Seasoned CRTV journalist John Mbah Akuroh has done Cameroon proud, following his recent selection as one of just two Africans to win the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) 2015 Global Health Reporting contest that was launched earlier this year and which focused on the complex challenges facing communities and health-care providers across the world.

Dubbed “Safety: An SMS Away”, the report which enabled Mbah Akuroh to triumph in this contest is striking in being both innovative and ingenious, making use of relatively simple and affordable technology to address a grave health concern.

In it, he introduces a mobile phone app that pregnant women in distress can use to alert healthcare workers – allowing them to send a text message to doctors and at the same time, showing ambulance drivers the patient’s location via a Google earth map.

Ultimately, this innovation drastically cuts the time required for medics to reach women in distress to start rescue operations and as such, its life-saving potential cannot be overstated.

Along with John Mbah Akuroh were five other winners; Maimouna Gueye from Senegal, Maria Clara Vieira from Brazil, Shengke Gao from China, Mini P. Thomas from India and Olga Efimkina from Russia. The scale of his achievement is all the more remarkable when one bears in mind that he was selected as just one of six winners out of a pool of more than 150 journalists who submitted stories for the contest from around the world.

The six winners will embark on a 10-day study tour of the United States in November, in the course of which they will meet leading global health experts in Washington DC, Atlanta and New York. They will also be honoured with an Awards Dinner featuring a discussion on emerging health issues and each winner will receive a 1000-dollar cash prize.

Outstanding as this accomplishment no doubt is, it would hardly have come as a major surprise to those familiar with Mbah Akuroh who have witnessed similar manifestations of the exceptional abilities he possesses in abundance.

While “Safety: An SMS Away” is unquestionably his most high profile exploit so far, in 17 years of service at the foremost media organ of the country, he has won numerous media contests with some of the most notable being documentaries like “Fitchuk: The Wine of Life”, “The Mysteries of Tegoum” and “Red Diamond” which resonated with the public and won him many accolades.

On a related note, he is also the publisher of Timescape Magazine and Editorial Adviser at The Times Journal, arguably the most influential Anglophone newspaper in Cameroon which has won plaudits and adherents for excellence in news production.

Ultimately, the ICFJ award is just another feather in the cap of a young and dynamic trailblazer who is demonstrating that with talent and ambition, with dedication and hard work, we can surmount all challenges and emerge triumphant.