Cameroon has become one of the first African countries to have a multi-risk preparedness plan and response to public health emergencies for the period from 2022 to 2024.

This preparedness comes at a moment when more than ever, the world is facing health imperatives, including disasters, epidemics, incisive and deadly emergencies, which increase the vulnerability of individuals, families, communities, States, and the entire planet.

To this end, Cameroon, like other Nations, has developed strategies in order to have saving responses to these events. The current health context marked by the covid19 pandemic, the lessons learned following the management of previous public health emergencies have motivated the Cameroonian government to develop the Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan (PNMPR). It is a strategic document which will henceforth be the compass for the management of public health emergencies in Cameroon.

In addition, following the report of the joint external evaluation (EEC) conducted in 2017 by the World Health Organization (WHO), in accordance with the requirements of the International Health Regulations (IHR), legal document obliging States to “prevent the international spread of diseases, to protect themselves from it, to control it and to react to it”, the need to better coordinate the actions of preparation and response to Public Health Emergencies was noted. This was in order to strengthen Cameroon’s capacities in terms of detection, notification and response to public health emergencies.

WHO Joint External Assessment Report 2017

The result of strong political will

The PNMPR is an emanation of the political will of Cameroon, in accordance with international conventions on the environment, sanitary codes for terrestrial and aquatic animals, the “one health” approach being in the spotlight. This document, which is linked to the National Development Strategy 2020-2030 (SND30), will serve as a common roadmap for all the administrations which intervene directly or indirectly in the management of public health events in Cameroon.

The PNMPR will make it possible to solve, among other things, the problems of weak mul-tisectoral coordination in the preparation process, the weak operationalization of the mul-tisectoral surveillance system, the weak capacities for rapid and efficient interventions, the absence of sustainable post-emergency rehabilitation mechanisms, the weak involvement of communities in the process of mitigating major risks, as well as the weak empowerment of communities in the organization of first aid care.

The PNMPR in brief

The 100-page plan aims to strengthen the national management of the preparation and the mul-tisectoral response to priority public health emergencies in order to quickly and effectively come to the aid of the disaster-stricken populations of Cameroon over the period of 2022 – 2024. It is estimated at Fcfa24, 210,017,000 (twenty-four billion two hundred and ten million seventeen thousand fcfa). Focused on a three-year plan (2022-2024), it aims to effectively improve the resilience of the national health system in the event of public health emergencies. The planned sources of funding being the State as well as the Technical and Financial Partners.

Overview of the PNMPR

A dynamic, determined and ambitious work team

The Department for the Fight against Disease, Epidemics and Pandemics will have masterfully led this ambitious process; taking up the challenge of meeting both international requirements and political will in a context marked by the health crisis. The PNMMPR included in the priority files for the year 2021, just like the 3rd edition of the guide for integrated disease surveillance and response, is gradually emerging, shaped by a team that offered all the actors involved the possibility of updating their agenda and pooling interventions in the management of public health emergencies for better resilience of the health system. The process adopted being to build on the experience feedback from the management of emergencies in Cameroon. The PNMPR will be unique in that it has brought together hundreds of personalities from various backgrounds for its writing.

Ingrid KENGNE