Cameroon launches epidemiological surveillance training

Minister André Mama Fouda and the USA Ambassador to Cameroon officially opened the training on Tuesday, June 9, 2015 in Yaounde.

Cameroon’s government is intensifying its efforts to prevent, follow-up and stop any health epidemic.

In this light, the Minister of Public Health, André Mama Fouda, in the presence of the USA Ambassador to Cameroon, Michael S. Hoza and other partners such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and CDC Foundation, Atlanta, yesterday June 9, 2015 in Yaounde officially opened a two-year training course dubbed Cameroon Field Epidemiology and Training Programme.

Through the programme, nine Cameroonians, two Chadians and five individuals from the Central African Republic will be trained on epidemiology research, surveillance, prevention and follow-up of epidemic. The programme is greatly sponsored by USA partners.

André Mama Fouda said the government is launching its own epidemiology surveillance programme after the Central African Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Programme (CAFELTP), which trained some 53 personnel in the Central African Region.

Through CAFELTP, Mama Fouda said health personnel in the country have been able to have real situations about any epidemic and fully supervised its control and eradication.

The Minister of Public Health said the Ebola outbreak made known that the epidemiology surveillance setup in Africa was very weak. With such a training being given to experts in the Central African Region, the Minister is confident that the capacity of personnel as well as laboratory equipment will be apt to tackle any epidemic that may befall the African continent.

Ambassador Michael S. Hoza said in October 2010, the CAFELTP programme was launched and through the programme a strong three-way partnership was created among governments, ministries of health and higher education, international organisations and the private sector.

The Ambassador as well as the Minister of Public Health, used the occasion to thank especially the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which provided the funding for the CAFELTP through the “Surveillance and Response in Central Africa” (SURVAC) programme implemented by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and CDC Foundation.