Occupational medicine : Journalists strengthen their capacitiescapacities

A seminar was organised for this purpose by AJC-Prosanté at the Littoral regional delegation of the Ministry of Public Health in the Bonanjo district of Douala on 28 April 2023.

Ghislaine DEUDJUI

“Occupational medicine, elements of understanding”.
This is the theme of the capacity building seminar for journalists held last week in Douala. About twenty media men and women gathered at the regional delegation of the Ministry of Public
Health in Douala to take part in this meeting initiated by the regional office of the Association of Journalists and Scientific Communicators for Health Promotion (AJC-Prosanté). The objective of this meeting was to enable journalists to learn about the importance of occupational medicine. “AJC-Prosanté saw fit to equip journalists with this theme in order to arouse their interest in this activity
which occupies an important place in the world of work,” said Alain Njipou, Journalist, Regional President of AJC-Prosanté Littoral.
This capacity building seminar organised in Douala for journalists is not accidental. It was held at a time when the world is celebrating the World Day for Safety and Health at Work (OSH). The concept of occupational safety and health should be understood
as referring to a variety of disciplines aimed at eliminating or limiting some of the harmful effects
of work on human beings. “It has been proven that when employees are happy, their productivity increases by 30%. The company must strive for employee
well-being and at the same time achieve the desired profit while guaranteeing the well-being of the employees. When a company succeeds in doing this, it gets 100%,” says Dr Ginette Youatou, an occupational
physician for almost 10 years. She works at the Dibamba district medical centre.
Good living environment
According to this health professional, “quality of life at work is a philosophy of life that must be adopted by every company to improve the lives of employees. These words were supported by Dr Roger Tapa, occupational physician. During this meeting, he insisted on the need to improve the working environment in order to reduce stress. “At the workplace, to reduce stress, it is important to have decent toilets. This is very important. If you have to respect the principle that a human being should drink 1.5 litres of water a day, then you need a good environment where you can relieve yourself.
The first vital element is human resources,” he explains, before arguing about the causes of stress also in the employer. “In the company, the employer is the one who is most stressed, he has to deal with employees, administration, salaries, suppliers,
landlords, taxes, family, etc.” What you need to know, according to Dr Roger Tapa, is that health starts in the family. To combat stress, you need to have a healthy mind, a healthy financial situation and a healthy society in general. “All these elements
are important for both the employer and the employee. It is therefore in view of the importance of a good living environment that the international community has decided to focus this edition of the World OSH Day on the theme: “A safe and healthy working environment as a fundamental principle and right at work”.