When COVID-19 struck in 2020, Cameroon’s health system was thrust into the global spotlight. Makeshift testing centres, overstretched hospitals, and health workers forced to improvise with scarce resources revealed the cracks in a system that had long been underfunded and poorly managed. Five years later, as Cameroonians prepare to elect their next president, the question is no longer about pandemic readiness. It is whether the country can finally build a health system capable of saving lives every day, not just during global emergencies.
Health financing in Cameroon remains strikingly low. Current health expenditure is just 3.82% of GDP (World Bank, 2021), well below the WHO recommendation of 5%. By comparison, South Africa spends nearly 9% and Ghana over 4.5%. This chronic underinvestment translates directly into weak outcomes: hospitals with no electricity, rural clinics without midwives, and patients forced to travel hundreds of kilometres for basic care.
The results are damning. Cameroon’s maternal mortality ratio stood at 258 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2023 (World Bank/Macrotrends), far above the global average of 223. One in every 15 children dies before the age of five, with under-five mortality at 67 per 1,000 live births and newborn mortality at 25 per 1,000 (UNICEF, 2023). These are not abstract figures. These are the daily tragedies of preventable deaths from bleeding, malaria, diarrhoea, and pneumonia.
Perhaps the starkest indicator of dysfunction is manpower. Cameroon has just one doctor per 50,000 people, five times worse than the WHO benchmark of 1 per 10,000 (AllAfrica, April 2024). Even worse, distribution is profoundly unequal. The Far North, home to nearly 18% of the population, accounts for only 8% of the country’s doctors, while the Adamawa region, with 7% of the population, has fewer than 5% (Science Publishing Group, 2025).
Midwives tell a similar story. The public sector employs only 860 midwives, when the standard need is more than 2,400 (UNFPA, 2024). This shortfall helps explain why only 69% of births are attended by skilled personnel, and why almost a third of women give birth without qualified support (UNICEF, 2023).
For many Cameroonians, health outcomes are determined by geography rather than biology. In urban Yaoundé and Douala, private clinics serve the middle class, and better-resourced hospitals provide access to specialists. In rural North, Far North, and East regions, however, families depend on under-equipped district hospitals and poorly trained attendants. UNICEF data shows that under-five and neonatal mortality rates in these regions are significantly higher than the national average.
The inequity is not only in facilities but also in funding. Budgets are centralised in Yaoundé, and disbursements to regional councils and district health units are slow and inconsistent. Decentralisation has been promised, but health financing remains tightly controlled by the central government, leaving local managers unable to respond quickly to crises.
The presidential election is not just about roads and jobs. It is about whether a woman in Garoua can survive childbirth, whether a child in Bertoua can access antibiotics, and whether a doctor trained at the University of Buea will remain in the country or leave for Europe.
The numbers point to one truth: Cameroon cannot modernise without investing in health. A young, growing population requires not only classrooms and jobs, but functioning hospitals and a resilient health workforce. Every candidate who seeks the presidency must therefore answer three hard questions:
- How will you raise health financing above the bare minimum of 3.8% of GDP?
- What concrete plan will you adopt to recruit, retain, and fairly distribute health workers?
- How will you ensure equitable access for rural regions where mortality remains highest?
For decades, Cameroon’s health system has survived on donor projects and the endurance of its professionals. But survival is not enough. The choice before voters in 2025 is whether the country will continue to limp from crisis to crisis, or whether the next president will break with the pattern of neglect.
Health care is not a privilege; it is a right. In the words of a senior midwife in Bana quoted by UNFPA in 2024, “every birth should be safe, and no woman should die giving life.” For Cameroon, making that statement true will be the real measure of leadership.
🩺 Cameroon’s Health at Breaking Point
- Doctor shortage: WHO recommends 1 doctor per 1000 people — Cameroon has only 1 per 50,000. (WHO, 2024)
- Healthcare spending: Public health expenditure is just 4.2% of GDP, below the African Union target of 15%. (World Bank, 2023)
- Access gap: Over 70% of rural communities lack reliable access to health facilities. (UNDP, 2023)
- Life expectancy: Cameroon’s stands at 60 years, far below the global average of 73. (World Bank, 2023)
- Critical question: Can the next president invest in doctors, facilities and insurance to prevent total system collapse?
By Bakah Derick for Hilltopvoices Newsroom
Email: hilltopvoicesnewspaper@gmail.com
Tel: 6 94 71 85 77
Bakah Derick is an award-winning Cameroonian journalist and mediapreneur, serving as Vice President in charge of International Relations at the Cameroon Journalists’ Trade Union and leading Hilltopvoices Communications Group Ltd to amplify community voices and governance issues. With nearly 20 years in the field, his impactful reporting spanning human rights, environmental protection, inclusive development, and sports has earned him prestigious honors such as the 2024 VIIMMA Humanitarian Reporter of the Year and more. Email: debakah2004@gmail.com Tel: +237 675 460 750