Fight against cholera: WHO donates protective materials to Yaounde councils.

The kits worth over 28 million FCFA were handed to the representatives of the seven councils of Yaounde. It was in the presence of the Ministry of Public Health as well as the Vice President of Centre Regional Council, Sanama Nkono. 

The donated items included protective goggles, face shields, surgical masks, protective gowns, disposable protective aprons, household gloves, rubber boots, sprayers, garbage bags, garbage buckets, body bags and host of other items. 

While handing over the materials, the representative of the WHO Resident Representative in Cameroon said the donation comes on the heels of a wave of cholera epidemic that struck Cameroon with the capital city being one of the most hit towns since the epidemic started in 2021. 

According to the WHO official, till date, more than 20,000 cases of Cholera have been recorded with about 500 death cases in Cameroon since 2021. 

In a bid to support the efforts of the Cameroonian government, she said the WHO through the Ministry of Public Health organised a capacity building workshop in Ebolowa to reinforce the capacities of members of the hygiene and sanitation of the seven councils of Yaounde on measures of prevention and control of health infections. 

Officials, council representatives standing in front of donated kits in group photo 

During that training, held last August, it was discovered that the unavailability of sufficient materials greatly retarded efforts to fight cholera. 

She also saluted the various efforts being made by different stakeholders to fight against cholera in the country, while calling all administrations to support the Ministry of Public Health in the fight to eradicate the epidemic. 

On his part, the Vice President of the Centre Regional Council appreciated the WHO representative in Cameroon for supporting the country’s health system especially in the fight against cholera. 

He noted that, for some time now, the country has been faced with scourges of cholera pandemic which severely touched the city of Yaounde. 

Sanama Nkono added that though the State has taken some measures to fight the epidemic, decentralised territorial collectivities have been facing in handling health outbreaks. 

“In fact, the lack of training in the management of pandemics and the materials adapted for it has been challenging. It is view of this shortage that the WHO has decided to accompany our decentralised territorial collectivities by handing over materials today,” Nkono said. 

While expressing gratitude to the WHO, on behalf of the Centre Regional Council and the beneficiary councils for the materials, the Regional Council executive stressed that the kits will help in ensuring more effective interventions by the municipalities in the prevention and control of health crisis, starting with the cholera epidemic. 

With Yaounde being one of the most hit by cholera, he stressed that the fight against epidemic has to be multi-sectorial fight. 

Nkono then encouraged various administrations to contribute their support within their different competencies in order to eradicate cholera. 

“The decentralised territorial collectivities play an important role in their different spheres of competencies within the fight against cholera,” he noted, before saluting the administrative decision to ban the anarchical disposal of waste in the City of Yaounde.