School-leavers

What do you want to be when you grow up? We have heard this question many times during our school years. Perhaps, it was difficult for us to give a definite answer earlier. But now we understand that the time to choose our future profession has come. Finishing school is the beginning of an independent life for millions of school-leavers. Many roads are open before us: technical schools, colleges and universities. Centuries ago there were only a few jobs: people were farmers, bakers, butchers or carpenters. Today there are thousands of different kinds of jobs, and new ones are constantly appearing. No wonder that it is not an easy thing to make the right choice.

When choosing a future career, we should consider different factors. In my opinion, money is one of the most important factors when you make a choice. There are highly paid jobs and low-paid jobs. For example, a businessman, a president or a film star, are highly paid jobs. A worker, a doctor or an engineer, are low-paid jobs. I think everybody wants to earn as much money as possible. Training, promotional prospects and conditions should be also taken into account.

On the other hand, it's good when you get satisfaction from your job. It is very important to choose a profession that suits your interests. In my opinion, a job should be interesting and socially important. Some jobs are considered to be more suitable for men and others for women. For example, the professions of secretary or nurse are more suitable for women. A lifeguard or a pilot are more likely the jobs for men. You should also decide whether you want to work indoors or outdoors.

To make the right choice, you should take into account your traits of character. It goes without saying that to become a good doctor you must be patient, caring and kind. Teacher's work requires love for children, profound knowledge of subjects, and the ability to explain. A secretary has to be efficient and careful in order to do her work quickly and accurately. Salespeople need to be friendly and persuasive, to get people buy their products.

There are so many people who influence us in choosing our occupation. Parents and friends play a very important role in our choices.

My father works for an international company as a managing director. It is a highly paid job and it offers a lot of opportunities. You can travel abroad and meet different people. My father is a friendly person and he is easy to talk to. He thinks that I must choose my future profession according to my taste and preferences. I respect him and I want to become a businessman, too.

I have always been interested in economics and I am good at Maths. I have an aptitude for working with people, and I think I'm rather communicative and have good social skills. I have good analytical abilities and I am good at problem-solving. Besides, I am good at English. English has become the standard language for all kinds of international business communications. To know English today is absolutely necessary for every businessman.

To become a successful businessman you should know a lot. So after finishing school I want to enter the university and to study marketing or management. Management deals mainly with people. A manager is a person who directly supervises people in an organization. Managers spend a great deal of time communicating, coordinating and making decisions affecting the daily operations of their organization. Almost everything, a manager does, involves decisions, and in decision-making there is always uncertainty and risk. So managing is a very interesting, but difficult, job.

Marketing deals with market research and commercial activity in general. It involves analyzing business situations, evaluating market opportunities, developing market strategies and controlling their implementation. It is important for a specialist in marketing to be flexible and prepared to make adjustments where necessary, as it is unlikely that any marketing plan will succeed exactly as planned.

I haven't decided yet what to study. But I still have time to think and to choose.

Traditional medicine refers to health practices, approaches, knowledge and beliefs incorporating plant, animal and mineral based medicines, spiritual therapies, manual techniques and exercises, applied singularly or in combination to treat, diagnose and prevent illnesses or maintain well-being. In the last decade traditional medicine has become very popular in Cameroon, partly due to the long unsustainable economic situation in the country. The high cost of drugs and increase in drug resistance to common diseases like malaria, bacteria infections and other sexually transmitted diseases has caused the therapeutic approach to alternative traditional medicine as an option for concerted search for new chemical entities (NCE). The World Health Organisation (WHO) in collaboration with the Cameroon Government has put in place a strategic platform for the practice and development of TM in Cameroon. This platform aims at harmonizing the traditional medicine practice in the country, create a synergy between TM and modern medicine and to institutionalize a more harmonized integrated TM practices by the year 2012 in Cameroon. An overview of the practice of TM past, present and future perspectives that underpins the role in sustainable poverty alleviation has been discussed. This study gives an insight into the strategic plan and road map set up by the Government of Cameroon for the organisational framework and research platform for the practice and development of TM, and the global partnership involving the management of TM in the country.

Fokunang et al., Afr J Tradit Complement Altern Med. (2011) 8(3):284-295

290

(Sonke, 2005). Additionally, ginseng may cause headache, tremulousness, and manic episodes _{in patients treated with}

phenelzine sulfate (Sofowora, 1982; White and Edwards, 2000; Garrido et al., 2009). Ginseng should also not be used with

estrogens or corticosteroids because of possible additive effects.

Future prospect.

There is increased interest for search for new chemical entities and the expression of resistance of many drugs

available in the market has lead to a shift in paradigm towards medicinal research. There has been an increased interest in the

areas of genomics and scientists in Cameroon are looking at the study of this plant not only at cellular level, but at molecular

levels. How exposure to cells can regulate gene expression, and selection of biomarkers for different therapeutics endpoint.

There is also the prospect of the application of nanotechnology in detecting these NCE at nano-particle. There are ongoing

researches on testing medicinal plants for estrogenic properties detected through luciferase genes when exposed to

immunofluorescent stained cells.

Conclusion

Traditional medicine occupies a very important place in health care in the world in general, in Africa and

Cameroon in particular: In Cameroon the process to effectively develop TM is in progress due to a favourable integrated

environmental, national and international framework set up by the Government.

The Governments should establish the necessary institutional and financial support to promote the potential role of

herbal medicine in primary health care delivery. Priority should be given to the development of herbal medicine by means of

the following measures: -inventorying and documenting the various medicinal plants and herbs which are used to treat

common diseases in each region of Cameroon; -establishing local botanical gardens for the preservation of essential

medicinal herbal plants in different parts of each country, in order to ensure a sustainable supply of safe, effective and

affordable medicinal herbs; -setting up testing laboratories with adequate facilities for the assessment of the efficacy of

medicinal herbs, and establishing dosage norms for the proper administration.

If the Cameroonian society is out to fight poverty by exploring our natural environment, then research should be focused on

the use of plants for our welfare for it is said “a healthy man is a wealthy man”.

Acknowledgement

We wish to acknowledge the ministry of Health for making available the strategic information documents on

traditional medicine policies in Cameroon. The Millennium Ecological museum for the field research Photographs. The

authors also express their gratitude to all the institutions and individuals who gave out any working documents for this

review. Our appreciation also goes to all the herbalist medicinal plant vendors and naturopaths for allowing us take photos

and providing us with medicinal historical information. The Dean and management of the Faculty of Medicine and

Biomedical Sciences University of Yaoundé 1 for their technical support. All the collaborators and partners of the Medical

and Pharmacotherapeutic Research Group, University of Yaoundé 1. Finally the Athlone Institute of Technology, Centre for

Biopolymer and Bio-molecular Research for their financial support-travel grant for the realization of this work.