To reinforce fight against malaria: MPs push for creation of special emergency fund.

The national roundtable on the effectiveness of free malaria treatment in the country, was organised by the Cameroon Parliamentary Caucus for Health, in collaboration with the National Malaria Control Programme and Impact Santé Afrique, ISA.

It was attended by members of the caucus, civil society actors and representatives of partner organisations. 

Speaking at the end of the discussions, the Member of Parliament, MP, for Ndian Constituency, Hon Njume Peter Ambang, said one of the recommendations is for the creation of an emergency fund to reinforce efforts in the fight against malaria.

“We have recommended that there should be the creation of a special emergency for the fight against malaria,” Hon Njume said.

The MP explained that the emergency fund would help mitigate not just malaria treatment but also the prevention of the disease especially in rural areas.

“We have also recommended that each ministerial department should be able to allocate 1% of their budget on malaria. If each ministerial department does this, it is going to help us a lot in the fight against malaria in this country,” he added. 

Hon Njume also appreciated the holding of the round table discussion as malaria remains a cause for concern with serious consequences on the country’s growth. 

He stated that: “Malaria is one of those illnesses that is taking so many lives. Not just that, the economic impact of malaria is enormous, so we are here today to discuss on how we can kick away malaria in Cameroon and to see how we can build a country with healthy people”.

With more than 72% of expenditures on the treatment of malaria coming from household budgets, the MP of the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, CPDM party, underscored the need for government to effectively and efficiently implement the Universal Health Coverage, currently in its pilot phase, to be able to cover-up the cost of treating malaria in the country.

MPs, CSO actors after roundtable forum on malaria

Call for 15% allocation of state budget on health

According to Hon Njume, during a 2015 Abuja Conference on rollback malaria, it was agreed that countries should allocate 15% of their State budget on health. 

However, he said, Cameroon is far from meeting its commitments with only about 5% budgeted on health. 

“That is why we came here to see how we could strategise and to find the possibilities of rallying financial resources to fight against malaria in the country,” he said, insisting that “apart from depending on our partners, we can also mobilise domestic funding for the fight against malaria”.

In addition, the MP explained that during a meeting in Nairobi-Kenya, the Pan-African Parliamentary Task Force for Health was created to continue pushing for the implementation of the 15% health budget allocation. 

Upon the return of the Cameroonian delegates from the Nairobi conference, they decided to create a parliamentary caucus on heath. 

“So this caucus want to rally behind the health minister to see how we can lobby and advocate a fund at the level of the National Assembly. We have taken as commitment to see how we can advocate more funds to be given to the Ministry of Public Health,” the MP stressed.

Public health concern for government

According to the Permanent Secretary of the National Malaria Control Programme, PNLP, Dr Ateba Marcellin Joël, out of 100 patients that visited health facilities in Cameroon in 2022, about 29 patients showed signs of malaria. 

“If we had 100 deaths, about 10 were malaria related. So this shows you the impact of malaria in our country,” Dr Ateba said. 

He further explained that malaria is common health concern for government who has rolled out strategic plan that are being implemented with significant advancement made in the fight. 

“We gained about 4 points on the rate of mortality related to malaria,” he added. 

The PNLP Permanent Secretary also expressed his satisfaction with the round table discussion which is important to push for an increase in domestic funds to fight against malaria.