NATIONAL PROGRESS REPORT ON THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS, Year 2012
MDG 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
The prospect of achieving this goal by 2020 remains uncertain based on current trends. The main indicators of poverty remained stable in urban areas and declined in rural areas between 2001 and 2007. Overall, the proportion of the poor population remains stable. Employment is clearly on the rise, and the major concern remains underemployment, which is well above 50%. The proliferation of structuring projects and the measures put in place for youth employment in particular leads us to believe in a less shadowy future in terms of employment.
MDG 2: Achieve universal primary
educationIn the education sector, the Government’s efforts in recent years to make primary school universal continue to bear fruit. Judging by the overall net enrolment rate in primary school, which gained a little more than 7 points between 2007 and 2010, from 70.4% to 77.6%. In addition, the completion rate in primary school has increased, reaching 57.9 per cent in the 2003/2004 school year and 73.0 per cent in the 2009/2010 school year. As far as literacy among 15-49 year olds is concerned, 7 out of 10 Cameroonians could read French or English in 2011. In short, this objective is well on its way to being achieved well before 2020.
MDG 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
The trend towards achieving this objective remains positive overall. Gender disparities have narrowed significantly in primary school enrolment, but have not changed in secondary education. Equality in literacy is almost achieved overall, except in the northern regions, where progress is still quite visible. As regards access to stable jobs, the situation of women compared to men has improved slightly overall, although the trend has been rather opposite in some regions. The representation of women in parliament and in government has also evolved positively, even if they are still very poorly represented.
MDG 4: Reduce under-5
mortalityDespite the efforts made by the Government of Cameroon, this objective remains rather uncertain for 2020. Thus, following the 2011 EDS-MICS, it appears that the mortality rate of children under 5 years of age has increased from 146‰ for the period 1996-2001 to 122‰ for the period 2006-2011, the national objective being 75‰ by 2015. Considerable efforts continue to be made in vaccination coverage, the fight against malaria and malnutrition.
MDG 5: Improve maternal
healthThe national and global targets for reducing the maternal mortality ratio are 350 and 108 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, respectively. Cameroon is still far from that. This high level of maternal mortality is attributed to the low attendance of health facilities by women during pregnancy, childbirth or afterward, to insufficient assistance by qualified health personnel and to the quality of the technical facilities.
MDG 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other major diseases
The fight against HIV/AIDS and malaria has brought positive results. Although seroprevalence remained higher in urban areas than in rural areas, overall seroprevalence declined significantly. The same is true of the number of deaths due to malaria. This decline in the rate of malaria deaths is partly due to an improvement in the use of insecticide-treated nets. There has also been an improvement in the care of people living with HIV/AIDS. This could have a positive effect on the fight against tuberculosis.
MDG 7 Ensure environmental sustainability
The “Green Sahel” operation undertaken by the government has made it possible to relaunch reforestation campaigns and reduce the pressure on vegetation cover. The share of protected areas in relation to the national territory almost doubled between 2000 and 2010. The proportion of the population with access to safe drinking water remains low, increasing by 10 percentage points between 2005 and 2010. In addition, more than half of the population lives in modern housing. This trend suggests that this target will be likely to be achieved by 2020 if the government’s current efforts are maintained.
MDG 8: Develop a global partnership for development
Regional integration is the option for Cameroon to succeed in its integration into the world economy. This strategy is based on the pillar of diplomacy, in order to benefit from its geographical position. On the other hand, the achievement of the completion point in 2006 has led to a significant reduction in external debt. The challenge today is to keep this debt at a sustainable level. Mobile telephony is becoming more and more accessible in Cameroon and access to ICT is particularly high in the cities of Yaoundé and Douala, increasingly consecrating Cameroon’s opening to the global economy.
In 2012, and taking into account the CESP reference scenario, Cameroon will certainly be able to achieve 1 in 8 objectives and will be able to achieve 4 in 8 if sustained efforts are maintained. To this end, the rigorous implementation of the growth and employment strategy remains imperative