At a glance
CDC Cameroon partners with the Government of Cameroon to address public health work in global health security, COVID-19, HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria. Achievements include establishing an emergency operations center and strengthening Cameroon's workforce and laboratory capacities.
Overview
CDC has provided support to Cameroon since 1998 and established an office in Cameroon in 2004. CDC Cameroon works closely with the Government of Cameroon and partner organizations to address the following public health areas:
- Global health security
- HIV
- TB
- Malaria
- Emerging disease threats
Global health security
Strategic focus
CDC partners with Cameroon's Ministry of Public Health (MOH) to build core public health capacities in disease surveillance, laboratory systems, emergency management, and workforce development. These efforts have strengthened health security in Cameroon, in the West-central African region, and globally.
The global health security portfolio includes efforts on:
- childhood immunization
- influenza sentinel surveillance
- capacity strengthening for anthrax and brucellosis surveillance and diagnostics
- border health measures
- maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response
- technical assistance for disease outbreaks, including COVID-19 and cholera
- emergency risk communication
CDC also works with national partners to increase capacity for monkeypox laboratory diagnostics, viral genome sequencing, and ecological investigations.
Workforce development
CDC supports training disease detectives through the Cameroon Field Epidemiology Training Program (CAFETP), established in 2010. The program consists of the two-year advanced FETP, nine-month intermediate FETP, and three-month frontline FETP. CAFETP is now training public health professionals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Central African Republic, and Chad.
Emergency response
CDC supported the establishment of Cameroon's Public Health Emergency Operations Center, which has responded to more than 20 health emergencies since 2016. Also, CDC has supported over 100 outbreak investigations in Cameroon, including COVID-19, mpox, cholera, measles, polio, and other threats since 2017.
Key achievements
- More than 1,700 CAFETP trainees from across 10 Cameroon regions.
- Supported the National Public Health Laboratory to train 25 laboratory staff from five regions to diagnose ten targeted priority diseases.
- Conducted active border surveillance during the 2023 Marburg Disease Outbreak in Equatorial Guinea, which resulted in detecting over 40 alerts.
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HIV and TB
Strategic focus
CDC has helped transform the HIV epidemic response in Cameroon. The progress made has positioned the country to be at the cusp of controlling the HIV epidemic.
CDC partners with diverse stakeholders in Cameroon and uses data-driven approaches to:
- Identify people living with HIV (PLHIV).
- Link people diagnosed with HIV to life-saving treatment.
- Ensure continuity of treatment to suppress HIV.
CDC also supports Cameroon's MOH with:
- Integrating HIV and TB services.
- Screening for TB among PLHIV.
- Preventing TB transmission in healthcare settings.
In 2024, CDC supported the launch of the National Pediatric Surge, which aims to identify thousands of children living with HIV in Cameroon and link them to life-saving treatment.
Key achievements
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- More than 424,000 people living with HIV in Cameroon receive antiretroviral treatment.
- Over 840,000 pregnant women tested for HIV.
- 97% of those who tested positive received treatment.
- 97% of those who tested positive received treatment.
- 98% of TB patients at PEPFAR-supported facilities have been tested for HIV.
- CDC played a pivotal role in establishing Cameroon’s National Public Health Laboratory in 2016.
- Electronic data systems inform clinical decisions and monitor patient outcomes in more than 340 health facilities across all ten regions.
Malaria
Strategic focus
As a co-implementer of the U.S. President's Malaria Initiative with USAID, CDC has supported malaria prevention and control activities in Cameroon since 2017. This support includes:
- Routine distribution of insecticide-treated nets.
- Improved entomological monitoring and insecticide- and drug-resistance management.
- Improved case management in health facilities and at the community level.
- Strengthening programs to prevent malaria in pregnancy.
- Provision of seasonal medication to prevent malaria during peak transmission seasons.
Key achievements
CDC's work through PMI has helped:
- Triple the percentage of children under five and pregnant women who sleep under insecticide-treated bed nets.
- This contributed to a 35% decrease in child deaths caused by malaria.
- This contributed to a 35% decrease in child deaths caused by malaria.
- Deliver more than 9 million doses of seasonal malaria prevention medication to children under five years of age in 2022.
- Delivered 1.7 million mosquito nets.