Graduate School of International Studies Ajou University
Description
학위논문(석사)--GRADUATE SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES- AJOU UNIVERSITY 국제대학원 :NGO학과,2014. 8
Alternative Abstract
Child health is the cornerstone of sustainable economic growth, strong nations and a brighter future for any society. This underscores the importance of protecting children from diseases. Curbing child mortality of the under-five in society supports the health sector because such efforts create healthier populations not weakened by severe childhood illnesses. With less than a year before the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target date of 2015, the commitment by the government to reduce under-five mortality calls not only for a nation-wide push to raise immunization coverage to 90% but also for Cameroon to strengthen peripheral immunization service delivery targeting isolated, hard-to-reach and indigenous populations. Widely recognized as one of the most challenging of the eight goals, MDG 4 commits governments to reduce mortality rates among children under five by two-thirds by 2015. Whereas the widespread approach to the use of vaccines ensures the attainment of MDG 4 and the control of a number of diseases, developing countries particularly Cameroon continue to grapple with the burdens of vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs) with their attendant bearing on millennium health targets. This underscores the urgency of improving routine immunization performance by making sure every single community and child who was previously marginalized or somehow neglected gets a shot of lifesaving vaccines. This work argues that despite efforts to improve Cameroon’s routine immunization performance by closing loopholes related to cold chains, injection safety, epidemiological surveillance and coverage, efficiency of out-reach programs, vaccine myths, poverty and corruption which other studies have so far highlighted; under-five mortality from VPDs still remains a major health concern affecting Cameroon’s commitment towards MDG 4. It also stresses the need to address the social and political exclusion of grassroots communities who for the most part are marginalized from the country’s Expanded Programme on Immunization. The prevalence of VPDs can only be contained if grassroots populations at risk of importation or transmission of these diseases are effectively integrated into the country’s routine immunization system. This thesis seeks to link the unmet millennium health commitments (MDGs 4-6) in Cameroon to a largely Cameroonian problem.
Key Words: prevalence; vaccine-preventable diseases; immunization; under-five mortality; millennium development goals; social exclusion; indigenous groups
