COVID-19 Pandemic : What Is The Impact - On Our People?

Since Cameroon announced its first Coronavirus case on March 6, 2020, life has never been the same for the people. Beyond the infections and resultant deaths, households across the country have borne the brunt of the unprecedented pandemic. With jobs, businesses and incomes severely affected. The most recent of the concerns of Cameroonians has been whether to accept vaccination against the disease. Or not. It is these Coronavirus-related impact details that a national seroprevalence survey is trying to unearth.

Seroprevalence Survey
The campaign in all 10 administrative regions of Cameroon targets 5,200 households and 30,000 people. It is jointly organised by the Ministry of Public Health, Epicentre and the Africa Centre for Disease Control, CDC. Cameroon Tribune on Monday, September 12, 2022 joined a survey team in the Don Bosco neighbourhood of Mimboman, Yaounde.

On The Ground In Yaounde
Accompanied by guides from the Nkolndongo I Health District, the team made its first stopover in the family home of Mfono Okomeno Marylin-Serge, 21, a second year Economics student of the University of Yaounde II. The reasons for the survey were first explained to her. Mfono gave her consent by signing the form before the questionnaire was administered.
“The impact of COVID-19 on our household has been limited, except financial-wise. We have not lost anyone to the disease. Also, no one in the family has taken the COVID-19 vaccine. We were all afraid because of rumours concerning it. I accepted to participate in the survey because I guess my responses would be of help to someone,” Mfono Okomeno explained to journalists.

Why A Second Survey?
“This is the second seroprevalence survey in the country since 2021. Amongst other things, we want to find out how households have been affected by the pandemic - financially and mortality-wise. The results will enable the Ministry of Public Health to restrategise the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic,” explained Herwin Nanda, General Supervisor for the COVID-19 Seroprevalence Survey in the Centre Region. “This second survey was necessitated by the fact that vaccination started in 2021 with a high proportion of people rejecting the vaccine. We want to understand the situation today. For example, public perception of the pandemic and vaccination,” Herwin Nanda said.   

The Questions To Answer
“The survey seeks to answer three questions: the level of collectivity immunity in the country (that is, the proportion of people who have developed antibodies to fight COVID-19); the impact of the pandemic in terms of deaths in communities, beyond what we see in hospitals; and the percentage of those vaccinated against the disease. As at now, the country stands at 8.7 per cent vaccination rate. We want to find out why people accept to be vaccinated, and why others refuse it,” Prof. Yap Boum II of the Public Emergency Operations Centre, Yaounde, who is overseeing the survey, pointed out.

Has The Situation Changed?
“The 2021 seroprevalence survey showed that one out of five Cameroonians had developed antibodies against COVID-19; meaning they had natural protection against the disease. We also discovered that six out of 10 Cameroonians were against taking the vaccine. Ever since, a number of things have happened. Vaccination has been carried out in all 10 regions; awareness campaigns on behaviour change have been undertaken; Cameroon...