Cameroon learns from Asian experience in fighting malaria.

The capacity building and knowledge sharing event is being organised by Impact Santé Afrique, ISA. 

The workshop, which opened Tuesday, July 2, was chaired by the Secretary General at the Ministry of Public Health, MINSANTE, Prof Louis Richard Njock.

It is being attended by representatives of the Regional Steering Committee, National Malaria Control Programme, World Health Organisation, Asia Pacific Leaders’ Malaria Alliance, and a host of civil society leaders and advocates. 

Speaking during the event, the Permanent Secretary for National Malaria Control Programme, NCPL, Dr Joel Ateba, explained that such gatherings are pivotal in Cameroon’s strive to eliminate malaria. 

“We are targeting the elimination of malaria in our country and it is necessary for us to learn from those who are on elimination track of malaria. The Greater Mekong subregion has been doing this for the past 10 years and has been witnessing tremendous progress. So, we hope to learn in order to reach that level,” Dr Ateba said. 

He added that: “We have the same strategies, the mosquitos are the same, the drugs for treatment are the same but we want to learn what the difference is and see how to adapt it to our context so that in the next ten years or so we would have made significant progress in the elimination of malaria”. 

Lorina Mcadam, one of the facilitators and consultants of the Health Management Support Team, HMST, explained that the GMS consists of five Asian countries that succeeded in reducing their malaria cases by 77% and malaria deaths by 97% between 2012 and 2022. 

According to her, it is possible for Africa and Cameroon in particular to learn from this experience to achieve malaria elimination despite the challenges in the fight.

“Cameroon stands a chance for malaria elimination. In the Mekong region, they worked very hard, they had a lot of financial support from donors, very strong technical experts who really understand malaria and have a lot of openness to learn,” the consultant said. 

She added that: “Some of the things they had to do which could be the steps for Cameroon is to be open to new ideas of doing things differently and using data to inform strategies and match them on the field. They need to engage civil society, the private sector and not just the government, but everyone needs to get involved in the fight against malaria”. 

Malaria public health concern

In his address, the Secretary General at the Ministry of Public Health, Prof Louis Richard Njock, noted that malaria remains a real public health problem in Cameroon and Africa in general with the WHO's World Malaria Report 2023 indicating a 95% of malaria morbidity and mortality persist on the continent. 

Acknowledging that malaria can be eliminated, he said several countries have already achieved the feat amongst which are the States of the Greater Mekong Sub-region with enormous progress towards elimination.

“Although the contexts of Greater Mekong and Cameroon may be different, there are enough similarities to draw relevant lessons. This workshop is therefore very important,” he added.

Prof Njock then noted that the objectives of the gathering will be to present the key factors that have contributed to rapid progress towards malaria elimination in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region, discuss together how these factors and experiences can be applied in Cameroon and to determine how best to integrate lessons learned into the fight against malaria.  

The hybrid gathering is being held with the financial support of Expertise France, EF, and technical assistance of Health Management Support Team, HMST.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue N0: 3158 of Thursday July 4, 2024