Cameroon celebrates World Malaria Day 2008
26 April 2008
Friday, 25 April 2008 was commemorated the world as the first World Malaria Day under the theme: “Malaria: a Disease Without Borders”. In Cameroon, all roads led to Nanga Eboko, the headquarters of the Upper Sanaga Division in the Centre Province. Presiding over the ceremony was André Mama Fouda, the Public Health Minister. The event was twofold: the celebration of the WMD coupled with the official launching of the distribution of ITNs to about 500,000 households with children under the age 5 in the Centre and North West.
During the occasion, the World Health Organisation (WHO) representative indicated that malaria kills up to 3 million people and affects up 500 million people a year. In Sub-Saharan Africa, malaria causes more than one million deaths in infants and children below five.
Approximately, malaria kills over 3000 children each day in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Cameroon, stats reveal that nearly 40-45% of consultations in hospitals are due to malaria, particularly among children. It also accounts for 40% of child deaths from 0-5 years; 50% of morbidity among children below 5; 40-45% of consultations in hospitals and 35-40% of deaths registered in hospitals.
The Minister of Public Health was keen to note that the government attaches a lot of importance to the prevention and the fight against poverty-related diseases such as HIV, malaria and TB. And more and more, much attention is drawn towards fighting malaria with free distribution of long-lasting mosquito-treated nets as the best known method to curb the prevalence.
Talking to Dr Toh Ephraim, the Health Advisor of Plan Cameroon, he was quite happy with the turnout and what the Minister said, though he showed feelings of reserve.
“My wish is that people should adhere to the strategy of using bed nets. The essence is not just the distribution of bed nets but people should sleep under it so to reduce the prevalence in Cameroon and Africa. I am glad that Plan has been recognised as a major partner for the Ministry of Public…and we are through our weight behind the Minister,” he intimated.
According to the Communication Officer of ACMS, the celebration of WMD is enough proof that the international community has taken a commitment to fight against malaria and they have come to realise that malaria is not only an African problem but a world problem.
The campaign was a continuation of what was organised in 2006 and 2007, targeting 6 provinces (Far North, North, Adamawa, South, East and South). Accordingly, 261,000 treated bed nets were distributed in the Centre and 234,505 in the North West. The exercise is intended to later on move over to the West and Littoral. The Minister also made major stopovers at the Chantal Biya Centres for Voluntary HIV Testing at the Upper Sanaga as well as the Nanga Eboko, Mbandjock and Njore District Hospitals. He was joined by Bernard Messengue Awom the Minister of Public Works, Habissou Bidoung the Secretary General of the Chantal Biya Foundation alongside dignitaries and notables.
The Cameroon Coalition Against Malaria, CCAM was represented at the launching ceremony by Akere-Maimo, the CCAM Communication & Information Assistant. He was transported to and from Nanga Eboko with the help of the staff of Plan Cameroon. Teclaire, the CCAM Secretary represented at Akonolinga, a village in the outskirts of Yaounde where Plan Cameroon organised a special event to commemorate the WMD. Both staff took along with them CCAM gadgets on malaria which they shared out to the populace in Nanga Eboko and Akonolinga.
On this occasion, the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) together with other partner organisations organised weeklong activities, starting on 21 April 2008 among which were an elaborate media campaign, reaching out to the various communities and engaging in exchange with the various stakeholders to evaluate the progress made this far to fight malaria in Cameroon and the major challenges faced to attain the Millennium Development goals.
