A financial cooperation agreement for phase III of a sub-regional project was signed in Yaounde on Wednesday November 6, 2013.

The Federal Republic of Germany has reached an agreement with the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) for Germany to disburse some 23 million Euros (about FCFA 15 billion) to combat HIV/AIDS within the sub-region.

The German Ambassador to Cameroon, Dr. Klaus-Ludwig Keferstein and Jean Eudes Teya, Commissioner at CEMAC, who sat in for the CEMAC Commission President, signed the financial cooperation agreement at the head office of the Coordination Organisation for the Fight Against Endemics in Central Africa (OCEAC) yesterday November 6, 2013. The money will finance phase III of the Project to Prevent HIV-AIDS in Central Africa (PPSAC).

It emerged from the ceremony that the German government has already mobilised 10 million Euros (about 6.5 billion), through the German Development Bank (KfW), to kick-start the project. It will among others consist in making available quality and quantity preservatives, both male and female, to halt the spread of the pandemic. "We are out to make easier universal access to both male and female condoms, zero infections and zero stigmatisation of the affected and infected population," the German diplomat said.

Meanwhile, like the Executive Secretary of OCEAC, Dr. Constant Roger Ayenengoye, Jean Eudes Teya said the German gift will greatly ensure a coordinated fight against the pandemic which is not just a serious public health problem in the sub-region but a speed brake to sustainable socio-economic development as well. Phase III runs from 2013 - 2016 and necessitates the recruitment of a consulting firm, acquisition of preservatives and other equipment as well as the development of adequate measures to reach the target of the project.

Supplementary funds (about FCFA 2.6 billion) will come from the sale of the preservatives. Negotiations are ongoing to bring Gabon and Equatorial Guinea into the project.

For the first phase of the project which ran from 2006 - 2008, the German government disbursed 10 million Euros (about 6.5 billion) and chipped in 25 million Euros (about FCFA 16.5 billion) for the second phase which ran from 2009 - 2012. Statistics show an average prevalence rate of the killer disease in the sub-region at 5.2 per cent with 5.5 per cent in Cameroon, 6.2 per cent in Central African Republic, 3.2 per cent in Congo, 5.9 per cent in Gabon, 7.2 per cent in Equatorial Guinea and 3.3 per cent in Chad.