CDC supports Cameroon to ensure delivery of quality HIV/TB during COVID-19

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Summary

  • U.S. CDC supported CDC-Cameroon and partners during COVID-19 to ensure HIV treatment continued.
  • Healthcare workers visited patients in their homes so they would not have to risk COVID-19 infection by going out in public for medical care.
  • CDC used existing investments from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to ensure HIV treatment quality and service delivery were maintained and even improved during COVID-19.
Photo of healthcare workers with a medicine container sitting across from two people outside a home.

In Cameroon, people living with HIV continued to receive care during a worldwide public health emergency. CDC supported the Ministry of Health of Cameroon in developing strategies focused on individuals, including home delivery and community dispensation of HIV antiretroviral therapy, to meet clients where they were. Photo credit: Youta Jorel Morial / Serennah Pictures & Business

Photo of CDC Cameroon Country Director Dr. Emily Kainne Dokubo standing in front of flags for Cameroon and the United States.

CDC-Cameroon Country Director, Dr. Emily Kainne Dokubo, said “With the start of the COVID-19 pandemic globally, CDC, building on our public health expertise, came up with innovative ways to ensure that service delivery was maintained, especially for our clients who we serve”. Photo credit: Youta Jorel Morial / Serennah Pictures & Business

Photo of two public health professionals walking in a rural setting to see patients in their communities.

To limit patient exposure to COVID-19, public health workers implemented ‘community-based services,’ including HIV testing performed at neighborhood sites and at-home HIV testing. Health workers also linked individuals identified as HIV-positive to immediate treatment. Photo credit: Youta Jorel Morial / Serennah Pictures & Business

Photo of Dr. Judith Shang, CDC-Cameroon Branch Chief, Care and Treatment, sitting at a desk on a computer.

"With the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, CDC-Cameroon worked to implement HIV care quality improvement programs in a virtual manner with weekly meetings. This involved a review of data using virtual platforms, which brought together CDC public health experts, implementing partners, and health facility staff”, said CDC-Cameroon Care and Treatment Branch Chief Dr. Judith Shang. Photo credit: Youta Jorel Morial / Serennah Pictures & Business

Photo of two clinicians sitting next to each other across from a patient.

Dr. Dokubo explained, “Throughout the pandemic, we saw a continuous improvement in the quality of services as well as performance across all key indicators, including the number of people identified as HIV positive, the number of people identified as HIV-positive linked to treatment, the number of people who were virally suppressed, both among adults and our pediatric populations." Photo credit: Youta Jorel Morial / Serennah Pictures & Business

Photo of a healthcare worker giving bottles of medicine to a patient.

The adaptations that CDC implemented are getting Cameroon closer to HIV epidemic control by ensuring people know their infection status. If infected, patients begin antiretroviral therapy treatment immediately and achieve viral suppression or a lowering of the levels of virus in their bodies. Photo credit: Youta Jorel Morial / Serennah Pictures & Business