Njang Mbeng Emmanuel- M.D.

Health Education and Research Organisation (HERO), Cameroon is an organisation involved in research which informs health promotion, community development and rights advocacy projects carried out by the group. The target population of the organisation has greatly changed from rural populations to semi-urban populations mainly in Cameroon but increasingly, through social media, we reach a wider audience. Drawing from experiences in Clinical Medicine and Public Health, Women Rights advocacy and Crisis Management; a group of young Cameroonians came together in 2014 with an initiative to create an organisation with the goal of ensuring a more equitable, disease free and emerging Cameroon. The diversity of the team is demonstrated in the very wide range of projects we have carried out across a very wide range of fields of interest including health education and research, leadership and capacity building. Health was recognised as a prerequisite for economic emergence and this has been demonstrated through previous and future projects on health research and health promotion through health education. Health care expenditures on non-communicable diseases in low and middle income countries are projected in trillions of dollars over the next two decades. These financial resources need to be redirected to other sectors of developing economies. As such our emphasis, has been on health education especially in rural populations where health illiteracy and other socio-cultural factors are responsible for devastating health and economic consequences. The organisation comprises of four distinct arms which ensures smooth running, executive arm, research department, health campaign department and the media and public relations department. Our method of action is sensitization through seminars, media campaigns and community outreach programmes as a group but also in partnership with organisations and stakeholders who hold are values and share our vision.