A national coordination meeting held in Yaounde on June 28-29, 2016.

The government of Cameroon with the financial and technical support of partner organisations like United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund, UNICEF, seeks to offer the population better water, hygiene and sanitation infrastructure. Efforts are underway to step up access to potable water to 75 per cent by 2020 as against 69.3 per cent.

Increasing access to sanitation infrastructure to more than 60 per cent up from 15 per cent is also part of the plan, with over 1.2 million latrines earmarked for construction across the country especially cholera prone zones. About 3,200 boreholes are expected to be built to step up access to water in all the regions of the country.

The challenge of meeting the objective is therefore enormous and government with its partners are not sleeping on their laurels. The two day meeting to this effect opened in Yaounde on June 28, 2016, under the auspices of the Minister of Water and Energy. The Secretary General, Manaouda Malachie, on behalf of Minister Atangana Kouna, stated that the importance of water, hygiene and sanitation to human life and the economy cannot be underestimated.

Committing to the strategy entails coordinating sector stakeholder efficiently, Mr Malachie said, insisting that a national policy was in gestation to facilitate the attainment of the objectives. The representative of UNICEF, Brigite Helali restated their commitment to work with Cameroon.