Health and Safety Updates

Dickinson-in-Cameroon Program

Posted February 28, 2008

Over the past several days, strikes have led to demonstrations in Douala, Bamenda, and Yaoundé, Cameroon.  We have provided the following information to parents of students currently participating in our program in Yaoundé:

• There have been some demonstrations and general unrest in Yaoundé, and reports indicate that police have been responding with flares and tear gas in an attempt to disperse crowds.
• In response to the strikes of taxi unions, the government agreed to a small decrease in the price of gasoline on the evening of February 26.  One union called off their strike, but unrest has continued.
• Dickinson classes in Yaoundé have been cancelled since February 26, and all students have ben told to remain either at the Dickinson Centre or with their home stay families.  Dickinson's resident director has been in touch with all students and has confirmed that all are safe.
• We have decided to preemptively cancel classes until we determine that the situation is calm enough to reconvene.  Our resident director will be contacting students individually to remind them of health and safety precautions that were originally covered during arrival orientation.
• All students were officially registered with the U.S. embassy in Yaoundé at the beginning of the semester, and our resident director will continue to maintain contact with U.S. officials at the embassy.
• A message from the U.S. Citizen Services Unit of the U.S. embassy in Yaoundé can be found on-line at: http://yaounde.usembassy.gov/index.html.

Again, all students in Yaoundé are safe and doing well.  The Office of Global Education will continue to send regular email updates to parents until calm has been restored.

Avian Influenza Information

Over the past several months, national media have carried a great deal of news about the spread of avian flu among wild birds and poultry in Africa, Asia and in eastern Europe.  Although the immediate risk to humans is believed to be very low, since January 2006 there have been confirmed human cases in Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Djibouti, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Thailand, and Turkey. In light of this news, we wanted to make you aware of the following:

• The Office of Global Education monitors international news, listservs maintained by professional organizations in the field of international education, and federal information resources on a regular basis.  We’ll pass along any relevant and helpful information to resident directors of our Dickinson Programs, and to students studying abroad, as it becomes available.
• The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is constantly updating information about avian flu at http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/.  This site is a good source of facts and data.  The U.S. State Department also has a fact sheet on-line at http://travel.state.gov/travel/tips/health/health_1181.html.
• It’s important to note that neither the CDC nor the World Health Organization (WHO) has issued any travel alerts or warnings for avian-flu infected areas.
• The CDC offers advice to U.S. citizens living overseas at http://wwwn.cdc.gov/travel/contentAvianFluAmericansAbroad.aspx. Recommendations include frequent hand-washing, thoroughly cooking foods, and avoiding live poultry markets.
• At this time we have no plans to move or cancel any programs, nor are we aware of any colleges or study abroad programs that are planning to do so.  However, in a worst-case scenario of widespread infection at a site or sites abroad, we do have emergency procedures in place and we’ll continue to review and update those procedures as needed. 

As always, please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns you may have.  We can be reached by phone at 717-245-1341 or by email at global@dickinson.edu