Maternal mortality is a major public health problem in Cameroon. Statistics reveal that one woman dies every two minutes during child birth; be it in private clinic or government hospitals. It is in this light that a one-day seminar on the reduction of maternal and infant mortality in Cameroon took place in Yaounde yesterday May 3.
Organised by the African campaign for the reduction of maternal and child mortality (CARMMA) the seminar brought together mother and child associations in Yaounde. The theme of the workshop was “Public-private partnership to save mothers and children in Cameroon”. The seminar is in line with the maternal and infant mortality reduction week launched by the Minister Public Health recently. This is also within the framework of a campaign by the Ministry of Public Health launched in 2010 to accelerate efforts of the ministry in the reduction of mother and child mortality.
The Technical Adviser Number Two in the Ministry of Public Health, Dr. Martina Baye said it was a sharing forum with the different associations to see what can be done to improve on what they have been doing in the reduction of maternal mortality. Dr. Charlotte Moussi of the Department of Family Health in the Ministry of Public Health said reduction of maternal mortality is not only at the level of health professionals, but local communities have an important role to play. “If particular activities are carried out at the level of communities, we can reduce to half deaths linked to maternal mortality,” she said. She added that yesterday’s meeting was to mobilise communities, see the role they are playing in the reduction of maternal mortality, hear their experiences and see what can be done to improve on their activities and spread in the country.
