During the first few months of the KamerunGO! adventure, we have learned something important: it is not easy to explain to people why it is extremely important for the villagers of an unknown Cameroonian village to have access to a health center.
That’s why we want to shed some light on the subject and briefly explain why we want to build a health center in Bekoko.
Why do we want to build a health center in Bekoko?
As there are no health facilities in Bekoko, people have to go to the hospital in Douala if they need medical help.
The journey there usually takes several hours.
However, the people in Bekoko, who live mainly from agriculture, can hardly afford treatment.
Why do we need a local health center?
The Cameroonian healthcare system is highly centralized.
While people in the agglomeration of the big cities have access to medical infrastructure, the villages away from the big cities are cut off from it.
This poses major problems for people: imagine having to travel five hours on a small motorcycle for a consultation with a doctor.
If you are still reasonably fit for transportation, you can still count yourself lucky.
But what about when a suffering child or a pregnant woman has to go to hospital?
What is the cause of the problem?
In 2004, a law was passed which provided for the expansion of healthcare at local level.
However, this has not yet been implemented.
Decentralization requires a lot of investment in infrastructure and sufficient well-trained staff.
In a country affected by an economic crisis, the resources needed to implement the 2004 law across the board are lacking in every nook and cranny.
For this reason, the fact that healthcare facilities are limited to large cities and are only available to the wealthy will not change in the future. For these reasons, we would like to work to ensure that more people have access to healthcare facilities.
This means both for the less well-off and for people who live outside Cameroon’s major cities.
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