Cameroon launches anti-malaria crusade in northern regions

The Cameroonian government will in July launch a malaria prevention campaign targeting under five-year-olds in the Far North and northern regions of the country, the minister of Public Health disclosed on Tuesday.

In a statement Minister André Mama Fouda said the areas earmarked for the campaign generally suffer from a July-to-October resurgence of the disease, often leading to multiple deaths.

The minister’s announcement comes as the government reported a “steady decline” in malaria-related mortality, its rate plummeting from 41 percent in 2008 to 21 percent in 2015.

With more than 4,000 deaths in 2014, out of a population of 22 million, malaria remains the leading cause of hospitalization and mortality in Cameroon, the most affected areas being the Sahelian regions of the Far North and the North.

In response to the situation President Paul Biya in 2005 introduced free administration of intermittent preventive treatment for expectant women in their fourth month of pregnancy as well as free treatment of mild bouts of malaria for children under the age of five since 2011.

In August 2011, the national anti-malaria crusade dubbed KO Palu was launched with free distribution of long-term mosquito nets (LLINs) funded in part by the country’s development partners.

However, the NGO For Impact in Social Health (FIS), in a report issued in 2014, bemoaned the uneven distribution of these nets across the country and a politicization of the fight against the disease.