Buea, February 16th, 2021 - The United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA) and the Ministry of Public Health in partnership with the Cameroon Baptist Convention Hospital Services will on Thursday February 25th, 2021 set up a mobile clinic in the village of Kosala in the Kumba II Subdivision of Meme Division, South West Region of Cameroon at 7am. The event which falls under the World Bank Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility (PEF) Project run in the North West and South West Regions,aims at:
- Reducing preventable maternal and new-born morbidities and mortalities in the North West Region (NWR) within the covid-19 pandemic and ongoing humanitarian crisis.
- Reducing unmet need for Family planning in underserved populations and communities in the North West and South West Regions (NWSW)
Insecurity, destruction of health infrastructure and ‘ghost towns’ have significantly reduced access to basic health services. During 2018, 175/368 (47%) and 184/368 (50%) facilities reported being affected by the crisis in the first and second half of the year respectively in the NW region (displacement of staff, destruction, difficulties in the supply of medical products, and difficulties in geographical access due to the destruction of roads or barricades/checkpoints). As of December 31, 2019, 9% (33/368) of health facilities in the NW were non-functional, with the health districts of Ako (50%), Batibo (21%), Nkambe (16%) and Bafut (16%) being the most affected, and 3% were partially functional (DHIS No review report). For the SW region, an analysis of the functionality of the facilities conducted in 2018 revealed that a total of 47% of the facilities remained functional, 28% remained temporarily closed and 13% were partially functional.The health districts of Buea, Limbe and Tiko were the least affected and accounted for only 23% of the facilities in the region while the most affected districts were Muyuka (22/23), Mbonge (16/16) and Eyumodjock (12/15) with some of the facilities that have closed or are just partially functional.
To ensure continuity in the provision of essential Reproductive Health services to women and girls, the World Bank and UNFPA eased access to antenatal consultations to 70 women and shared 22 Baby boxes to vulnerable IDP women during a mobile clinic activity organized in the North West Region in 2020. Under the second phase of the PEF project which kicks off this year 2021, UNFPA and its partners plan on reaching about 1000 women and girls of childbearing age with lifesaving Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) services through 5 mobile clinics in the NW. The mobile clinics provide integrated SRH/GBV (Gender based Violence) services including COVID 19 prevention in hard-to reach communities. Community health workers will offer a wide range of services including; ANC, Postpartum care, Family planning, STI (Sexual Transmittable Infections) management and cervical cancer screenings among others to outreach populations including youths and adolescents.
The event is open to the media and more information can be obtained through the address below;
Tel: +237 694229909
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=unfpa%20cameroon
Twitter: @UNFPACameroon
Website: https://cameroon.unfpa.org
