Cholera Outbreak Spreads in Cameroon

Government cuts have slashed the budget to try to cope with the outbreak, only to encounter more obstacles.

File image of children in Cameroon courtesy: worldhum.com

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Children’s Aid Agency Plan International is appealing the UN for $200,000, Cameroon is facing the worst cholera outbreak in a decade as the deadly disease envelops remote villages. The epidemic has thus far killed 421 people since May and infected 6,300 more.

“Some sick children have not got enough food to eat because their families are so poor,” says Plan’s country director in Cameroon, Casimir Youmbi. “Some families are staying at hospital after treatment just because conditions are better off. There are no sanitation and water facilities for about 60 per cent of primary schools - teachers are not all trained on cholera containment.”

In the Far North region, schools without water and sanitation are facing closure to try and halt the spread of the disease south. Teachers and students are receiving training on sanitation and hygiene methodologies, constructing school latrines and water boreholes for clean wells. Students are instructed to bring clean water to school in a bid to stop contamination, however water shortages in the area are increasingly exacerbating the problem.

Government cuts have slashed the budget to try to cope with the outbreak, this however is presenting ever more obstacles.

The children’s agency has trained health volunteers and organized nearly 36,000 workshops with at risk families in the Far North Region – meeting with 267,000 people. Plan’s frontline staff have identified and referred 1,463 cases and health centers and disinfected 1,401 water points and 4,885 homes.

“Free medical camps have been set up in the worst affected areas of Maroua and Mokolo to hospitalize the victims of the epidemic,” says Mr Youmbi. “Yet there are still many provinces, such as Koza, which lack medical support and face difficulties in getting aid to victims.”

Source: Plan International