Book Traces Ten Years of Activities of African Synergy

The story of the Pan-African Non-governmental Organisation, African Synergy Against AIDS and Suffering's ten years of existence, is now packaged in a book for posterity.

The state-of-the-art book christened, « Synergies africaines: acteur majeur de la santé publique en Afrique » or « African Synergy: Major Public Health Actor in Africa » was officially presented to the public at the Yaounde Conference Centre on Tuesday April 30.

The 144-page masterpiece, souvenir of the association's first decade of existence, has a peculiarity in that the scientific topics contained in it are handled by icons from within and without Africa, notably the Nobel Medicine Prize winner, Luc Montagnier. From November 16, 2002 when 17 African First Ladies under the aegis of Cameroon's Mrs Chantal Biya gave birth to the association through which they could harmonise their strategies and efforts to effectively combat pandemics, notably AIDS, so much, papers in the book hold, has changed.

In a preface wherein she reiterates her wish and conviction of making Africa a better place through synergy of action, Mrs Chantal Biya notes that "With 17 First Ladies in November 2002, African Synergy now has 27 First Ladies." She says the association's determination to take the vulnerable population into consideration is still very strong. "Our organisation has matured and its capacities increased. Its reputation is well established both at the national and international levels. Faced with the immensity of the task, humility is called for because I always have the habit of stressing that the challenges are many and the means to face them are almost always inadequate," she notes.

According to the Executive Secretary of African Synergy Against AIDS and Suffering, Jean Stéphane Biatcha, the organisation has spread its tentacles to deal with other epidemics like malaria, leprosy, cancer, tuberculosis, diabetes et al. He lauded those who have stood and continue to stand by the organisation to surmount the growing challenges of the epidemics.

The irresistible book that handles among other topics, "Health surveillance and the challenges of social protection," "Access to medicines and health requirement," "Drugs and the issues of generic," and "The fight against counterfeiting," is peculiar in that buyers pay according to their conviction to support the humanitarian activities of the Pan-African organisation. Honourable Paul Eric Djoumgué, took home a copy during the presentation at FCFA 5 million. Some like the satirist group, Kéguégué international, got theirs by just presenting an idiom while others contributed varying sums to take home the book and give a push to the organisation's activities. The colourful ceremony was heavily attended among others by Members of Government, scientists, students and people suffering in one way or the other under the weight of pandemics.