Littoral Special Health Fund Adopts Annual Budget At CFA 1.49 Billion
By James Achanyi-Fontem
The 12th ordinary general assembly of the Littoral special fund for health promotion held in Douala on the 29th January 2009 and adopted its annual budget, which stands at CFA 1.490.047.000.
The meeting gave the opportunity to the 58 delegates from the 19 health districts of littoral region to evaluate their activities and exchange experiences, during the preparation of 2009 activities.
Manoka sub division will be seating on the board of directors from this year, following the carving out of a new health district from the former Bonassama Health District jurisdiction, to give the island its autonomy.
Addressing the assembly, the representative of the German Technical Cooperation, GTZ, Dr. Eone, said partnership with the special fund had reached a stage of maturity and that German cooperation assistance will this year be directed to mother and child health protection to start the new funding cycle.
He added that GTZ will continue to assist the Cameroon government in its efforts to ameliorate the health and well being of its population, especially as the constitution of the special fund has been reviewed to conform to the administrative decentralisation process underway throughout the country. 30 million euros (CFA 20.000.000) has been put aside by the German government to support health activities in Cameroon.
Dr. Joseph Marie Bikoti presented the report of the 11th session of the special fund to up date new leaders of the elected community health dialogues structures in the littoral region.
The report showed that Loum, Mbanga and Edea have got functional social health insurance systems that now make care easily accessible to the populations. It was also announced that HIV prevalence in the prisons remains very high and that 60% of the population had difficulties in paying for health care services within the communities.
In continuation of the decentralisation of drugs distribution, 19 pro-pharmacists were trained in 2008 and anti-retroviral therapies were distributed free through 2007, and shortages were signalled in some parts of the region in 2008.
Shortage of staff was also reported in most public health facilities in the littoral region, the regional delegate for public health, Dr. Bita Andre Fouda presented a balance sheet of his areas of jurisdiction. He mentioned that the health map of the region and human resources management had been activated, especially as the population of littoral region stands at 2.396.361 inhabitants.
Dr. Bita told the members of the board of directors of the special fund that Douala, the economic capital of Cameroon is densely populated and complex with its diverse cultural entities spread in the 19 health districts.
The littoral region has 163 health areas with 400 health facilities of all categories. The ratio of health care is one medical doctor to 20.000 inhabitants, one nurse to 3.000 inhabitants
HIV voluntary testing is rated at 97.17 % and 53.53 % of pregnant women are seropositive. He acknowledged that anti-retroviral drugs are free, but curiously there are shortages in anti-retroviral drugs for very long periods and insufficiency of funds to execute certain activities.
Health workers capacity building is regularly reinforced for better HIV/AIDS care with only 2% of babies tested for HIV, while the coverage of immunisation stands at 85%.
Another handicap of proper health care delivery is the existence of several illegal health facilities within the communities, though the government has made several attempts to close them down with the support of administrative and law enforcement authorities.
The regional delegate announced that in 2009, more PMTCT centres will be created to facilitate access to health care by mothers. It would be recalled that the initiative of creating a special fund for health promotion started in Bamenda, North West region in 1986 as a pilot project before it was extended to Buea in the South West region in 1989 and in Douala, the littoral region in 1991.
Its principal role has been to make essential drugs readily available and accessible at all time at reasonable cost through government subventions. The fund groups health dialogue structure professionals and representatives of the communities, who are invited to annual meetings to decided on the priorities in each health area and district for the amelioration of the health care service delivery to the populations.
The members are now reflecting on new funding channels, especially in the area of creating income generation activities to sustain the fund’s activities which are regularly increasing due to the arrival of new diseases.
It was observed that most mothers now prefer to birth their babies at home due to the incapacity to support the hospitalisation bills. The minister’s representative at the annual general meeting invited board members to be very vigilant during the distribution of subvention drugs by the government, so that the street hawkers are not connected to the distribution chain to increase prices.
The regional delegate for public health reminded the audience that the position of chairperson of District Hospital is by government regulation attributed to the local council mayor. In the case of absence, the mayor is expected to delegate one of his or her assistance to replace the mayor during deliberations.
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