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The Context: A Brief Overview of Cameroun
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Youth staff and peer educators at FESADE, one of IWHC's colleague organizations in Cameroun, march for "Youth free from AIDS, to better participate in development" in Yaoundé in 2002.
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Following centuries of foreign encroachment—from the 15th-century Muslim and Portuguese slave trades to the turbulent decades of late-19th- and early-20th-century colonial rule by three separate European powers—Cameroun established its independence in 1960. As in many African countries, women played a significant role in the movement for independence, their activism strongly influenced by a variety of leftist movements, including both African and French feminist traditions. A decade of transition followed, as the northern, English-speaking region voted to join Nigeria, and the southern, French-speaking area chose to throw its lot in with newly inaugurated President Ahmadou Ahidjo, hailing from Cameroun's Muslim north. Throughout the 1970s, agriculture and industry thrived under Ahidjo's leadership, and the discovery of oil promised a future of even greater economic and political stability. But Ahidjo's commitment to democracy gradually slackened, and the corruption of his Administration steadily increased. In 1982, he ceded the presidency to his 49-year-old prime minister, Paul Biya, who has been in power ever since.
The 1980s were years of political and economic decline for the country. In 1987, the end of the oil boom and a series of natural and industrial disasters ushered in economic crisis and a massive devaluation of the CFA, Cameroun's currency. The 1990s brought political unrest in the form of strikes and protests against the increasingly corrupt and undemocratic Biya regime (resulting in a crackdown on social and political freedoms), and mounting clashes with Nigeria over control of the northern, oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula. Recent years have ushered in a host of new challenges, including a crumbling health system, growing rates of poverty and unemployment (48 percent of Camerounians live below the poverty line, and 30 percent are unemployed), and a spike in the overall prevalence of HIV/AIDS, which reached an alarming 11 percent in 2003. In 2000 the World Bank began construction of an oil pipeline linking Chad's oil reserves to the Camerounian coast. This project, bringing an influx of workers from across the country and elsewhere in Africa, and disrupting local Pygmy communities, could have major ramifications for HIV transmission in Cameroun.
Cameroun at a glance
Government type: Unitary republic (multiparty presidential regime led by Paul Biya since 1982)
Languages: French and English (official), 24 African languages
Ethnic groups: Cameroon Highlanders 31%; Equatorial Bantu 19%; Kirdi 11%; Fulani 10%; N.Western Bantu 8%; E. Nigritic 7%; other African 13%; non-African <1%
Religious beliefs: Indigenous beliefs 40%; Christian 40%; Muslim 20%
Labor Force: 70% Agriculture; 13% industry and commerce; 17% other
Total population: 16 million
Percent of the population under the age of 15: 43%
Urban population: 48%
Life expectancy: 48 years
Focus on reproductive health
Total fertility rate (average number of children born to a woman in her lifetime): 4.9
Contraceptive prevalence rate (among married women aged 14-49): 8% (modern methods), 26% (all methods)
Maternal mortality ratio (maternal deaths per 100,000 live births): 720
In Cameroun abortion is legal to save the life of the woman or protect her physical health. It is also legal in instances of rape.
Focus on young women
Percentage of single females aged 15-19 who are sexually active: 13.5%
Percentage of females aged 15-19 who are currently married: 34%
Women's average age at first marriage: 18
Percentage of females who have given birth by age 20: 54%
Focus on HIV/AIDS
*Percentage of adults living with HIV/AIDS: 6.9%
Percentage of adults living with HIV/AIDS who are women: 63%
*Number HIV-positive adults (aged 15-49): 520,000
*Number of HIV-positive women (aged 15-49): 290,000
70% of new HIV cases occur in men and women between the ages of 15 and 25.
Focus on gender
Percentage of female-headed households: 18%
Literacy rate for women (ages 15+): 70%
Literacy rate for men (ages 15+): 82%
Women as a percent of parliament: 6%
In 2000, 51% of women aged 15-64 were participating in the labor force, compared to 86% of men in the same age group.
Source: Population Reference Bureau, www.prb.org
*Source: UNAIDS, www.unaids.org
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