{"id":6589,"date":"2020-03-23T10:35:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-23T10:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.foretiafoundation.org\/?p=6589"},"modified":"2020-03-30T13:44:56","modified_gmt":"2020-03-30T13:44:56","slug":"bulletin-001-on-covid-19-in-cameroon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.foretiafoundation.org\/staging\/bulletin-001-on-covid-19-in-cameroon\/","title":{"rendered":"Bulletin #001 On Covid-19 In Cameroon"},"content":{"rendered":"

BULLETIN #001 ON COVID-19 IN CAMEROON<\/u><\/strong><\/h2>\n

T<\/span>he Coronavirus pandemic has already led to more than 340,840 cases with at least 14,582 deaths worldwide. Since the first case in sub-Saharan Africa appeared the number of new cases has risen exponentially. Cameroon already has 56 cases and trends suggest that this will get worse unless appropriate initiatives are taken to curb the spread of the virus.<\/p>\n

Already 56 confirmed cases in Cameroon. This is where the United States was on 100 cases just three weeks ago<\/strong><\/p>\n

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At least 5 percent of COVID-19 cases will require intensive care management<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Cameroon health system, like most in Africa, has considerable difficulty to cope with a challenge of this magnitude. The country has less than 500 critical beds in total with limited human or fiscal capacity for expansion to deal with the observed 5% of COVID-19 patients who will present with severe manifestations of the disease. Health care settings maybe become overcrowded with cases of COVID-19 associated with high levels of hospitalizations and deaths. It is why the only hope for the country is an aggressive prevention strategy.<\/p>\n

Still few cases of local transmission\u2026 this is expected to rise rapidly in the coming weeks<\/p>\n

Reports from the Ministry of Public Health shows that most of the cases of COVID-19 are imported cases. On the 17th<\/sup>\u00a0of March 2020, the Prime Minister made a communique instructing the government to implement measures to curb the spread of the virus. His accent was on prevention. There is hope that if these measures are effectively implemented the chain of transmission will be broken. See\u00a0www.nkafu.org.coronavirus<\/a>. Among the prevention measures were social distancing, avoid large gatherings, closure of all Cameroonian borders, regular washing of hands, etc. Unfortunately, social distancing is not being observed and lack of basis infrastructure limit ability to practice regular hand washing.<\/p>\n

Testing Capabilities<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is only ONE (1) testing center in all of the country \u2013 the Centre Pasteur in Yaounde. This remains a major problem as major cities such as Douala, Bamenda, Bafoussam do not have testing capability. Chinese billionaire and founder of Alibaba, Mr. Jack Ma has\u00a0donated 20,000 testing kits<\/a>\u00a0to each African country which have been delivered to the African CDC in Ethiopia. These testing kits are urgently needed in the country.<\/p>\n

Government strategies so far<\/strong><\/p>\n

The government has taken some steps, but they are largely insufficient. Quarantine needs to be MANDATORY and enforced. Non-essential travel between major cities should be restricted and enforced. Churches and other religious establishments must stop having public services. It is also important for the government of Cameroon to involve artists, society leader, churches, and traditional rulers in their sensitization efforts and should taking into account the social and cultural dynamics of the communities to adapt content for best results. The most appropriate language should be used to design content and community health workers should work with alongside local administrative and traditional authorities. The government should use community-based approaches to communicate and sensitize the population about the virus and resources should be deployed into efforts aimed at limiting the spread.<\/p>\n

Steps we must take right now<\/strong><\/p>\n