Cameroon — Join the Fight for a Country’s Future

The country of Cameroon was formed in 1961 when the former French Cameroon and part of British Cameroon merged. Cameroon is located in West Africa and is slightly larger than California. The country enjoys stability, which has helped the development of agriculture, roads, railways and the petroleum industry.

Battling Poverty

Still, poverty ravages the country. An estimated 48% of the population lives below poverty. Cameroon faces many of the same problems as its neighbors — a top-heavy civil service structure, difficult business environment, and slow democratic reform.

Deforestation, overgrazing, desertification, poaching and over-fishing also contribute to Cameroon’s economic troubles.

The government has started numerous IMF and World Bank programs to spur investment and increase efficiency. Despite some progress, though, the IMF continues to encourage more reforms, privatization, and poverty programs.

Battling Disease

Cameroon’s society of 17.3 million people is undergoing massive suffering from the effects of AIDS. It means lower life expectancy, higher infant death rates, lower population and growth rates, and large changes in the population distribution by age and gender. In other words, AIDS not only kills people…it kills the social connections in the society. To help change this situation, the SMDC Cameroon Project has started an initiative aimed at stopping HIV transmission between mother and child.

Other diseases — like food and waterborne diseases like bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever — continue to infect Cameroonians. Malaria and yellow fever also pose a threat in some areas. In such an environment, even small donations can have a large effect; please help.