Find Health and Medical expertise in Cameroon

Cameroon has three referral hospitals, some 70 general hospitals and 50 private hospitals together with a wide network of public and private health centres. Facilities outside Yaoundé and Douala are extremely limited. There are between 300 and 400 pharmacies in the country. A handful of licensed wholesalers import pharmaceuticals, mainly from France and India.

There is no officially approved mental health plan or policy, however, mental health is specifically mentioned in general health policy and other legislation.

Since there is no national health coverage, those who fall below the poverty line are often unable to pay for services and thus go without. To compound this problem, there is a disparity between economically viable sections of the country, with many of the poorer areas lacking the funds to support doctors and nurses. Non-governmental organisations have set up free access to HIV/AIDS prevention education and treatment throughout the country. In 2014 the World Health Organization (WHO) funded efforts to vaccinate children under the age of five against polio following an outbreak.

The WHO Country Co-operation Strategic Agenda (2008–13) identifies the development of nationwide initiatives to reduce health inequalities, introduce health promotion throughout citizens’ lifetimes and offer universal health coverage as three priorities. It also sets Cameroon the task of strengthening its health system by offering quality health care delivery and improving funding sources

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Cameroon accounted for an estimated 31% of all mortality in 2012. The most prevalent NCDs are cardiovascular diseases, which accounted for 11% of total deaths across all age groups in 2012. Non-communicable variants of respiratory diseases, cancer and diabetes contributed 2%, 3% and 2% to total mortality, respectively (2012). Communicable diseases along with maternal, perinatal and nutritional conditions in Cameroon accounted for an estimated 61% majority of all mortality in 2012. The prevalence of HIV in Cameroon, as a percentage of the population aged 15–49 years, stood at 4.3% in 2012 – almost five times the 1990 figure. Confirmed deaths caused by malaria are reducing year on year, with just 3,209 deaths in 2012, compared to 7,673 in 2008. However, there was a sharp increase between the years of 2006 and 2008, during which time the number of deaths increased seven-fold. Estimated incidence of tuberculosis (TB) has been steadily falling since a peak in 2002–03, down to 235 in 2013. Estimated mortality from TB (when data excludes cases comorbid with HIV) has also been reducing since 2007.

The rate of infant mortality in Cameroon was 59 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2014, with an under-five mortality rate of 95 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2013. There has been a consistent reduction in the under-five mortality rate since 1998, however, the rate remains very high and has not yet reached the country’s target of 45 deaths per 1,000 live births, as defined by Millennium Development Goal 4 (MDG 4).

Government expenditure

In 2013 government expenditure on health was 2% of GDP. In the most recent survey, conducted between 1997 and 2009, there were 19 doctors, and 160 nurses and midwives per 100,000 people. Additionally, in 2011, 64% of births were attended by qualified health staff and, in 2013, 83% of one-year-olds were immunised with one dose of measles. In 2014, 75% of the country’s population was using an improved drinking water source and 46% had access to adequate sanitation facilities. The most recent survey, conducted in the period 2000–11, reports that Cameroon has less than one pharmaceutical professional per 100,000 people.

Cameroon was not an original signatory to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, but acceded to it in 1984 and has written the covenant into law. It includes ‘the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health’. The covenant commits signees to providing healthy and hygienic environmental conditions, controlling epidemic diseases, improving child health and facilitating access to health services without discrimination.