Cameroon: Government urge to ensure the judicious use of foreign aid intended to fight HIV/AIDS

The government of Cameroon may not have a convincing reason for not being able to provide anti-retroviral treatment to up to one-quarter of the over 540 people living with HIV/AIDS in the country if one considers the enormous amount of aid coming into the country for the purpose.According to statistics from the United Nations agency concerned with the fight against HIV/AIDS, only about 55,000 of the 543,000 people living with the disease in the country can afford access to the badly needed anti-retroviral drugs.

The country’s coordinator for UNAIDS commission, Mamadou Lamine Sakho, told a press conference organised by UNAIDS in Yaounde, that the government of Cameroon over the last year received up to 10 billion US dollars in HIV/AIDS treatment aid. He seemed worried that despite the huge amount of aid, only very few Cameroonians were being provided with treatment. He used the occasion to emphasise the need for the government of Cameroon to ensure proper and judicious management of funds meant to fight the scourge of HIV/AIDS disease.
Understandably, the government has not been using the funds for the right purpose. Mamadou Lamine Sakho also regretted the fact that despite the numerous efforts being made by researchers to come out with a cure for the disease, the changeable ability and the rapidity by which the virus attack the human immune system has made their effort futile. Nevertheless, he called on every Cameroonian to help in the struggle to fight the disease, at least by engaging in positive behaviour change. He condemned cross-generation sex which, he said, help to promote the spread of the virus. On his part, the permanent secretary of the national committee for the fight against HIV/AIDS in Cameroon, Jean Bosco Elat, condemned the stigmatisation of those living with the virus. He also encouraged the government to multiply efforts in the fight against HIV/AIDS by providing the already existing 1500 treatment centres with sufficient drugs.