The number of people afflicted by Buruli ulcer in Cameroon is difficult to determine, the number of unrecorded cases is high. In the affected communities alongside the contaminated waters, it is often the case that every family has a Buruli ulcer victim. Nationally there are some 2000-4000 people suffering from Buruli ulcer, of whom only around 30% are currently receiving effective medical treatment. The remainder turn to traditional medicine or receive no help whatsoever. The results are severe deformities. Since the majority of sufferers are children, a Buruli ulcer infection is synonymous with a lifetime of suffering. We have expanded the infrastructure for the treatment of severe Buruli ulcer cases in Ayos Hospital with three outlying treatment centres. Community volunteers inform the village people and accompany patients during treatment. Thanks to this decentralised approach, we are reaching more children at an early stage of the disease. This means that the treatment is less expensive and shorter and the children suffer fewer disabilities. In order to step up the early diagnosis of Buruli ulcer, we are training and supporting countless community volunteers in the affected areas.
Many people in Cameroon associate Buruli ulcer with witchcraft and see the disease as a punishment for aberrant social behaviour. Through educational campaigns, we show that it is a normal and treatable disease.
We provide resources and know-how for the medical infrastructure, the training of community volunteers and for doctors and nursing staff. The national reference centre at Ayos Hospital offers surgical treatment for complicated Buruli ulcer cases. In four other regions affected by a high density of Buruli ulcer we support treatment centres: Atok, Bankim, Mbongwe and Mbalmayo.
Despite improved early diagnosis, cases of severe deformities needing surgery and rehabilitation still occur. Most sufferers can be helped by the local surgery team in Ayos. For the most complicated cases, we have set up a medical exchange programme: once a year, specialised surgeons travel from Switzerland to Ayos where they operate on thirty to sixty patients over a two-week period. Patients often find the results miraculous. The programme also serves to train the local personnel.
Because Buruli ulcer patients with disabilities need intensive care, we have developed a rehabilitation and physiotherapy programme. Since 2009, this programme, together with a "Handbook for simple Buruli ulcer rehabilitation" has been distributed as a standard work by the WHO. Starting from the most basic knowledge, it conveys practical ways in which handicapped limbs can be made functional again in the hospital, the heath centres, the community and in the family.
Further information on Buruli ulcer
Leprosy has become less prevalent in Cameroon thanks to more effective medicines and our efforts. Nevertheless, around 400 people become infected each year. These come from a few regions, in which the disease continues to be quite common. Leprosy remains a threat and could spread again in the absence of further measures. In order to prevent this, we are training community volunteers. They learn how to recognise leprosy in good time, ensure that sufferers receive the necessary medicines and accompany them during the treatment.
Many seriously disabled persons live in the around 30 leprosariums. We help sufferers to build their own home and set up a small business in order to reintegrate themselves in their village community. However, the elderly and sick who are often badly afflicted by leprosy, remain dependent on our support in the leprosariums in order to be able to lead a decent life.
Further information on leprosy
Tuberculosis is the deadliest endemic disease in Cameroon, infecting some 35’000 people in 2007, of whom only 25'000 received treatment and 5’000 died. Tuberculosis particularly affects the poor. They are often badly nourished, have a weak immune system and live in crowded conditions. This is the reason why the disease is particularly prevalent in the slums and in rural regions among marginalised and undernourished people.
Where we train community volunteers, an important part of their training deals, in addition to Buruli ulcer and leprosy, with the early detection of tuberculosis and the accompaniment of patients during their treatment. Healing can only be achieved through a complete course of treatment lasting six to eight months. The volunteers support patients, thereby helping to discourage them from stopping the therapy.
We support the temporary provision of additional protein-rich foods to tuberculosis sufferers. In the first two months especially, patients are often undernourished and weak. Most deaths occur in this phase of the treatment. Additional food strengthens the patients and saves lives.
Success in the fight against tuberculosis is dependent on the quality of the health services. Correct diagnosis and treatment needs specialist knowledge. We support the state-run health services through training courses and supervision thereby contributing to the number of people healed.
In 2010 we start new projects in the North-West and in Betare Oya in the East of Cameroon. There, too, strengthening the health system and improving access to primary health care is the focus. We will reach out to 70'000 people in Bankim, in the North-West, and about 25'000 in Betare Oya and empower them to improve their health situation on their own and in collaboration with the health centres.
The work in Bankim is financially supported by 
The Pygmies of Cameroon live on the fringes of society. Their habitat is threatened by deforestation, they are being forced to put down roots and live an unaccustomed life as settled people. The dietary situation is precarious, the children are undernourished and infested with parasites. One child in five dies before its fifth birthday, one woman in ten dies in childbirth. They have virtually no rights and almost no access to medical care. They often die of eminently healable diseases. The list of threats is long. It includes leprosy, tuberculosis, malaria, types of pneumonia, typhoid, bacterial diarrhoea and many parasitic diseases.
Since 2008, we have been conducting a project especially for the Pygmies in the east of Cameroon. In the Abong Mbang district, we have been helping some 30’000 people to organise themselves better and to gain a voice. Volunteers from the village community are being trained as health assistants. These volunteers are able to initiate often life-saving treatment for the most frequently occurring diseases and to advise the people on hygiene and diet. We train the traditional midwives to help them accompany births more effectively and identify high-risk pregnancies in good time. A communal fund provides the money required when hospital treatments are needed. Our local partner is CADDAP, an organisation founded by the Pygmies themselves. Through the work with the Pygmies for the Pygmies and the systematic approach of helping people to help themselves, we are confident that the health situation and life expectancy of the forest dwellers in Abong Mbang will be significantly improved during the four years of the project (2008-2011).
The health centres in Cameroon are often run down, abandoned, or lacking medicines as is the case in Abong Mbang. As a result, patients often have to travel many kilometres to hospital. That is expensive and time-consuming. It causes many unnecessary deaths, for example in the event of birth complications or deadly diseases like malaria. In order to facilitate healthcare access for the Pygmies, we are improving the quality of the health centres in Abong Mbang: we are training the health workers, obtaining medicines and equipment, providing motorcycles for a mobile health service in the villages and supporting the supervision and quality assurance of the medical work. These measures will benefit both the Pygmies as well as the resident population, the so-called Bantu. Although the Bantu have better living conditions than the forest dwellers and enjoy full civil rights, they, too, often live in poverty and their children and mothers in particular are at risk of illness and death.