These are available on Relief Web. This happened with a two year old boy in Betare Oya Health District, East Region who had never been vaccinated against poliomyelitis. UNICEF expresses its sincere gratitude to all public and private donors for their continuous support. While the COVID pandemic and associated restrictions pose new threats to children and communities across Cameroon, over two million children remain in need of urgent humanitarian assistance as a consequence of violence and conflict, the impact of late flooding in the Far North, and periodic disease outbreaks including measles and cholera.
Fearing the COVID spread in host regions Littoral and West , hundreds of displaced families returned to the NWSW despite prevailing insecurity that impacts their access to education, health services and basic livelihoods. The early start of the lean season, ahead of the harvest period, threatens the food security and nutritional status of vulnerable children and families.
In addition to the official COVID restrictions announced by the government on 13 March, one Ambazonian political movement declared a lockdown to limit risk of transmission while one of the armed wings declared a unilateral ceasefire to go into effect at the end of March.
The COVID crisis has compounded the existing impact of the armed conflict on education as a result of which 6, schools and 4, community learning centres have temporarily closed leaving 1 million school aged children forced to stay at home.
On top of the insecurity and the COVID pandemic, heightened checkpoint controls and lockdowns, imposed both by local authorities and NSAGs reduced the scale of emergency supplies distributions and provisions of emergency health, nutrition, WASH and child protection services.
