HIV/AIDS in Cameroon: Incidence, prevalence and mortality.
By Fonju Ndemesah
Like Monga Celestin,[i] I will like to acknowledge the fact that it is very difficult to give figures in countries where Presidents do not sometimes know how many people are under their leadership. Nonetheless, using international sources, together with credible internal statistics, I am going to draw the picture of the incidence, prevalence and mortality of HIV/AIDS in Cameroon.
HIV/AIDS remains a very serious threat to Cameroon’s development. The first AIDS case in Cameroon was diagnosed in 1985 ; It is also worth mentioning that it was in 1981 that the first diagnosis was made in United States. The Demographic and Health Survey in 2004 estimated an HIV prevalence of 5.5% in the population. Prevalence is higher in urban than in rural areas, even though research (WHO-AFRO, 2003) have shown that unlike the normal trend of urban high prevalence, Central African countries have higher prevalence in rural than in urban areas.
In Cameroon, prevalence rate vary from one Region to another from the 1.7% in the North Region and 2.0% in the Extreme North, to substantially higher levels of infection in the capital Yaounde (8.3%) and the South West (8%), East (8.6%) and North West (8.7%).[ii] The highest rates are found in the north-western and eastern Regions. At the end of 2002, it was estimated that 210,000 children were orphaned by AIDS, and about 53, 000 people had lost their lives because of AIDS. According to the UNAIDS, at the end of 2002 about 920,000, of whom 860,000 were in the 15-49 age range, 500,000 women and 69,000 children were living with HIV/AIDS. The rate of HIV sero-prevalence has grown from 0.5% in 1987 to 11.8% in 2002. The prevalence had a 22 fold increase in 15 years. Cameroon is now amount the 25 most infected countries in world.[iii]
The impact of the disease already occupies the first lines of the public health agenda. The effect of the disease is felt by the individual, the family, the community, and the entire country.
The prevention and care of HIV/AIDS erodes a large share of public health expenditures. The allocation of national resources to block the progress of the epidemic increased from 12,857 USD in 1995 to 1,777,400 USD in 2001, a 138% increase. In 2001/2002, the budget was 5,580,000 USD, with 1,538,462 USD that was allocated to subsidize the purchase of HAART.[iv] A study of the trends in mortality from HIV/AIDS patient in the Limbe Provincial hospital from 2001-2005 uncovered a steady increase in mortality rate of 3.24% in 2001 to 43.36% in 2005. In 2003, AIDS patients in Douala Laquintinie Hospital occupied 30% of hospital beds, while AIDS patients equally occupied 50% of hospital beds in the medical ward of the Yaounde General Hospital.[v] According to Cameroon CMM Proposal to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (2003), AIDS patient occupy approximately 30% of hospital beds in the country.
HIV/AIDS epidemic is having negative effects on individuals, families, communities, and the country at large. These effects subsequently block any idea of development with equity and sustainability. Many studies have shown that HIV/AIDS is not a disease for poor. It, however, highly infect and affect poor and vulnerable people, destroying their already precarious livelihood ', and pushing them to have poor health enhancing behavior.
Sources
[i] Monga C. (1996). The Anthropology of Anger : Civil society and democracy in Africa, London: Lynne Rienner Publishers
[ii] UNAIDS/WHO, (2007), WHO (2005). UNAIDS/WHO/UNESCO. (2004), Epidemiological fact sheets on HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections (Cameroon).
[iii] Moulin Bénédicte, CREDES. (2004). Country Coordinating Mechanism: Case Study Documentation Cameroon. Report prepared for the Global Fund ATM.
[iv] The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Cameroon CCM Proposal, Re-Submission, March 2003.
[v] Moulin Bénédicte, CREDES. (2004). Country Coordinating Mechanism: Case Study Documentation Cameroon. Report prepared for the Global Fund ATM.
Like Monga Celestin,[i] I will like to acknowledge the fact that it is very difficult to give figures in countries where Presidents do not sometimes know how many people are under their leadership. Nonetheless, using international sources, together with credible internal statistics, I am going to draw the picture of the incidence, prevalence and mortality of HIV/AIDS in Cameroon.
HIV/AIDS remains a very serious threat to Cameroon’s development. The first AIDS case in Cameroon was diagnosed in 1985 ; It is also worth mentioning that it was in 1981 that the first diagnosis was made in United States. The Demographic and Health Survey in 2004 estimated an HIV prevalence of 5.5% in the population. Prevalence is higher in urban than in rural areas, even though research (WHO-AFRO, 2003) have shown that unlike the normal trend of urban high prevalence, Central African countries have higher prevalence in rural than in urban areas.
In Cameroon, prevalence rate vary from one Region to another from the 1.7% in the North Region and 2.0% in the Extreme North, to substantially higher levels of infection in the capital Yaounde (8.3%) and the South West (8%), East (8.6%) and North West (8.7%).[ii] The highest rates are found in the north-western and eastern Regions. At the end of 2002, it was estimated that 210,000 children were orphaned by AIDS, and about 53, 000 people had lost their lives because of AIDS. According to the UNAIDS, at the end of 2002 about 920,000, of whom 860,000 were in the 15-49 age range, 500,000 women and 69,000 children were living with HIV/AIDS. The rate of HIV sero-prevalence has grown from 0.5% in 1987 to 11.8% in 2002. The prevalence had a 22 fold increase in 15 years. Cameroon is now amount the 25 most infected countries in world.[iii]
The impact of the disease already occupies the first lines of the public health agenda. The effect of the disease is felt by the individual, the family, the community, and the entire country.
The prevention and care of HIV/AIDS erodes a large share of public health expenditures. The allocation of national resources to block the progress of the epidemic increased from 12,857 USD in 1995 to 1,777,400 USD in 2001, a 138% increase. In 2001/2002, the budget was 5,580,000 USD, with 1,538,462 USD that was allocated to subsidize the purchase of HAART.[iv] A study of the trends in mortality from HIV/AIDS patient in the Limbe Provincial hospital from 2001-2005 uncovered a steady increase in mortality rate of 3.24% in 2001 to 43.36% in 2005. In 2003, AIDS patients in Douala Laquintinie Hospital occupied 30% of hospital beds, while AIDS patients equally occupied 50% of hospital beds in the medical ward of the Yaounde General Hospital.[v] According to Cameroon CMM Proposal to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (2003), AIDS patient occupy approximately 30% of hospital beds in the country.
HIV/AIDS epidemic is having negative effects on individuals, families, communities, and the country at large. These effects subsequently block any idea of development with equity and sustainability. Many studies have shown that HIV/AIDS is not a disease for poor. It, however, highly infect and affect poor and vulnerable people, destroying their already precarious livelihood ', and pushing them to have poor health enhancing behavior.
Sources
[i] Monga C. (1996). The Anthropology of Anger : Civil society and democracy in Africa, London: Lynne Rienner Publishers
[ii] UNAIDS/WHO, (2007), WHO (2005). UNAIDS/WHO/UNESCO. (2004), Epidemiological fact sheets on HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections (Cameroon).
[iii] Moulin Bénédicte, CREDES. (2004). Country Coordinating Mechanism: Case Study Documentation Cameroon. Report prepared for the Global Fund ATM.
[iv] The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Cameroon CCM Proposal, Re-Submission, March 2003.
[v] Moulin Bénédicte, CREDES. (2004). Country Coordinating Mechanism: Case Study Documentation Cameroon. Report prepared for the Global Fund ATM.