Publications

Cholera remains the major public health problem in the world. Cholera is endemic in DRC especially in its east part. In the Kasai Oriental province, cholera is epidemic area which registered major epidemic cyclically with high case fatality rate. The last one in 2018 started in Mbuji-Mayi city but later affected the whole province during 45 weeks with 5854 total suspected cases registered including 277 deaths (CFR: 4.7%). Our main objective was to describe this outbreak focusing on its higher CFR. We conducted quantitative descriptive study using data from the provincial line listing. Cholera was defined according to national and WHO case definition. Analyses were performed using Microsoft Excel 2010 and Epi-info7. Men were more affected (contracting or dying of) by cholera in the province. The proportion of men affected in rural area as well as the proportion of death was higher than in Mbuji-Mayi city. The outbreak started in Mbuji-Mayi with around CFR: 27.3% as well as in the rur Read more...

Background: Vaccination is the best way to protect newborns and mothers against tetanus. The number of doses of Td vaccine recommended by the Expanded Program of Immunization is based on documented protective immune response. During this decade, the Foumban Health District (FHD) was the seat of an epidemic despite the satisfactory administrative immunization coverage. This study was conducted in 2019 in the FHD to assess tetanus vaccine coverage among mothers for their last pregnancy and the cumulative number of vaccine doses administered to the mothers.
Method: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted in the FHD in 2019. Mothers living in the district with at least one child younger than five years were included and were selected by random stratified cluster sampling. Trained surveyors used a face-to-face questionnaire, data extraction grid and data-tracking grid to review and collect data from antenatal care booklets, vaccinatio Read more...

Monitoring of the expanded program on immunization’s performance is not only limited to routine periodic reports but equally includes surveys. Based on unpublished national EPI surveillance data from the past 5 years in Cameroon, the Foumban health district has reported a high number of vaccine preventable disease suspected cases. Contradictory information on the immunization coverage in this district exists from both administrative data and published literature. As a result, the objective of this study was to estimate the immunization coverage and dropout rate in age group 12–23 months and timeliness in age group 0–59 months among children in Foumban Health District (Cameroon), in 2018.

This was a descriptive cross-sectional study targeting randomly selected children aged 0–59 months from Foumban health district. Data were collected by trained and supervised surveyors using a pretested questionnaire to describe the immunization coverage, timeliness and d Read more...

Background The capacity of the Research Ethic Committee (REC) members to review research protocol is one of the frequently raised problems. The purpose of this study was to assess training needs of members of research ethics committee in Cameroon regarding research participant protection. Methods It was a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted in all the regions of Cameroon during the last quarter of the year 2020, assessing training needs of REC members’ ethical evaluation of health research protocols. Data were collected from all eligible REC members by trained and supervised surveyors using a well designed questionnaire integrated in smartphones via ODK-collect. The data were analyzed by estimating proportions with 95% Con dence Interval using the EpiInfo software version 7.2.2.6. Findings Out of the 79 ethics committee members reached, 64 (81.01%) accepted to participate including 28 (43.75) female. The result showed that,21 (32.81%) of ethics committee members were not tra Read more...

Globally, the levels of healthcare-associated infections (nosocomial infections) are important high, and especially those due to bacterial are significant and costly. Healthcare environments provide a worrying reservoir for spreading infections. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) Low and Middle-Income Countries may be particularly at risk, hence, the need to perform a timely assessment of surface contamination of bacterial origin in the major units of four different hospitals of the Littoral Region, Cameroon. A cross-sectional and descriptive study was conducted from December 2018 to May 2019. A simple random sampling was used to swap 10 selected equipment (treatment tables, operating tables, delivery tables, office tables, anesthesia equipment, surgical aspirators, oxygen concentrators, wheelchairs, patients and office chairs) and 10 materials (fans, patient bedside tables, patient bed rails, trolleys, door handles, negastoscopes, baby scales, air conditioners, Antise Read more...

Cholera remains the major public health problem in the world. Cholera is endemic in DRC especially in its east part. In the Kasai Oriental province, cholera is epidemic area which registered major epidemic cyclically with high case fatality rate. The last one in 2018 started in Mbuji-Mayi city but later affected the whole province during 45 weeks with 5854 total suspected cases registered including 277 deaths (CFR: 4.7%). Our main objective was to describe this outbreak focusing on its higher CFR. We conducted quantitative descriptive study using data from the provincial line listing. Cholera was defined according to national and WHO case definition. Analyses were performed using Microsoft Excel 2010 and Epi-info7. Men were more affected (contracting or dying of) by cholera in the province. The proportion of men affected in rural area as well as the proportion of death was higher than in Mbuji-Mayi city. The outbreak started in Mbuji-Mayi with around CFR: 27.3% as well as in the rur Read more...

Vaccination is the best way to protect newborns and mothers against tetanus. The number of doses recommended by the Expanded Program of Immunization is based on documented protective immune response. This study was conducted in 2019 in the Foumban Health District (FHD) to assess tetanus vaccine coverage among mothers for their last pregnancy and the cumulative number of vaccine doses administered to the mothers.

This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted in the FHD. Mothers living in the district with at least one child younger than five years were included and were selected by random stratified cluster sampling. Trained surveyors used a face-to-face questionnaire, data extraction grid and data-tracking grid to review and collect data from antenatal care booklets, vaccination cards and the women’s own reports of immunization. The immunization coverage per vaccine dose and vaccination completeness rate were estimated.

Monitoring of the expanded program on immunization’s performance is not only limited to routine periodic reports but equally includes surveys. Based on unpublished national EPI surveillance data from the past 5 years in Cameroon, the Foumban health district has reported a high number of vaccine preventable disease suspected cases. Contradictory information on the immunization coverage in this district exists from both administrative data and published literature. As a result, the objective of this study was to estimate the immunization coverage and dropout rate in age group 12–23 months and timeliness in age group 0–59 months among children in Foumban Health District (Cameroon), in 2018.

This was a descriptive cross-sectional study targeting randomly selected children aged 0–59 months from Foumban health district. Data were collected by trained and supervised surveyors using a pretested questionnaire to describe the immunization coverage, timeliness and d Read more...

Background The capacity of the Research Ethic Committee (REC) members to review research protocol is one of the frequently raised problems. The purpose of this study was to assess training needs of members of research ethics committee in Cameroon regarding research participant protection.

Methods It was a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted in all the regions of Cameroon during the last quarter of the year 2020, assessing training needs of REC members’ ethical evaluation of health research protocols. Data were collected from all eligible REC members by trained and supervised surveyors using a well designed questionnaire integrated in smartphones via ODK-collect. The data were analyzed by estimating proportions with 95% Confidence Interval using the EpiInfo software version 7.2.2.6.

Findings Out of the 79 ethics committee members reached, 64 (81.01%) accepted to participate including 28 (43.75) female. The res Read more...

Household air pollution (HAP) is a recognised risk factor for many diseases, including respiratory diseases, cardiovascular/circulatory disorders, adverse pregnancy outcomes and cataracts. Population exposure to biomass fuels, including wood, varies among countries and from one fuel source to the other. This study aimed to investigate the different sources of HAP in peri-urban and rural communities in Cameroon.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted in a representative sample of households from the Dschang Health District (DHD) region. This included 848 homes in which a range of fuels for cooking including biomass (firewood, charcoal, sawdust), kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) were used both indoors and outdoors.

Of the study households, 651 (77%) reported exclusive use of firewood and 141 (17%) reported using more than one source of fuel. Exclusive use of firewood was greater in rural communities (94%) than in peri-urban commu Read more...