A ceremony to formally launch the SIAPS Program in Cameroon was held last Thursday in Yaounde at the Djeuga Palace Hotel in which the Minister of Public Health, André Mama Fouda and the US Ambassador to Cameroon, Robert P. Jackson both attended.
Dr. Kaze Gege Buki, SIAPS Country Project Director, presented on results from a pharmaceutical management analysis previously performed in Cameroon. Low access to quality medicines in the public sector due to poor staffing, coordination, management of HIV commodities, sexually transmitted diseases, and family planning all contribute to frequent stock-outs at health care sites. Due to such poor access, over 500,000 people in Cameroon are living with HIV and AIDS and new infections continue annually.
SIAPS will be working with the Cameroon Ministry of Public Health through the Directorate of Pharmacy, the National Centre for Essential Drugs Procurement and Medical Disposables, the regional departments for stocking drugs and the National AIDS Control Committee to build the capacity of pharmaceutical services at all levels to strengthen the pharmaceutical system over a three year period.
In Cameroon, SIAPS interventions will be designed to provide immediate response to urgent day-to-day pharmaceutical problems, while developing the policy framework and human capacity to strengthen the system in the medium and long terms.
Read about the launch on allAfrica.com.
