Rabies control : Cameroon develops a new strategy

The Centre Pasteur du Cameroun (CPC) hosted from 25 to 26 April 2023, the programme for the implementation of the “one health approach to rabies and transboundary diseases” in Cameroon.

The RAGE (Rabies control and elimination in Cameroon) component in which the Centre Pasteur du Cameroun (CPC) is involved is an interdisciplinary,
cross-cutting public
health programme structuring (requirement
of the one health concept) with closer cooperation of the human and animal
health sectors and related disciplines in order to facilitate the implementation of the national strategic plan for rabies control on its following components: coordination,
partnership and mobilisation of communities, surveillance, vaccination of dogs, management of patients and post-exposure prophylaxis Implementation of the “one health approach to rabies and transboundary diseases” programme in Cameroon. Within the framework of the RACE project for the fight against rabies in Cameroon, a working visit by the Pasteur Institute of Paris, the STPH and the World Organisation for Animal Health will take place in Cameroon from 24 to 27 April 2023.
The new threats of emerging diseases, focuses on the study of different scenarios of development of pandemics according to a certain number of medical, social, demographic, geographical, climatic or economic variables, this list not being exhaustive. Furthermore, viruses spread throughout the world, as shown by the historical examples of the plague, cholera and influenza. The fight against emerging viral diseases requires increased surveillance
of the circulation of viruses in tropical
areas, a surveillance that is nowadays
almost non-existent. For them, in addition to the need for this international surveillance, understanding the factors behind the emergence of viruses is a complementary
aspect of the fight against future epidemics. These factors are to be sought, on the one hand, in the ecological modifications induced by man and, on the other hand, in the evolution of the viruses themselves.
Financial crisis
Emerging diseases, 75% of which are of animal origin (such as AIDS or influenza), have already quadrupled in the last 50 years. In the countries of the South, these diseases (such as Ebola, dengue, chikungunya
or West Nile fever) are already responsible
for around 43% of deaths. The latest health crises such as SARS, E. coli or O104H4 pose real threats to the entire planet, including economic ones: World Bank estimates suggest that a severe pandemic
would lead to a 5% economic recession
on top of the financial crisis, although in the case of SARS, other experts believe that, far from signalling a long-term fall in growth, the economic impact of the pandemic actually led to a temporary recession
limited to the tourism and travel sectors. Awareness of the threat posed by health disasters is a first step in anticipating
the measures that would need to be taken to avoid the worst-case scenario of hundreds of millions of deaths worldwide in the major megacities.
Treatment costs
The project, which is part of the national
rabies elimination plan, aims to strengthen surveillance and improve the health of the population through the 3Rs method: reducing the distance between the population and the health facilities (FOSA), reducing the duration of prophylaxis,
and reducing the cost of treating these diseases. The stakeholders defined the activities and areas of implementation of the project for the next 12 months in Cameroon. The implementation of the project is facilitated by the Centre Pasteur du Cameroun (CPC) under the coordination
of the World Organisation for Animal Health, the partners Institut Pasteur, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute.