MONTHLY UPDATES, September 2007
30 September 2007
1. Working session with AAA: a success story
Africa Action on AIDS (AAA) is one of the member organizations of CCAM. The representative of this organization had a working session with the CCAM management to discuss her plan of action for up coming months. This constituted in training community groups in some four (4) villages where a microfinance partner is implementing a micro-credit scheme with the populations. AAA wished to convert this scheme into a credit with education scheme focused on HIV and AIDS, sanitation and other developmental issues. This was thus the opportunity for CCAM to advocate for the inclusion of malaria-related issues since, in any case, you wouldn’t achieve sustainable development in this environment without addressing the malaria which is quite rampant here.
CCAM thus was invited by the AAA to train these groups on what they could do to prevent malaria in their communities, treat malaria as soon as they recognize the symptoms (which they always do), what their pregnant women must do in order to prevent the complications of malaria in pregnancy. It was also suggested to them that they could carryout a cost recovery scheme on the promotion and distribution of insecticide treated bed nets in their respective communities. To support this AAA pledged to supply them with the initial stock against their proper contribution which could come from loans from their micro-credit institutions or from membership contributions.
At the end of the 3-day sessions conducted in each of the 4 villages with representatives from an average of 10 villages each, they all pledged to get engaged in the distribution of ITNs as a cost recovery scheme with one of the groups that planned to start immediately, and they are in the process of procuring ITNs.
During sessions participants conducted home visits to observe factors in their environment that favour the transmission of malaria such as mosquito breading grounds (standing water in bottles, empty cans, containers in which they collect rain water for household use, open latrines, etc), possession and effective use of ITNs. It was interesting to note how they visited and noted these factors in their homes, factors which prior to now were not observed with any particular interest. Of the 8 households visited, 4 had bed nets but none of them was insecticide treated, only one household had an enclosed latrine but which was dirty, other latrines were for the most part shallow holes with a few sticks placed as foot support leaving rain water to stagnate in them which could constitute breading ground for mosquitoes as well as favour the transmission of feco-oral diseases through flies which move freely between fecal waste and exposed food, all had standing water either in cans, pots, bottles among others at several locations in the vicinity. Discussions following these visits brought members to make resolutions on what they will do in their respective villages to raise awareness on the prevention of malaria in the community and household as well as improve on environmental hygiene.
Through advocacy, AAA decided to include the fight against malaria to their fight against HIV and AIDS program. Approximately 40 villages became aware of malaria control issues and pledged to carryout activities in their respectively communities to fight malaria. Some of the activities include a cost recovery/income generating ITNs promotion. Hence a more holistic package including micro-credit scheme, credit with education on HIV malaria and other development-oriented issues is being implemented in these communities. This activity cost CCAM very little money thanks to this partnership with AAA. AAA was funded for the HIV/AIDS component by the UNAIDS in Cameroon.
2. Partnership with Inter-Confessional AIDS Network Programme (INTER-NAP)
INTER-NAP Cameroon is an umbrella organization of FBOs, Associations and Congregations involved in the fight against HIV /AIDS. It constituted a partnership of 33 member organisations at its launch 2 years ago with coverage of 6 out of the 10 provinces in Cameroon. They are also a member organization of CCAM. Thanks to advocacy by CCAM they accepted to integrate the fight against HIV and AIDS with Malaria.
It was in this light that they invited CCAM to give a talk on malaria during their annual board meeting that took place in the month of September 2007. This was an opportunity for CCAM to highlight the role of malaria in HIV-related deaths, thereby justifying the integration of malaria into HIV/AIDS programs. The latter presenting useful opportunities for integration that are usually missed opportunities, as they are not exploited in this sense. They were also informed on the GFATM and its support to the fight against HIV, Tuberculoses and Malaria in the world and in Cameroon in particular. The board members got to know more about the advocacy work of CCAM in favour of the fight against malaria in Cameroon.
3. Work Group Activities
Work group activities continued with some key achievements. Thanks to the hard work of members of 3 of the 5 work groups, the draft of the “Malaria Practical Guide” was developed. A workshop in which major partners include the MOH, WHO, UNICEF and the high institutes of learning has been scheduled in the month of October to produce draft 1 of the document. Other workgroup activities includes the development of a proposal by the Statistics and Epidemiology workgroup to support the health district of Ayos by putting in place a proper data management which includes stats from the base at the level of the communities.
The Malaria Press Club activity took place at the beginning of the month to coincide with the visit of the EPF Malaria Study Tour. The topic “Malaria Prevention” was taken by Dr Fonjo, the Deputy Permanent Secretary of the National Malaria Control Program (CCAM). Major prevention tools such as ITNs, IRS and IPT were highlighted for the interest of the attending journalists.
