ELoisa Pentecotisa was begging on the streets of Yaoundé, eating from a trash can while listening to voices, when a team of health workers met her and invited her to join them. The 28-year-old had no idea how long she had been sleeping poorly in the Cameroonian capital.
But with severe mental health issues and no close family to take her in, she faced threats and abuse and was at risk of contracting diseases such as cholera. Acutely mentally ill people like Pentecotisa are often rejected by their families, and their symptoms worsen as they wander the streets alone.
NCDs are just that. Unlike viruses, for example, they cannot be transmitted. Rather, they are caused by a combination of genetic, physiological, environmental, and behavioral factors. The main types are cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases (heart attacks and strokes). About 80% are preventable, and all are on the rise as economic growth and urbanization drive aging populations and lifestyles, making poor health a global phenomenon. It is spreading all over the world.
NCDs were once considered a disease of the wealthy, but now they also affect the poor. Illness, disability, and death are perfectly designed to create and widen inequalities, and the poorer they are, the less likely they are to receive accurate diagnosis and treatment.
Investments in tackling these common and chronic diseases that kill 71% of us are incredibly low, while the costs to families, economies, and communities are staggeringly high.
In low-income countries, some of the needed funds are invested or donated to fight NCDs, which are usually progressive and debilitating diseases. Although the threat of infectious diseases continues to receive attention, cancer mortality rates far exceed those caused by malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS combined.
‘Common Symptoms’ is a Guardian series that reports on the prevalence, solutions, causes and consequences of NCDs in the developing world and tells the stories of people living with these diseases.
Tracy McVeigh, Editor
“,”credit”:””}” config=”{“renderingTarget”:”Web”,”darkModeAvailable”:false}”>
quick guide
Common symptoms
show
The human cost of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is enormous and increasing. These diseases claim about 41 million of the 56 million people who die each year, three-quarters of whom live in developing countries.
NCDs are just that. Unlike viruses, for example, they cannot be transmitted. Rather, they are caused by a combination of genetic, physiological, environmental, and behavioral factors. The main types are cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases (heart attacks and strokes). About 80% are preventable, and all are on the rise as economic growth and urbanization drive aging populations and lifestyles, making poor health a global phenomenon. It is spreading all over the world.
NCDs were once considered a disease of the wealthy, but now they also affect the poor. Illness, disability, and death are perfectly designed to create and widen inequalities, and the poorer they are, the less likely they are to receive accurate diagnosis and treatment.
Investments in tackling these common and chronic diseases that kill 71% of us are incredibly low, while the costs to families, economies, and communities are staggeringly high.
In low-income countries, some of the needed funds are invested or donated to fight NCDs, which are usually progressive and debilitating diseases. Although the threat of infectious diseases continues to receive attention, cancer mortality rates far exceed those caused by malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS combined.
‘Common Symptoms’ is a Guardian series that reports on the prevalence, solutions, causes and consequences of NCDs in the developing world and tells the stories of people living with these diseases.
Tracy McVeigh, Editor
Eight months after intervention by the health team, Pentecotisa, a resident of the Village of Love, Le Village de L’Amour, is receiving treatment and free medication for her schizophrenia.
Established in May 2021 and located on the premises of Yaounde’s Jamot Hospital, the village is a joint project between the Ministry of Health and the City Council of Yaoundé.
“Our main goal here is to treat mentally ill people who live homeless on the streets of Yaounde,” says Dr. Justin Laure Mengen, a psychiatrist at Jamot Hospital and the village head. “This is the first and only free care center in Cameroon exclusively for homeless patients.”
A team of more than 100 volunteers, including nurses, psychologists, hygienists and doctors, regularly roam the city’s streets under the protection of the city council, looking for homeless people in need. They are usually people who live rough lives, abandoned or rejected by their families because of the stigma and fear surrounding mental health. Once the team identifies someone in need of help, they first track down the family and ask if they would like to allow treatment at home. Patients whose families cannot be found or who refuse help are taken to villages.
Not everyone is happy. Mengene says sometimes force is used. Some people eat garbage naked. Most have schizophrenia. It’s psychosis and they can’t understand what’s going on. ”
Psychologist Audrey Pocum says the center’s name reflects that ethos. “Love is our first medicine here. When a patient comes in, we treat them with love. We show them that they are important. Many are family members. has been rejected.”
Of the more than 100 patients in the village, 95% suffer from schizophrenia. Others arrive with other conditions developed by the brutal life on the streets, such as tuberculosis, wounds that may require amputation, cholera, and other diseases associated with poor living conditions. For many people, including Pentecotisa, it will be the first time they have been diagnosed. Once patients are medically stable, they can receive treatment and be taught life skills.
It took months of treatment and therapy for Pentecotissa’s story to come to light. She says she always wanted to be loved. “I lost her mother when I was young. I grew up with her uncle and thought her father had abandoned me,” she says.
“When I finally met him, we only spent a few times together and he passed away too. I went to live with my sister, but she later kicked me out. I wanted to die because I wasn’t loved.
“On the street, people called me crazy. Here they see me as a human being. I help with housework, laundry, dishes. I chat with other patients,” she says.
After 10 months of treatment, Pentecotisa now has “many dreams.” “I want to become a teacher, get married and have children,” she says.
Caroline Martin Ibe Gund is the village’s mental health nurse and site coordinator. She teaches patients how to dress, wash, eat with cutlery and drink water from a glass.
“Some people have lived on the streets their entire lives,” she says. “They forgot everything. We teach our children everything just like we teach our babies.”
The center has treated more than 630 patients and currently treats 114 in-hospital patients and 350 outpatients.
Mental illness in Cameroon is often misunderstood and stigmatized, with people living with mental illness being blamed on witchcraft. There is little data on the scale of mental illness in the country, and a shortage of relevant medical professionals leaves many people undiagnosed and untreated.by whoAs of 2020, Cameroon, a country of 28 million people, had only 12 psychiatrists, 300 psychologists and 150 mental health nurses.
“Most families go to see a local witch doctor. Sometimes he even blames the patient for being the cause of his illness,” Ngando says. “Families then reject the patients. That’s why we find most of them on the streets.”
When a child is sick, parents may have a hard time understanding their child’s behavior. Flore (45), who visited his son Jordan Armel Chaumchoa (24), calls him “the pilot.”
“He became addicted to drugs. He was walking down the street and was acting strange,” she says. Mental health nurse Evelyn Essian mediates the conversation between her mother and her son.
“There’s a lot of anger,” Essien says. “Here, we don’t just treat patients. We conduct several therapy sessions with families who have agreed to reintegrate into society. Above all, we value patience and love – for our patients. 80% have returned to society [into their families]”
Mengene’s vision is a future where villages are no longer needed. “This center exists because society rejects these patients. There is no village of love for cancer patients or patients with kidney or heart failure. Our aim is to help families with other illnesses. It’s about supporting people as much as they did when they were diagnosed. Society will not abandon them, and we want the same for patients suffering from schizophrenia in Africa.”
