NW Regional Stakeholders convene to launch CAMPHIA 2024
The Regional launchings of the Cameroon Population-Based HIV Impact Assessment (CAMPHIA 2024) have been taking place across all the regions of the Cameroon. The first regional launch took place in the Northwest Region on August 28, 2024, presided at by the Governor of the Northwest Region, H.E Adolphe Lele L’Afrique, and attended by all regional health stakeholders.
The purpose of the launch, according to the CAMPHIA 2024 Country Director, Professor Tih Pius Muffih, who spoke on behalf of the Steering Committee and the Technical Working Group of CAMPHIA 2024, said it is a mandatory activity intended to bring together the leaders of the region and stakeholders in an information session to kick start the survey. It is generally to announce to the authorities of the regions that the field work is starting and to bring them together to know who is vital in the process of the survey. It is also intended for all regional Governors to declare the launch of CAMPHIA and call on all stakeholders to actively participate.
Situating the attendants in his welcome address, the Northwest Regional Delegate for Health, Dr. Che Soh Kingsley recalled that the HIV pandemic was discovered 43 years ago. Since then, governments of affected nations have been fighting against the pandemic. According to UNAIDS report 2023, about eighty-five million six hundred thousand (85,600,000) persons have been infected with HIV and about forty million four hundred thousand (4,400,000) persons have died from AIDS-related illnesses.
Statistics in Cameroon and the world have continuously shown that HIV is having a higher occurrence and impact in Sub-Saharan African countries. Also, specific groups have been identified as more vulnerable than others, and measures put in place to address this situation with the CAMPHIA survey being one of them.
The prevalence of HIV in the Northwest Region, according to the 2018 demographic and health survey, was estimated at 4%, higher than the national prevalence of 2.7%. Currently, an average of Forty-Six Thousand Nine Hundred and Seventy-Nine (46,979) persons are living with HIV out of whom Forty-Three Thousand (43, 532) are on treatment. The 2024 CAMPHIA survey will measure the status of Cameroon’s national HIV response and shape policies for improvement.
The Regional Delegate called on all health stakeholders in the Northwest region to collaborate with CAMPHIA data collectors within their areas of jurisdiction from August 2024. He assured the implementers that planned interventions related to the survey would be supported to ensure smooth implementation in all the 21 health districts in the Northwest Region.
The Governor of the Northwest Region, H.E Governor Adolphe Lele L’Afrique in his launching speech thanked all his collaborators of the health sector and most importantly the US Government for funding the CAMPHIA 2024 survey through which his region is a beneficiary. He stated with emphasis that the Government of Cameroon has made the fight against HIV a priority. The US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), he acknowledged, has supported Cameroon’s HIV response efforts across the years.
CAMPHIA will further help Cameroon ensure epidemic control through data collection. In Cameroon, the overall HIV prevalence for adults aged 18-49 years is 2.7 percent. The CAMPHIA 2017/2018 provided results that were pivotal in shaping US investment in Cameroon. This led to a rapid geographic expansion of a more comprehensive support from 4 regions to all 10 regions of the country. It also led to improved national policies in HIV response.
Some 17 enumeration areas and 600 households will be visited in the NW Region. The Chief Executive Officer of the region pledged the total support of the region to see the success of the survey, assuring that all security measures have been taken to ensure the safety of the staff on the field. The results, he buttressed, are for the betterment of the health situation of the entire population and carried out by well trained professionals. The data collection is under the National Institute of Statistics and the Ministry of Public Health who have put in all the measures for effective, efficient and reliable data collection and data management.
He used the occasion to also appeal to the entire population and the households in the enumerated areas to heartily welcome the survey teams. To the Senior Divisional Offices, Divisional Officers, the regional Delegate of Public Health, Community Leaders, Village Chiefs, religious authorities, Community Based Organizations, and the media, the Governor called on them to inform the public about the survey which results will greatly impact the region towards epidemic control.
CAMPHIA is a government-led activity funded by the Governments of the US. The CBC Health Services is the lead implementer of the project in collaboration with other national bodies.
It is worthy of note that Cameroon is the only country out of the six currently running the Population-Based HIV Impact Assessment (PHIA), where an NGO has been selected to be the main implementer. The success of this will enable the CBC Health Services gain the status of competence to implement the PHIA project in other countries. This will be a boost to Cameroon, the Country Director is confident that Cameroon is up to the task.
The regional launchings come after the National launch that took place on August 1, 2024, in Yaounde under the patronage of the Minister of Health, Dr. Manouada Malachie.
