Cameroon AIDS Month: UNICEF Partners Councils To Improve Access To Health Services

The Cameroon AIDS Month will be launched in the coming days by the Ministry of Public Health. As part of activities marking the month and the World AIDS Day on December 1, 2020, the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, on November 16, 2020 in Yaounde held a workshop for stakeholders in Yaounde II Council. Organised in partnership with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Civic Education, MINJEC and three councils, the day-long training was entitled  “Workshop on Improving Access to Integrated Reproductive Health Services, HIV/AIDS Prevention and COVID-19 in Yaounde II, Bertoua and Garoua Boulai Councils.”

Health Services Severely Affected By COVID-19

Need To Step up Awareness

Akono Besalla François Eric also cited a recent survey by the Ministry of Public Health on the impact of COVID-19 on the continuity of services and healthcare in 21 priority health districts in the country. It revealed that 71 per cent of the health districts were affected by the pandemic. While 61 per cent of officials in the same health districts said the sensitization and hand-washing material offered them was insufficient. “The problem is real and demands urgent action. It is important to rethink and urgently implement a new strategy on improving health services during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic,” the Regional Delegate counseled.

Ngah Zibi Catherine, Deputy Mayor of Yaounde II Council, noted that female youth and adolescents were more vulnerable to HIV infection than their male counterparts. This is because youth easily engage in sexual relations with occasional unknown partners; get into early marriage, drug consumption, etc. “We must do something about the situation,” Ngah Zibi Catherine pleaded, adding that the UNICEF-sponsored project was a big opportunity for Yaounde city in general and Yaounde II Council in particular, to address the problem.

Role Of Local Governments

Zibi Catherine stressed the important role of local governments in healthcare provision. “Meeting in Bandjoun in the West Region in June 2017, Cameroonian mayors committed to make the fight against HIV/AIDS a priority by including it in their development plans,” Zibi recalled. She said Yaounde II Subdivisional Council was ready to face the challenge.

UNICEF’s Commitment 

Dr Bacha Abdel-Kader, Head of H...