CONTACT DR. NEBA FOBI:
Grace Fobi is a retired Public Health Ophthalmologist with over 10 years of experience in the management of regional and national programmes for the Control & Elimination of River Blindness and other Neglected Tropical Diseases in Africa.
River blindness is caused by a filarial worm transmitted to humans by blackflies living along fast flowing rivers and streams. About 120 million people in 31 countries in Africa are at risk. It is also found in some countries in Latin America and in Yemen. It can cause irreversible blindness, affect the skin and cause communities to flee fertile lands, hence aggravating poverty.
Grace Fobi was part of a formidable team at the African Programme for onchocerciasis Control (APOC), which relentlessly worked within an unprecedented partnership of Donors, NGDOs, African Governments and affected communities creating sustainable distribution systems to reach people at risk of the disease, beyond the end of the road, where there are no doctors, no functional health systems, with the medicine Mectizan (Ivermectine), freely donated by Merck & Co. through Mectizan Donation Programme (MDP). Building on the successes of prior control programmes, APOC’s works have brought the disease to elimination levels in many Africa countries.
She has proven capability in community empowerment; development of guides for monitoring, evaluation, training modules for health workers and community volunteers, curriculum and training modules on community directed interventions for Universities, Public Health Institutions and Nursing Schools.
Grace Fobi worked for over 24 years with the Ministry of Public Health of Cameroon. She is bilingual in English and French.
Proud to have contributed her tiny footprint to the giant walk of mankind in the fight against River Blindness, Grace Fobi spends her time between her passions: gardening, travelling and her God given job of grandma.
She is co-Author of the amazing book BEYOND CHALLENGES.
