End of Project Report: Progress and The Way Forward in Cameroon
Posted by
Jane Coaston
Washington, D.C.
October 24, 2012
For 12 years, EGPAF has supported Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services (CBCHS), a nonprofit health care organization in Cameroon, in developing and offering effective, efficient, and high-quality services for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV. From 2000-2012 in six regions across Cameroon, EGPAF worked with CBCHS and the Cameroon Ministry of Public Health to expand PMTCT service sites from five to 457, provide counseling and HIV testing for 618,397 women, and give over 40,000 HIV-positive pregnant women and 20,000 HIV-exposed infants the medicine needed to prevent HIV transmission from mother to baby. Moreover, EGPAF, CBCHS, and the Ministry of Public Health provided PMTCT training to over 2,000 health care workers.
(Photo: Abanda Alphonse, 2012)
The project has successfully developed the capacity and sustainability of our local partner. In 2011, CBCHS won a multi-million dollar, five-year U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC)/PEPFAR award, and at the beginning of 2012, funding for Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services’ work in two regions of Cameroon transitioned from EGPAF to the CDC project.
This month, EGPAF released an end-of-project report for its work with CBCHS. The report,
which you can read here, illustrates the successes, challenges, and next steps for our partners in Cameroon.
Though PMTCT service availability has increased dramatically through the partnership, there are still barriers ahead – helping more mothers and babies get access to drugs to prevent HIV transmission, helping more HIV-positive women get the drugs they need for their own health, getting more men involved in PMTCT, and increasing access to medical care to more remote facilities throughout the country.
To learn more about the project and for powerful stories from women who have benefited from the services offered by CBCHS and EGPAF,
click here.
Jane Coaston is EGPAF's Media Relations Coordinator, and is based in Washington, D.C.