improve the healthcare space in Cameroon. We have a very open minister at the moment. He's a young guy, he's dynamic, and I think there's a lot of potential right now for endeavors that can be set up in Cameroon to improve the healthcare space.
Emmanuel Fombu:
Exactly. What you don't know, you don't know. You understand? I grew up in Cameroon. Cameroon coming to US, and seeing the system, how it's in place. It's, for us to share that knowledge back, it's not for you to leave or come here. I'm happy you were there to support us. And it's my job and duty to partner with you to make sure that we have a successful ecosystem back in our home country and all the ... We could spread this across Africa to create a massive market of rural evidence and make sure that the future of Africa is different and the future of healthcare is different. And investors in the US and investing companies in Europe, there's a market in Africa, you can go there, you can scale, .., right? You could do solutions that, we have fantastic doctors, fantastic medical schools like Doctor Ekiti Martin. Doctor Ekiti Martin, thank you, and welcome to the show. And I'm really, it's an honor having you, but I want to make sure that in the next few months, I'll be in Cameroon with you. Okay? I'll make ... They'll make, I will come back and report how things look. What do you think?
Dr. Ekiti Martin:
Oh, that'll be great. That'll be great. Thank you so much, Dr. Fombu, for having me. It was a pleasure for me to be invited to this podcast. And I've bitten the orange, and I'm taking the commitment to see what we can do together to improve the healthcare space in Cameroon.
Emmanuel Fombu:
So as a last note, as a call of action, ... you to join the movement, you're the first person I spoke to out of Africa, and I'm very happy ... my own country. By the way, I look at your picture, ..., and you look quite exquisite, my friend.
Dr. Ekiti Martin:
Thank you.
Emmanuel Fombu:
... Like, dressing properly, that's good. So with that being said, I think you should take a bite of the orange, and send us a picture of your biting the orange, and hashtag it on LinkedIn or Twitter or whatever, with the hashtag #BiteTheOrange. And everyone you talk to about what we discussed today, and they believe in our mission, make that hashtag #BiteTheOrange. And when I come down, we will have a Bite the Orange movement in Cameroon.
Dr. Ekiti Martin:
That's right, I can do that. I'm sure I can do that.
Emmanuel Fombu:
Thank you, my brother.
Dr. Ekiti Martin:
All right, Manny, thank you so much.
Emmanuel Fombu:
Thank you for listening to Bite the Orange. If you want to change healthcare with us, please contact us at info@EmmanuelFombu.com or you can visit us at EmmanuelFombu.com or BiteTheOrange.com. If you liked this episode and want more information about us, you can also visit us at EmmanuelFombu.com.
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About Ekiti E. Martin:
Dr. Ekiti Martin is a self-motivated MD with 7+ years of experience in Primary Care, Medical Affairs, and Research across various therapeutic areas.
He is a native bilingual, equally proficient in English and French. Ekiti is an avid reader with a passion for community health, with close to 15 years of experience improving access to quality healthcare and bridging treatment gaps in underserved communities in Sub-Saharan Africa.
He is also a true lover of learning with a knack for demystifying the most complex scientific information in health, presenting it in relatable language to instruct people of various backgrounds and levels of competence.
Things You’ll Learn:
The biggest challenge in healthcare in Cameroon is the need for healthcare coverage, resulting in limited access to healthcare services for most people.
Cameroon is experiencing an epidemiologic shift, with increased non-communicable diseases like chronic kidney disease, diabetes, and hypertension.
The GREY Lab is a nonprofit health research organization aiming to provide primary healthcare services to underserved communities, particularly agricultural workers.
GREY Lab conducts health campaigns, mobile clinics, health sensitization, education, and screenings for early detection of health conditions.
Research infrastructure in Cameroon faces funding challenges, but there's potential for leveraging the diverse population for more inclusive research.
There is a need for more representation of African populations in research datasets, advancements in digital health technology, and electronic health records.
Digital health startups exist in Cameroon, but their long-term sustainability is yet to be determined.
Mayanga is palm kernel oil, a common cosmetic product in Africa.