Strategic Focus

Maximizing Unique Government-to-Government Relationships with the Ministry of Health (MoH): The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Government of the Republic of Cameroon (GRC) began a partnership in 2008 to support the development of sustainable public health capacity and infrastructure. CDC’s role has evolved from solely providing technical leadership to now including direct clinical support and assistance to the Ministry of Health (MOH).

Strengthening Public Health Systems: CDC provides expert public health science leadership and direct assistance to the MOH and local non-governmental organizations to prevent, detect and respond to public health challenges while strengthening epidemiology, surveillance, laboratory, operations research, HIV prevention and treatment programs, and workforce capacity development. CDC-Cameroon’s HIV program strategy focuses on increasing antiretroviral treatment (ART), prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT), strengthening laboratories, linkages to treatment, and strategic information.

Key Activities and Accomplishments

Treatment Scale up: CDC Cameroon’s U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) specific priorities include scaling-up access to HIV prevention and treatment to achieve HIV epidemic control. Cameroon’s Accelerating Children’s HIV/AIDS Treatment (ACT) initiative has made great strides in providing ART to children. Through a strong partnership, MOH has approved test and start and task shifting policies and delivery of ART medications for adults and children living with HIV. Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality for people living with HIV (PLHIV). CDC supports HIV testing among TB patients to ensure access to early ART to prevent AIDS-related morbidity and mortality; and TB screening and provision of isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT) to prevent TB morbidity among PLHIV.

Laboratory Capacity: National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL) renovation is complete and the national strategic laboratory plan was enhanced in 2018; CDC launched and implemented the first national proficiency testing program (PT), which currently has over 800 laboratories enrolled for HIV rapid testing, and CDC assisted with the implementation and roll out of the Strengthening Laboratory Improvement Process towards Accreditation (SLIPTA) with one laboratory obtaining SANAS Accreditation and 13 laboratories currently enrolled in the accreditation process. CDC provided technical assistance and laboratory support to set up and build the capacity of two laboratories for DNA/RNA polymerase chain reaction testing, one of which is now the first SANAS ISO-15189 Accredited laboratory for Cameroon and Central Africa. Both laboratories currently serve as national reference laboratories for early infant diagnosis and viral load testing services to support the country’s treatment program.

Strategic Information: CDC has supported improvements in the national HIV/AIDS monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system and harmonization of M&E registers and data collection tools with close to 25,000 registers printed and distributed nationally. CDC is strengthening Cameroon’s Health Information System through technical and financial support for the customization, piloting, and rollout of District Health Information Software (DHIS) at national, regional, and district levels. The Cameroon Population-based HIV Impact Assessment (CAMPHIA) completed data collection in February 2018 and results will inform HIV strategic planning and decision-making.