Urban areas are often omitted from investigations on immunization because the published literature tends to focus on rural settings. The two largest cities in Cameroon - Douala and Yaoundé - are the main drivers of the high number of unvaccinated children in Cameroon. The objective of our study was to identify the factors influencing vaccine incompleteness in Douala and Yaoundé in children (12-23 months of age).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the world today. In 2010, the World Health Organization (WHO) proposed efficient and inexpensive "best buy" interventions for prevention of tobacco use including: tax increases, smoke-free indoor workplaces and public places, bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, and health information and warnings. This paper analyzes the extent to which tobacco use prevention policies in Cameroon align with the WHO tobacco "best buy" interventions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn low-income countries, health system deficiencies may undermine treatment continuity and adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) that are crucial for the success of large-scale public ART programs. In addition to examining the effects of individual characteristics, on non-adherence to ART and treatment interruption behaviors - i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Cameroon has initiated a national programme of HIV care decentralization providing access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) for patients with CD4 cell counts less than 200 cells/microl or AIDS stage. Current clinical research suggests these criteria may be too stringent. This study aimed at evaluating the effect of not receiving ART on patients' psychosocial outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFContext: The national antiretroviral treatment (ART) program in Cameroon has reached one of the highest rate of coverage in Western and Central Africa (58% of the estimated eligible HIV-infected population in June 2008).
Objectives: To assess the extent to which decentralized delivery of HIV care at the district level has contributed to increased access to ART.
Methods: Comparison of ART-treated and non-ART-treated in the sub-sample of medically eligible HIV-positive patients (n=2566) in the cross-sectional ANRS-EVAL survey was carried out among patients seeking HIV care in 14 hospitals at central level (Yaoundé, Douala and capitals of 8 provinces) and 13 at district levels.