European Parliamentary Forum Malaria Study Tour to Cameroon
13 April 2009
As a member of the European Alliance Against Malaria (EAAM), EPF organised a week-long study tour to Cameroon held from 28 March – 04 April 2009 that focused on following-up the country’s efforts at combating malaria. The study tour was hosted by the Cameroon Coalition Against Malaria (CCAM), the Cameroon Affiliate of Malaria Consortium based in the UK which works at reducing deaths and suffering due to malaria in Cameroon by increasing mobilisation efforts to secure a comprehensive and sustained response to malaria. The study tour offered a deep insight into malaria burden, and enabled the Delegation to assess the progress, the needs and remaining challenges in the fight against malaria. The study tour provided an invaluable experience on the new methods and strategies in place to tackle the disease and enabled participating Parliamentarians to gain first-hand experience of the reality of the situation in a developing country.
At the beginning of the week participants were received by the Permanent Secretary of the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) in order to be introduced to the new strategic plan for 2007-2010 to fight against malaria in Cameroon. The Delegation started by visiting a village project in Akolo supported by Plan and focusing on raising awareness amongst the village people, and particularly women and children, about malaria prevention and treatment.
The Delegation was very impressed by the women’s community work as well as their strategies and mobilisation efforts for reducing malaria burden in the district through education and home-to-home information. Participants recognised that women’s groups and volunteers are vital partners in local community-based development initiatives. Participants visited houses in the community and noticed that the houses had bed nets, but not the last generation ones (long-lasting). The Delegation visited the District Hospital in Akonolinga and could notice the paucity of medical and health supplies as well as the lack of hygiene and human resources. After visiting the Hospital’s labs, EPF’s Delegation regretted that not every patient can have access to a rapid diagnostic test or a clinical diagnostic testing emphasizing that medical diagnostic is not sufficiently reliable for identifying malaria cases. The Delegation could see a case of severe malaria and regretted that the patient was not sleeping under a long-lasting insecticide treated net (LLINs) in the hospital. Medical Doctors explained that they used to have bed nets in the hospital, but that “patients always take them with them when they leave”…Being raised as a major concern, Parliamentarians emphasised the need to ensure sufficient stock of LLINs for all the hospitals in Cameroon for covering all the beds and enabling their distribution to every pregnant women coming to the hospital for pre-natal consultations.
Traveling to the South West region of Cameroon, the European Parliamentary Delegation could have an in-depth presentation of the regional strategic plan and were impressed by the collection and the reliability of the data presented. After visiting the research center of the University of Buea, the Parliamentary Delegation could visit a Global Fund’s malaria projects implemented in the grassroots near Buea where they also visited communities’ houses. Most of the houses visited were having bed nets, some others had bed nets but had not hanged them yet, and some houses still didn’t have any. Upon return from South West Province, participants visited the Biotechnology Center of the University of Yaoundé where Cameroonian Researchers gave a presentation on malaria research. The members of the Delegation were very happy to see in the microscope the different stages of development of the malaria parasite.
Meetings were held with the Prime Minister of Cameroon, the new Minister of Public Health and the new Minister of Finance. These meetings enabled EPF Delegation to congratulate Government officials for prioritising health in their political agenda and for the efforts made since 2007 in the fight against malaria, including the issue of tax exoneration of the bed nets and the insecticides stocked in the port of Douala. Despite some progress, it was highlighted that there are still remaining challenges and that more support is still needed. The Parliamentary Delegation had also the chance to exchange views and share best practices with the members of the Cameroonian All-Party Parliamentary Group on HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis, which was initiated during EPF’s last field visit to Cameroon.
At the end of the week during the press conference, European Parliamentarians observed that despite progress made, Cameroon is still facing some key administrative, financial and management challenges. Parliamentarians consequently committed to report back on these challenges to their own Government and Parliament in order to help try and shape future development aid policies.
The members of EPF Delegation included Hon. Katia Della Faille, MP member of the Belgian Foreign Affairs and Public Health Committees (Liberal Party), EPF’s Malaria Taskforce member Hon. Maria Rosa Fortuny i Torroella, MP Catalan spokesperson for the Committee of Foreign and European Affairs (Liberal), EPF’s malaria Taskforce member Hon. Heli Järvinen, MP member of the Finnish All-Party Parliamentary Group on Population and Development (Green Party), Hon. Fazil Mustafayev, MP member of the Azerbaijani All-Party Parliamentary Group “Future Generation” (Liberal Party), as well as Hon. Serban Radulescu, MP member of the Romanian Sub-Committee on Demography, Population and Development (Democratic-Liberal Party).
For more information on the study tour to Cameroon or EPF’s Parliamentary Taskforce on Malaria or the EAAM, please contact Ms Silvia Theodoridis , EPF Advocacy Officer at silvia@iepfpd.org
If you are interested in living the whole weeklong experience, you can feed your eyes with some beautiful pictures by simply clicking on this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/ParliamentaryForum/EPFSFollowUpStudyTourToCameroonOnMalaria#
