Population, Healthcare and Politics in Cameroon

By Mofor Samuel Che
The recent publication of the 2005 Population and Housing Census Results brought about the raising of eyebrows and a lot of mixed feelings among politicians, population experts, sociologists, academicians, social workers, indigenes of certain regions, residents and authorities of some urban municipalities as well as the common man on the street. They argue that the close to 19.5 million people do not reflect the true figures of Cameroon’s population. They think that the figures have been doctored for election purposes.

Healthcare is only one of four major determinants of health. The others are environment, heredity (in a wider sense “population”) and behaviour. They are interrelated. The organization of health services per se, will not ensure psycho-socio-somatic health. Special attention must be paid to health –related environmental issues, health-related behavioural issues and population issues.

By combining our national desire for playing the “ ostrich-head- in- the-sand” with every important aspect of our life-from deliberate ignorance of our true population figures, to our penchant for fabricating immunization coverage figures- health statistics have ceased to be of any value to Cameroon whether for planning, intervention or monitoring the state of health. The statistics have simply become instruments for looting national resources- the manipulative game for pillaging and raiding the national treasury by a combined team of civil servants, administrators, academic advisers and politicians. The Cameroon health system is sick, very sick and in need of intensive care. It is blind, lacking vision of goal and strategies; it is deaf, failing to respond to the cries of the sick and dying populations. We are a nation rejoicing in squalor, celebrating our sickness, exulting in our self-inflicted pain. We are a nation that is pleased and satisfied with our deplorable health situation, frolicking with unbridled joy in sewage of infirmity. This shows how low we stand in our respect for human life and the welfare of our nation.

Why are we neither able to prevent nor control even diseases for which a reliable vaccine is available? Our inability to control diseases is a classic example of ignoring our population figures as well as of conspiracy and collusion of the different arms of the society to participate in the national pastime of looting and pillaging, of fiddling with the national treasury, while diseases kill young and old all over the country. All this while the government, civil servants, some academicians and the society, worked hand in gloves to make Cameroon an example of shame and derision. Callous indifference wallowing in corruption, swam with greed and avarice in deliberate incompetence, supplanting truth in a calculated denial of self gain. On top of all these, public ignorance has been reeling and lurching in self pity.

Population growth is the difference between the annual number of births and deaths. Statistics show that the population of Africa projected for 2025 is 1.6billion. Half of this population would be infants, older children and adolescents- all dependent and requiring education, health care, food, water, housing, sports, recreational facilities and jobs etc. Cameroon falls within this sphere and must not be indifferent to this reality, as elements of population growth are very visible in Cameroon to the extent that if the powers that be do not sit up as far as population increase is concerned, things might well get off hand going by the 2008 food riots.

Cameroon is one of those African countries that have a negative imbalance between economic growth and population growth rates. Facilities for education, healthcare, housing, water supplies are now inadequate. There are not enough jobs and unemployment is breeding antisocial and unhealthy behaviours. High population aggravates poverty and perpetrates ignorance and disease as can be witnessed in most part of the country today.

Large overcrowded urban population has become targets for dietary deficiencies and malnutrition, unsanitary environment and substandard housing are common; viruses, bacteria, parasites and other pathogenic organisms abound. Epidemic and violence thrive in overcrowded conditions. Over crowded hospitals and large out patient clinics are a danger to their clients. Family planning services cannot meet up with the number of young fertile women.

Many health centres, general hospitals and specialized institutions are poorly maintained. Hospital beds are often old and uncomfortable, bed-linen a luxury, toilet not functioning, desk and chairs decrepit, instruments do not exist, essential drugs are unavailable and shelves in the hospitals and health centres pharmacies empty at least half the year, patients coming for surgery must bring surgical materials, relatives must donate blood (which could then be tested prior to transfusion), many health staff are living a nightmare, many have lost their skills through disuse and absence of refresher courses, many have no morale and avenge themselves on helpless patients and relatives, many hospitals have no budgets or so little money as makes no difference, and have no legal way of raising or securing funds for healthcare.

The future of Cameroon should not lie in the hands of tired, uninspiring, unpatriotic, untrustworthy, deceitful and treacherous leaders of the 1960s 70s and 80s going by the recently published figures of the Housing and Population Census of 2005.They claimed to have given their lives for our independence and are now taking our lives and the lives of our unborn children as payment. One of the dividends of democracy should be laying aside of these leaders, who wear the mantle of leadership like their underwear, underwear that has not been washed since independence and reunification.

Transparency International in the publication- Corruption Perception Index (CPI) has more than once rated Cameroon as the most corrupt nation in the world. Corruption is a two-way traffic; there is a giver and there is a taker. That is why we must read another publication- Bribe Payer Index (BPI). The CPI complements the BPI which addresses the propensity of companies and investors from Western countries to offer bribes in emerging markets. One of the latest BPI publications revealed high levels of bribery by firms from Russia, China, Taiwan, Japan, USA and France.
China stands out as the “new saviour” when it comes to south – south cooperation. Water shortages are a singsong in Yaounde and Douala as well as other urban towns. One begins to wonder how the getting of water from the River Moungo will curb the water crisis in Douala if the true population of the city is not known. AES SONEL is yet to guarantee continuous and constant power supply to the Cameroonian population that it cared less to know the real figures. By closing their eyes to a sensitive issue like the real population of the country to which they claim to help in the provision of basic necessities like electricity and water, only shows how corrupt some of these bribe givers who condemn us are.

We as a nation must be willing to change. It falls to the individual family to lay the foundation of honesty, probity, integrity, honour and consideration for other in every child. The future of Cameroon is too important to be left exclusively in the hands of our leaders. We, the people, must together, actively rebuild our nation and set it on the path of righteousness.

We should be asking our leaders the right questions relating to the problems of our society, based on our intimacy and identification with the society. How many are we? What can be done about AIDS? How can our populations be freed from the vicious circle of poverty, ignorance and disease?