In Cameroon, maternal and neonatal mortality remains a major public health problem. As a result, the national health policy has made the availability of Emergency Obstetric and Neonatal Care (EOC) one of the major pillars in the reduction of maternal and neonatal mortality. For the past fifteen years, the Government and its partners have been implementing interventions aimed at strengthening services offering the SONU.
The 2015 Rapid Assessment of Emergency Obstetric and Neonatal Care Needs Assessment (ERB-SONU) on the availability, use and quality of UNSO, provides an opportunity to assess the impact of policies and strategies implemented in favour of UNSO.
Commissioned by the Ministry of Public Health and conducted by the National Institute of Statistics with the support of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the objective of this evaluation was to determine the capacity of health facilities to provide
SONU and to establish a database of available services.
This study comes at the right time when Cameroon, like other nations, has subscribed to the commitments of the Sustainable Development Goals. The results of this evaluation will serve as a reference for the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of maternal and newborn interventions. They are also a source of data to be used in the preparation of the Global Financing Facility’s investment case. This evaluation must now be annual to allow for regular monitoring of the progress made.
I would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to UNFPA for its multifaceted support aimed at improving the well-being of the people of Cameroon.
I urge all stakeholders to use the results of this study for effective planning and implementation as well as regular monitoring of maternal and newborn health care provision.