Cameroon records 7.3 million malaria cases yearly. By Awoh Caleb

The statistics according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) came under discussion last Tuesday, June 15, 2021 in Yaounde-Cameroon during the Official Launch of the Parliamentarians’ Task Force for malaria resource mobilization in Cameroon organized by  Impact Santé Afrique (ISA) in collaboration with the National Malaria Control Program, NMCP.

The ceremony was chaired by the Minister of Public Health, Dr. Manaouda Malachie and attended amongst others by the representative of WHO to Cameroon, Dr. Phanuel Habimana; President of Parliamentarians’ Network in charge of issues relating to the population, Development and Public Health, Hon. Pauline Ndoumou; Law makers from the Lower and Upper Houses of Parliament. 

The launch was coming against a backdrop of a continuous rise in malaria mobility and mortality rates in Cameroon. WHO’s estimates show that Cameroon is still among the 11 most affected countries in the world, with at least 7.3 million cases and 11,500 deaths every year.

It was for this reason that ISA engaged the law makers to chat ways on how to mobilize resources in the fight against malaria by increasing financial allocations for public health in the national annual budget from 4% in 2021 to 7% in 2022. Also, the law makers were expected to deliberate and find ways to give an official status to community health workers who meander into the hinterlands to provide health education and assistance to the populations. The Director of ISA, Olivia NGOU says, 

“it is incomprehensible that we have a leading economy in the Sub Region and far back in the domain of health. We need to be leaders in the Sub Region and Africa as a whole”

And about the expectations she says,

we expect the parliament of Cameroon to ensure that national funds are allocated for health and malaria; to also ensure that community health workers are given a special status by the Government and remunerated because those volunteers in our villages walk for hours to look for cases of malaria, covid, sensitize against HIV, tuberculosis where there is no health centre. So, communities completely rely on them…”

  

Minister Manaouda Malachie who opened the session equally encouraged the members of the Parliamentary Task Force to fight against malaria. To the minister, they have three things; the responsibility, the action and to do the campaign.  

Note be taken, ISA is an African NGO based in Cameroon whose main objective is to contribute to the improvement of people’s health by implementing transformative and sustainable programs that will save lives and improve the health of communities in Africa.