Prevalence reportedly dropped from 42 per cent to about 30 per cent in communities and 25 per cent in enterprises.

Efforts to reduce malaria are significantly paying off. The Coalition of Business Community against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria (CCA/SIDA) says its free screening and disinfection campaigns against malaria across certain communities and enterprises in Douala have greatly cut down on the prevalence rate.

The campaigns have witnessed a drop in malaria prevalence across the communities from 42 per cent to about 30 per cent and 25 per cent in enterprises, according to surveys conducted before and after the campaigns. However, there has been a malaria prevalence drop to about 10 per cent in certain communities. Success of the campaigns is attributed to increasing use of treated mosquito bed nets, disinfection of homes and toilets with insecticides as well as distribution of free drugs to malaria patients.

Beneficiaries of the campaigns ranged from children through pregnant women to adults of all ages. More than 2,000 people in all benefitted from the health campaigns throughout the four months.

In line with its malaria control programme in enterprises and communities, CCA/SIDA with funds and other support from the GlaxoSmithKline Foundation, ExxonMobil, New Way and the Cameroon Oil Transportation Company, screened and sensitised the population in neighbourhoods such as Sodiko, Mambanda, Bonamikano, Nkondo and Dikolo, as well as Bali and New Bell Congo where the campaigns rounded up.

Other specific activities carried out in the past four months include free screenings carried out during the international event dubbed "Candlelight Memorial". Some 768 people who screened for malaria during the event showed a prevalence rate of 1.33 per cent. Free screenings were also carried out for business people in Marché Dakar and Marché Central.

Refugee women from Central African Republic, Chad, Burundi, Rwanda, and Guinea (about 117) were kept abreast with family planning methods, risk-free maternity, prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS. Meanwhile, Muslim women were sensitised on how to manage and prevent disease. Meanwhile, malaria sensitisation messages were broadcast in Hausa and Fulfulde languages across community radio stations, according to Christian Ambassa, CCA/SIDA Communication Officer.