The acronym BEPHA stands for the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province Health Assistance. It is a solidarity health assistance scheme conceived by the Bishops of the Bamenda Church Province as their contribution towards the alleviation of misery in our communities, with specific reference to the domain of health.
This does not, however, imply that the Bishops have now amassed much money so as to pay the health bills of all those who fall sick. Far be it. Rather, it requires the Participation and Contribution of every Member of the Community towards the Promotion of a healthy society. BEPHA can therefore be likened to a “Trouble Fund” to which many people contribute and only those who are affected (those who fall sick) benefit from the contributions of those who are not affected. That is, for BEPHA to be able to pay the health bills of one affected person, an average of seven (7) other persons must be healthy. Thus, in BEPHA, the healthy take care of the sick; the stronger members help the weaker persons in our communities.