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Cameroon: North-West and South-West - Situation Report No. 18, As of 30 April 2020

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Cameroon
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OCHA
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This report is produced by OCHA Cameroon in collaboration with humanitarian partners. It covers 1 – 30 April 2020. The next report will be issued in June 2020.

APRIL 2020 HIGHLIGHTS

• All clusters have developed COVID-19 response guidelines and agreed on how lifesaving interventions can continue as safely as possible.
• 4,864 conflict affected children in informal learning centres continue learning through distance education. • Food Security Cluster observed over a 90% decrease in persons reached compared to the month of March due to COVID-19 interruptions.
• 90 frontline humanitarian actors and 200 Red Cross volunteers were trained on COVID-19 transmission and prevention in the South West (SW) region. A similar exercise is planned for the North West (NW) region in the coming weeks.
• 7,483 beneficiaries received essential healthcare services through mobile clinics in April 2020 • A 6 months supply of nutritional commodities and essential medicines have been prepositioned in Buea/Bamenda and are being dispatched to health facilities.
• 1.064 vulnerable children, including unaccompanied and separated Children were supported and followed-up through case management services in April 2020.
• 63% (41/65) of subdivisions in the NWSW do not have psychosocial support services for GBV survivors and 85% of sub-divisions have no GBV case management services. 55% of 55 assessed health facilities in the NWSW regions do not have post rape kits.

SITUATION OVERVIEW

The situation in the North West and South West (NWSW) regions of Cameroon remains grave as communities are caught between two emergencies; the four-year old socio-political crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. Parties to the conflict have largely ignored calls for a ceasefire and violence is ongoing, leading to continued displacement. In April, 7,773 persons from 1,365 households were forced to flee from their villages as a result of violence. Shelter, NFI, protection and food insecurity continue to be the most urgent needs for the displaced populations. The March 2020 Cadre Harmonisé indicated that 1.4 million people in NWSW were in crisis or emergency phases of food insecurity, a 34% deterioration in the food security situation since the previous assessment published in October 2019.

The situation is further complicated by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. More cases of COVID-19 are being recorded as community transmission grows in the regions. As of 30 April, the NW had 16 confirmed cases and the SW 31. The situation is expected to get worse as many IDPs (1,119 individuals during the month of April) particularly from the Center, West and Littoral regions are returning to the NWSW for fear of contracting the virus in these hard-hit regions. Those returning generally report that they will only remain in the NWSW until schools re-open elsewhere in the country. The propagation of the virus in communities has forced humanitarian actors to restrict movements and activities pending the adoption of cluster implementation strategies and SOPs to mitigate risks from COVID-19.

Many frontline humanitarian actors do not have the necessary basic personal protection equipment (PPE) such as masks, gloves, hand sanitiser etc.

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit https://www.unocha.org/.