C2D has reduced child, maternal mortality - Ambassador

The French Ambassador to Cameroon, H.E Christine Robichon, has stated that she is happy that funds from the French Debt Relief and Development Contact, known as C2D, have helped to reduce child and maternal mortality in Cameroon.

She made the remark during the 10th Orientation and Follow-up Committee meeting of C2D in Yaounde on February 9. The diplomat also announced the 10th anniversary of C2D in Cameroon for next June. In the past 10 years, the Ambassador went on, C2D funds have been used to bankroll many projects in the various spheres of national life that have positively impacted the lives of many Cameroonians.

She, however, said, as a woman, she was particularly touched by the fact that over 10,000 women in the Northern Regions have benefitted from the C2D projects designed to reduce child and maternal mortality.

While corroborating the views of the Ambassador, the Minister of Public Health, Andre Mama Fouda, stated in a report that more women in the Northern Regions were conscious of pre-natal consultations in hospitals than before. The C2D project that enables them to deliver in hospitals at a cheaper cost has helped women to abandon traditional birth attendants. Such birth attendants use crude methods that only constitute vectors for child and maternal mortality.

The Minister said funds from the C2D also helped Cameroon to arrest the shortage of anti-retroviral drugs and take measures against the dreaded Ebola virus.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Henri Eyebe Ayissi, said his Ministry has carried out rural development projects in 44 out of 58 divisions in the country because of C2D. An official from the Ministry of Basic Education also presented a report on projects that have been sponsored with C2D funds.

Third Phase Of C2D

When Cameroon reached the completion point of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, HIPC, in 2006, France came in with the first phase of C2D that stood at FCFA 352 billion. In 2011, French and Cameroonian authorities signed phase two of the programme worth FCFA 214 billion.

While commenting on the two phases of the programme, the French Ambassador said the meeting was designed to evaluate the two phases and chart the way forward for phase three of C2D. The French Ambassador chaired the meeting with the Minister of Finance, Alamine Ousmane Mey and the Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Louis Paul Motaze.

The Minister of Finance expressed hope that the third phase of C2D will be faster and that there will be speedy disbursement of funds from the central bank.

Minister Louis Paul Motaze lauded the C2D programme saying it helped Cameroon over the years to be resilient against the negative effects of the global economy. Taking the floor, a Civil Society activist from France, equally lauded the execution of C2D projects in Cameroon but regretted that much was still shrouded in unhealthy financial governance.

He condemned the abuse of human rights in Cameroon, especially the harassment of civil society leaders. He pointed out the case of one organisation, Dynamic Citoyen, whose leaders the police arrested and tortured for organising a protest march to ask for respect of human rights on the World Democracy Day last year.