Community perception of the determinants of unmet needs of family planning among married women in Buea Health District, Southwest Region, Cameroon.

Introduction: in Cameroon, and more specifically in the Buea Health District of the Southwest Region, there are still a few unmet family planning needs. Many women desire to avoid getting pregnant, but do not use an effective form of birth control. A focus group discussion among married women in the Buea health district was necessary to explore the determinants of unmet family planning in order to promote access to and use of long-acting modern contraceptive methods because most research studies have only focused on the quantitative aspect. Methods: focus groups were held in the community and in the medical facilities as part of the study's qualitative exploratory strategy. To invite the participants, invitations were sent out. A qualitative survey of 10-12 respondents was carried out by the researcher, in each Focus Group the discussed topics included factors that encourage the use of FP methods, making the switch from traditional to modern FP methods, family planning methods decision-making, accessibility of FP in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Each focus group discussion lasted 1 hour 30 minutes, the perception was collected in an audiotape recorder and later transcript verbatim. The team conducted 10 Focus Group Discussion (FGD) (four of each of the topic areas). The FGD team provided participants with light refreshments. Results: a total of 10 focus groups were conducted, reaching a total participant of 107. The N-Vivo analysis software was used to analyze the data. The following are some of the key participant perceptions that have been reported. Perceptions of family planning; for health reasons as well as social expectations and pressures, having children earlier in marriage was a wise decision. While there are certain issues with having children early in life, such as the mother's maturity and financial stability, having a kid as soon as feasible is the best option. It is best to have children within the first two years of marriage, with a three-to-five-year gap between them. Reasons for changing from traditional to modern family planning; The most significant issues with current birth control techniques (such as condoms, pills (postinor-2), implants, injectables, and IUDs) are those that affect a woman's body. Regardless of the issues, they experience with contraception, there are some benefits to utilizing it. Both modern and classic FP methods have the potential to fail. Making family planning decisions; extended families, particularly mothers-in-law, have a strong influence on family planning and size decisions, and family members assist in resolving FP issues and challenges. Participants want to know about the adverse effects of current birth control techniques, especially in the long run, and how contraceptives affect a future pregnancy. Accessibility of FP in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic; participants have mixed perceptions of whether the COVID-19 context influences their accessibility to family planning. Conclusion: the focus groups demonstrated that participants have a nuanced and sophisticated awareness of pertinent topics that significantly impact them. While cultural and social conventions surrounding family planning difficulties and decision-making continue to put pressure on women, traditional and modern family planning methods are well-known. Participants also reported a strong desire to learn more about family planning alternatives, the effects of different methods on their bodies, and to have access to a wider selection of general and specialized family planning services. Fear was produced by the backdrop of COVID-19, but women are rapidly overcoming these fears to have access to family planning.

Trends in the population knowledge, attitudes and practices toward COVID-19 in the Buea municipality two months after the onset of the pandemic in Cameroon.

INTRODUCTION: two months into the COVID-19 pandemic in Cameroon, we assess the trend in the knowledge, attitude and practices of the population with the progression of the disease and the implementation of preventive methods put in place by the government of Cameroon and health partners organizations in response to the pandemic. METHODS: this was a cross-sectional study conducted in selected health areas in the Buea municipality. A questionnaire was administered at the onset and two months later to collect data on the participants´ knowledge, attitude and practices towards COVID-19. The data were analyzed in SPSS version 25. RESULTS: a total of 480 and 680 participants were sampled at onset and two months later respectively. Of the 26 indicators of knowledge assessed, 22 (84.61%) showed significant increase (p<0.05) with the most significant changes observed with the symptoms, mode of transmission and prevention of the disease. The overall proportion of people with correct knowledge moved from 9.1% at onset to 41.4% two months after. Only 1.5% of participants had poor knowledge of the pandemic two months after against 14.2% at the onset. There was a significant (p<0.05) positive change in the population perception, attitude and practices toward COVID-19 two months after the onset of the pandemic. CONCLUSION: the population knowledge, attitude and practices on COVID-19 showed a positive trend two months after the onset of the pandemic. The implementation of government and health stakeholder preventive measures together with the incidence of the pandemic in Cameroon probably had a positive impact on the positive trend observed. There is a need for continuous sensitization to completely fill the knowledge gap of the population on COVID-19.

COVID-19 knowledge, attitudes and practices in a conflict affected area of the South West Region of Cameroon.

INTRODUCTION: since December 2019, the world is experiencing, the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the Virus SARS-CoV-2. It is feared that the pandemic maybe more devastating in conflict affected areas in the world. This study assessed the knowledge, attitudes and practices with regard to the COVID-19 in Buea municipality, Cameroon. METHODS: this was a cross-sectional study carried out in communities selected from 5 health areas of the Buea Health District. A questionnaire was administered to collect data on the knowledge, attitudes and practices on COVID-19. The knowledge was measured using a 26-points Liker scale on awareness, mode of transmission, clinical manifestation, site of the infection and prevention. The data was analyzed in SPSS version 25. RESULTS: of the 545 particpants who consented, 21.9% had a correct knowledge of COVID-19, 43.8% had intermediate knowledge, 34.4% had poor knowledge and 11.93% had no knowledge. Majority of the participants (73.3%) knew they were at risk of contacting the infection. They were aware that cleaning and disinfecting the environment (78.8%), reducing contact with animals (56.3%) could help prevent the infection. Even though participants knew about the face mask (93.5%) and hand sanitizers (88.8%), only 21.7% and 32.9% had purchased them respectively. Few participants reported that they will go to a man of God (6.0%), native doctor (3.5%) and auto-medication (25.8%) if infected. CONCLUSION: There is still a knowledge gap in the Buea population with respect to COVID-19. The population is aware of the disease and preventive measures, but few have taken steps to procure essential tools for the prevention. There is need to intensify sensitization to fill the knowledge gap the population has with regards to COVID-19.

Anopheles species of the mount Cameroon region: biting habits, feeding behaviour and entomological inoculation rates.

There is a lack of data on the Anopheles fauna, its biology and the roles played by different vector species in the transmission of malaria in the mount Cameroon region. The biting habits, feeding behaviour and entomological inoculation rates of different Anopheles species during the dry and rainy season were investigated. A total of 2165 Anopheles was collected, 805 in the rainy season and 1360 in the dry season. Five Anopheles species were identified: Anopheles gambiae s.l., An. funestus, An. hancocki, An. moucheti and An. nili. An. gambiae, An. funestus and An. hancocki, recorded during both seasons, were the main vectors of malaria in the region. An. gambiae s.s. was the only member of the An. gambiae (Giles) complex. These three species had their peak activity between 1 and 2 am. A human blood index (HBI) of 98.29% was recorded for fed Anopheles. The sporozoite rate, for all vectors together, was significantly higher in the rainy season (9.4%) than in the dry season (4.2%) with all the species infected by Plasmodium falciparum. The average inoculation rate was 0.44 infective bites per man per night, which adds up to 161 infective bites per year in this study area. Analyses of relative abundance and infection rate of malaria vectors at different sites situated along a transect of 20 km during the dry season showed high heterogeneity in biting and sporozoite rates. No malaria vector was caught at 1200 m a.s.l. The mount Cameroon region should be considered an area of high malaria transmission intensity.