ABSTRACT
This article describes an ongoing research project designed to compile a database to promote pastoral development in the lowlands along the Logone and Chari Rivers in Cameroon. A number of sedentary and nomadic populations depend on these flood plains south of Lake Chad for their livelihood. However the natural resources of the area undergo sharp seasonal variations and sometimes become the property of sedentary groups. As a result nomadic communities experience difficulty not only in gaining access to grazing lands and water but also to quality health care (hospital centers; effective medication). The purpose of this study was to define institutional requirements necessary to ensure access to health care resources for both nomadic and sedentary groups. The main problem for the nomadic population is that; unlike the now defunct precolonial structures; today's institutions are not compatible with the subsistence strategies of rural populations. These findingss u ggest that new institutional framewo rks for nat u ral resource management could indirectly improve the health status of nomadic pastoralist