The National Committee for the Fight against AIDS (CNLS) took advantage of a statutory meeting, organized this week in Yaoundé, to communicate the recent data on this epidemic.
The CNLS reveals that nearly 400 thousand people living with HIV-AIDS are registered in Cameroon, for a prevalence rate of 2.7%. We also learn that the most affected population is that of children under 14 years old. However, the CNLS recalls that these data will soon be updated. The government has launched the second Camphia study (Cameroon Population-based HIV Impact Assessment) which will soon be published. This is a survey conducted by the government through the Ministry of Public Health (Minsante) whose aim is to assess the impact of HIV in the country.
The very first was launched in 2017. “This phase II of Camphia (…) will make it possible to update the progress made during the response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, while readjusting the fight strategy by obtaining evidence in terms of incidence, resistance and prevalence of HIV infection in Cameroon,” we can read in a Minsante document. While waiting to know if this second Camphia survey will force the health authorities to develop a new fight strategy, the CNLS continues to insist on screening, indicating that many Cameroonians continue to be unaware of their serological status. Pre-adolescents are the main target of the screening campaigns conducted by the CNLS.
“We are setting up what is called community research for children living with HIV and whose HIV status is unknown. This work has allowed us to test nearly 1,000 children who are positive in the community and who are in our schools and who are unaware that they are living with HIV,” explained Joseph Fokam, the permanent secretary of the CNLS, to CRTV. This week, the Minsante launched a vast screening campaign, which will last a month. Pre-adolescents are the most concerned by this campaign.
SBBC