2020; Volume 21, No 2, February
Progress Report — Cameroon
At the 2019 Palliative Care Conference in Cameroon organized by COGE Santo Domingo-SEG Cameroun. Photo used with permission.
Achievements Are Laying the Groundwork for Growth
By Alison Ramsey, Newsletter Editor
The first crucial step to initiating a palliative care program is often to make it known to three key groups: .the public, medical professionals, and the government. A need may exist, but it cannot be fully addressed until it has been properly identified, its scope is measured, and the three groups necessary to its relief convinced of its importance.
Cameroon milestones
2006: First palliative care unit is established.
2010: PC training takes place in 6 hospitals.
Today: PC is available in 14 locations, in 6 of 10 regions.
Efforts to address the need for palliative care in Cameroon are achieving results, and there are clear indications that the issue has become better known.
- COGE Santo Domingo-SEG Cameroun has organized five palliative care conferences since 2015. The event in December 2019 drew 122 participants, and Ministry of Health officials participated in four of the seminars.
- For the second year, a daylong conference in October was organized by the Centre Hospitalier Dominicain Saint Martin de Porres (CHDSMP). It drew 52 university professors, medical professionals, and others representing eight institutions.
- An October open house at CHDSMP involved 42 nurses, nursing aides, social workers, psychologists, patients, families, volunteers, and visitors.
- An estimated 500 people attended a march on Palliative Care Day. A former Minister of Health was among the participants.
Participants at the October CHDSMP conference. Photo provided by Christian Tsotie, head of CHDSMP Palliative Care Unit. Used with permission.
Though the COGE Santo Domingo-SEG Cameroun conference “had fewer people than usual,” reports its president, Jiofack Fulbert Kenfack, “it gave us the opportunity to work hard and resulted in 11 written recommendations. We achieved more successes than before.”
11 recommendations
to focus efforts
The first recommendation is: Develop, strengthen, and implement a national palliative care policy for primary care, communities, and home services.
Other recommendations include:
- increase the number of palliative care centers,
- create national guidelines for standards of care,
- develop government-funded palliative care services,
- improve the availability and access to opioids for palliative care, and
- include palliative care training for health professionals.
Palliative care organizations aren’t sitting on their hands, waiting for their world to change, but progress is hard-won.
“When we started,” says Kenfack, “one goal was to remove palliative care from the banner of cancer, because it is for all types of illnesses. More people are now aware of this, but we need more work for it to be widely accepted.
“We just trained a team of 33 volunteers to travel to districts and accompany those at the end of life in their journey, but we don’t even have the funds necessary to pay for their phone calls while on the job.”
Major plans for outreach
From January to June, the organization’s goal is to contact at least 200 associations to further sensitize the population about palliative care. After that? “We want to create a group of journalists educated in palliative care, to transmit the message; and expand services to children, many of whom die in suffering,” says Kenfack.
The population is receptive but basic problems remain, such as accessing the liquid morphine relied upon for pain relief. “We have been waiting for more than eight months for one order,” he says.
Yet, urged onward by necessity, those who advocate for palliative care remain deeply committed. As Kenfack’s conference report states: “Palliative care is more than a struggle against pain and suffering; it is a public health imperative.”
Learn more about COGE Santo Domingo-SEG Cameroun, an IAHPC member institution, in the IAHPC Global Directory of Palliative Care Institutions.