A COUNTRY THIRSTING FOR CHANGE

• Nearly half of Cameroon’s population lives below the poverty line.
• Cameroon has a 6% child mortality rate
• Nearly half of Cameroon’s 23 million people reside in rural areas.
• Cameroonians have a very short life expectancy of only 55 years —among the lowest in the world.

A Health Crisis

Endemic diseases severely undermine the population’s health. They include podoconiosis (podo), dengue fever, filariasis, leishmaniasis, malaria, meningitis, schistosomiasis and sleeping sickness

• Podoconiosis -is a type of elephantiasis (leg and foot swelling) found in farming communities in the tropics. It’s triggered by an abnormal reaction to irritant mineral particles found in soils of volcanic origins. People who don’t wear shoes for cultural reasons or because of sheer poverty are at high risk. In Cameroon, two million people (9% of the population) are at risk through exposure to the irritant soil. It is endemic in Northwest Cameroon. Several thousand people are affected. Simple things like washing your feet and wearing shoes can prevent it – but most people don’t know this.
• Dengue fever – is a severe, flu-like illness that affects people of all ages, and is occasionally lethal. It’s a mosquito-borne viral infection most prevalent in urban areas.
• Sleeping sickness – is transmitted by the tsetse fly. People in rural areas are at the greatest risk because they depend on agriculture, fishing, animal husbandry or hunting which all attract the tsetse fly. It affects the central nervous system.

Education Obstacles

Cameroon has one of the highest school attendance rates in Africa. However, because of child labor, many students miss a great deal of school. More than half of the children ages 5-14 are laborers – many in agriculture and the commercial production of agricultural products.

Girls attend school less regularly than boys because of cultural attitudes, domestic duties, early marriage, pregnancy, and sexual harassment.

Poverty is another obstacle. Primary school children must buy their own books, but many families are too poor to pay the book fees. As a result, nine out of ten children in Cameroon spend years in school having to learn without books. Often the only books they see during their primary school years are those belonging to the teacher.

Your support goes a long way in combating these health and education hardships. Discover how you’re helping save lives

Your Donations Make A Difference

Because of your support, IOCC is able to improve many of the problems plaguing the education, health and water and sanitation systems in Cameroon.

We work in cooperation with the Holy Orthodox Metropolis of Cameroon and the country’s Ministry of Education to help improve the well-being of children and families.

Some of the humanitarian actions you help make possible include:

• Access to clean water; including a clean water supply for schools
• Wheelchairs to their sick and disabled
• Educating communities on hygiene and sanitation practices
• Textbook shipments to schools

Your Gifts at Work