CBC Health Services, stakeholders discuss boosting ear, hearing care.

Participants at the meeting are representatives of international organisations such as the Christian Blind Mission, cbm, ministries in charge of health, social affairs, education, finance and other civil society actors.

The Secretary General in the Ministry of Public Health, Prof Louis Richard Njock, set the tone for discussions Thursday. 

Participants at the confab are reviewing the situation of ear and hearing care in the country, with the goal to come up with a roadmap to strengthen ear and hearing care.

The public health ministry scribe lauded the holding of discussions as the beginning of a new era in beefing Ear and Hearing Care, EHC, and taking services closer to the population. 

He reminded stakeholders of the need for exchanges to result in a workable national strategy. Prof Njock said going forward, actions must be taken to democratize EHC from regional hospitals to district hospitals and health centres within the scope of basic healthcare packages.

In a presentation on the situation of EHC in Cameroon, Dr Mapa Clarisse of the Ministry of Public Health underscored that globally, at least 5.5 percent of the world’s population representing 450 million people suffer from hearing loss.

At the national level, while there is no established framework, she said there is basic care at regional hospitals with no links to district and integrated health centres. 

Even when the minimum EHC package is available, Dr Mapa said at the moment, patients bear the entire cost of their treatment. The Ministry of Public Health, she added, has no comprehensive budget line for EHC, leaving patients to fend for themselves.

On the availability of human resources in the sector, she cited the uneven distribution of the at least 100 Ear Nose and Throat, ENT, specialists in Cameroon. She said 80 percent of them operate only in Yaounde and Douala. 

The situation, she stated, means the other eight regions of the country are without vital expertise in EHC. In the field of audiology, the country, he said has just one specialist.

Resource person calls for courageous moves

Dr Diego Santana-Hernandez, Senior Advisor for Ear and Hearing Care at cbm International, who is a resource person at the gathering, called for daring and bold steps in building a national EHC action plan.

Dr Diego told stakeholders that for a start, there could be challenges, but said Cameroon has some positives it can build on to turn things around. 

He said the two-day discussions are part of other engagements towards strengthening EHC in Cameroon. 

Besides noting that such a plan is ambitious, he appealed to other actors from the civil society and international organisations to join the efforts. 

“It is an ambitious plan that needs work. If we are serious about Universal Health Coverage, UHC, we must work together, build capacity and align with global initiatives,” Dr Diego noted. 

He said the putting in place of such a plan will make healthcare in Cameroon more inclusive. The resource person stated that, inclusive polices must been seen through inclusive practices to make meaning. Dr Diego said on specifics of hearing loss, there is no data on the situation in Cameroon.

Issues tackled 

Other topics treated yesterday were: Strategic national planning for education for hearing impaired children; experiences, gaps and challenges of EHC; advocacy mobilisation for interventions in EHC, towards Universal Health Coverage; research and evidence generation in EHC experience with ear and hearing screening tools and alignment of cbm and Cameroon with World report on hearing.

Today, there will be interventions from other key stakeholders especially government institutions an civil society such, group discussions, commitments and questions on the way forward for EHC in Cameroon.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3385 of Friday March 07, 2025