Cameroon: official lethargy blamed for donor pull-out
Aids Analysis Africa 5(3): 9-10
1995
ISSN/ISBN: 1016-8974 PMID: 12289044 Document Number: 290393
Cameroon participated in World Health Organization (WHO)-coordinated global AIDS control efforts for about 10 years, when the HIV/AIDS epidemic was just beginning in Cameroon. The government established a National AIDS Committee and AIDS Control Service to provide information on prevention of HIV/AIDS. The National AIDS Program was donor-oriented, donor-driven, donor-sustained, and donor-sustaining. It failed, as illustrated by a strong increase in HIV seroprevalence between 1989 and 1992 from 60 to 1304 cases. The donors then abandoned Cameroon. Government officials did not decentralize the program, largely because they believed that districts and communities are incapable of understanding HIV/AIDS-related issues and of managing money from donors. Since the primary health care (PHC) system broke down, it was impossible to integrate HIV/AIDS control activities into PHC, needed for program sustainability. The government did not commit financial resources to the national AIDS program. When donors first provided monies to Cameroon, the economy was strong. 10 years later, a politically and economically unstable situation prevails in Cameroon. WHO has recalled all its staff in Cameroon. The donors often attached conditions that hurt HIV-infected persons. The European Union did not implement a project to train laboratory technicians in the screening and diagnosis of AIDS because of problems encountered with its blood banking and its youth projects, also in Cameroon. Both of these projects have ended. The USAID Office closed in 1994 with about three months' notice, allegedly due to clashes with the Cameroon government. Not all persons working with the funding agencies have totally abandoned Cameroon, however. The government needs to be more concerned about its people and allocation of resources. As Cameroon struggles with its problems, HIV/AIDS is increasing in Cameroon.