Epidemiological Intelligence Project: Cameroon Part 2

Epidemiological Intelligence Project: Cameroon Part 2

Health Situation in Cameroon

Health and Human Development in Cameroon are still very low. According to WHO, there would be a doctor for 10,400 inhabitants in Cameroon. According to the World Report on Human Development 2007-2008, the country is ranked 144th among the 177 classified with a Human Development Index (HDI) at 0.532, and a GDP per capita of 2299 USD in 2005. There is also an uneven distribution of medical services in the country, and these are remote areas of the North and the East who suffer the most.

About twice of Cameroonians live below the poverty line. Life expectancy is 50 years. The main causes of death are infectious diseases, mainly malaria and malnutrition. Malaria is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality among children under 5 years and pregnant women in particular. Malnutrition is steadily increasing every year and affects the health of children under 5 years and women. Indeed, only 60% of the population has access to drinking water. In addition, in 2008, the estimated number of people living with HIV to 543,294, more than 45,000 children.

The poorest populations are generally excluded from care because of their high cost and inaccessibility geographical locations consultation in rural areas. However, many efforts have been made ??for several years to reduce poverty and ensure equitable access to medical care.

Socio-Cultural and Political Situations Affecting Health in Cameroon

Cameroon takes in distinctive provincial traditional, spiritual, and political conventions and the variety of ethnicity as well. The sharing out of this state into the league ruled over by Britain and France of the nations commands later than the World War I fabricated Francophone and Anglophone districts. The region having English as its language comprises of the North-west and South-west regions. The healthcare services in Cameroon are comprised of bio-medical measures of treatment, conventional carry outs (usually strictly connected with customary religious conviction) in a lot of permutations that rely on faith, prices, nearness, and the recommendation of family connections and fellow citizens. The services of bio-medical health care are supplied by means of the state administration and Christian undertaking and through the private general practitioners as well. There are various centers of health care, health for mother and child that offer numerous modes of health care for baby and mother, and national, private, and general hospices.

Nearly all dwellers in Cameroon rely on the conventional medications for the needs of their health and fitness that are provided by the traditional healer. The majority of individuals trust these traditional healers for the reason that the medications and treatment means provided by these healers is reasonably priced and they pay attention to their patients by sharing their beliefs, values and tradition and become aware of their anticipations and prospects regarding their fitness and well being. For this reason, they are additionally easy to get and up to standard as the providers of health care services. Their approaches of healing are effectual and less persistent in particular events, as ...