Sanitation in desperate need of restoration

Garbage plaguing the streets of Yaoundé has been deemed as one of the most serious threats to health and food hygiene.

In a city where refuse and people co-exist, the overflowing bins and unbearable stenches no longer surprise anyone.


The poor can be commonly found eating among or next to the trash and traders will often sell food stuff in areas invaded by flies and maggots exposing buyers to various diseases.


The poor are the most vulnerable. Entire markets selling fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and fish are flooded with garbage and the alarming situation does not seem to disturb the tranquillity of company officials at Hysacam, in charge of hygiene and sanitation in Cameroon.

The company has informed the public of coherent strategies in place for garbage collection but nothing changes. In some localities, this service does not even exist.


This putrid reality fills the columns of news items in local media. Gruesome discoveries are often made in the city’s dustbins where young girls dispose of dead foetuses from unwanted pregnancies and leave them to rot causing the stench to haunt the lives of residents for days.


In terms of policy for the protection of nature, environment and ecosystem the country has a plethora of social protection programs in place in the most vulnerable and poorest layers but there is still a long way to go before sanitation can be restored fully.