Virtual Museum for NACHA

Our team worked with the Nso’ Arts and Cultural Heritage Association and created a virtual museum in order to increase awareness of the unique culture of the Nso’ people in Cameroon, Africa. A lot of information from this region is in danger of being lost due to political tension and poor artifact conservation, and many people, including the Cameroonian youth, are not prioritizing the preservation of their culture and history. Creating a website where individuals can view the art, history, and culture found in Cameroon is the best way to increase the availability of knowledge of the Nso’ people. Such a system will not only allow individuals to become more familiar with Cameroon, but it will also allow researchers to update the site and add new information as they go deeper into their research. Since anyone with a web-enabled device will be able to access the virtual museum, it has the potential to get people from around the world, including the youth in Cameroon, interested in learning more about the art, history, and traditions native to that region

Molecular evidence of Plasmodium vivax infection in Duffy negative symptomatic individuals from Dschang, West Cameroon

Background: Plasmodium vivax infection is known to be rare in West/Central Africa, the most accepted explanation being the lack of expression of erythroid Duffy antigen in the local human populations. Duffy negativity prevents the parasite to exploit the entry mechanism on the red blood cell surface. However, there are a growing number of reported vivax infections in Duffy-negative individuals. Data on P. vivax circulation in Cameroon are limited. The aim of the study was to evaluate the P. vivax presence, and its association with the Duffy genotype in West Cameroon. Results: Overall, 484 blood samples were collected consecutively from febrile outpatients attending the Dschang’s Hospital (West Cameroon) during a 3-months period. Plasmodium vivax infection was detected by PCR in 5.6% (n = 27/484) of the cases, representing 38.6% (n = 27/70) of all Plasmodium infections detected. All P. vivax infected individuals showed a Duffy-negative genotype, and the frequency of Duffy-positive individuals in the whole tested population was 1.7%. Conclusions: The results of this study confirm the circulation of P. vivax in Cameroon, as well as that the lack of expression of Duffy-antigen does not confer full protection against vivax malaria acquisition

How integration into the Central African Economic and Monetary Community affects Cameroon's economy: general equilibrium estimates

The authors quantify the impact on Cameroon of three aspects of its new regional trade agreement with the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (the CEMAC agreement): i) improved access to markets in CEMAC; ii) preferential tariff reduction; and iii) reduction of its external tariff through implementation of the common external tariff of CEMAC. They estimate that Cameroon will gain from the agreement but show how Cameroon's regional market power greatly affects the magnitude of its gains. They assume that Cameroon has regional market power in both imports and exports despite being small in world markets. They find that better access to partner markets and reduction of the external tariff explain virtually all of Cameroon's welfare gain. In their preferred scenario (Cameroon having regional market power), reduction of the external tariff explains three-quarters of the welfare gain. If Cameroon further reduces tariffs to its regional partners, the effect on its economy is a loss of real income but the impact is negligible. Should Cameroon's partners fail to provide tariff-free access to their markets, the authors estimate that, given Cameroon's regional market power, Cameroon would gain even more from free trade than it would from implementing the CEMAC arrangements.Economic Theory&Research,Trade Policy,Environmental Economics&Policies,Markets and Market Access,Export Competitiveness,TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT,Environmental Economics&Policies,Trade and Regional Integration,Economic Theory&Research,Access to Markets

“External Debt, Domestic Investment and Economic Growth in Cameroon” A system Estimation Approach

The feedback of external debt on economic growth through gross domestic investment has provided quite interesting results throughout the world especially in developing countries where external and internal borrowing have been a tradition. Based on a system estimation approach, using Two Stage Least Squares as an estimation technique in the case of Cameroon for a period of 34 years (1980-2013), the results reveal that while domestic investment increases economic growth, external debt retards economic growth in Cameroon, revealing the influence of debt overhang. It was therefore concluded that external debts adversely affect economic growth in Cameroon and thus, as a major recommendation, the authorities are expected to improve on the performance of external debt through proper debt management, a complete debt relief and using the debt in productive sectors for production of goods and services

Family, obligations, and migration

The aim of this paper is to investigate the influence of family and kin networks on the individual decision to migrate. The study is based on qualitative ethnographic data which was collected during a field research in Cameroon in spring 2005, showing the considerable impact of the extended family on the migrant’s choice to leave Cameroon for Germany. Migrants do not solely move for their own achievements and purposes, but rather as significant members of their entire immediate family. The individual is part of an informal reciprocal system of exchange which is based on trust and has social consequences, and includes duties and responsibilities for both sides.anthropology, Cameroon, family networks, migration

New species, records, and a synonymy of African Sisyridae (Neuroptera)

Two species of the genus Sisyra Burmeister (Neuroptera: Sisyridae), S. cameroonensis, n. sp., and S. gruwelli, n. sp., are described from the African Republic of Cameroon. Sisyra pallida Meinander is synonymized with Sisyra delicata Smithers, new synonymy, after comparison of the types of the former with topotypic paratypes of the latter. Type material of Sisyra nilotica Tjeder appears to be lost. Examples of Sisyra are recorded from Nigeria, Ethiopia and Uganda. A second species of the endemic African genus, Sisyborina, Monserrat, S. scitula, n. sp., is described from Cameroon, Guinea, and Zambia

Networks and Networking in the Cameroon Highlands: An Occasional Paper on Capacity Builders' Experience

This report looks at the impacts of civil society networking trainings in Cameroon Highland

Comparing the Private Cost of Education at Public, Private, and Faith-Based Schools in Cameroon

This paper uses recent household survey data for Cameroon to measure the cost for households of the education services that their children receive and assess how this cost varies according to the type of service provider. Contrary to what has been observed in some other countries, the data suggest that faith-based schools in Cameroon serve primarily better-off children, with public schools serving the poor more. Faith-based schools are also more expensive for households than private schools (possibly due to lower levels of public funding). This may be one of the reasons why the poor tend to go to public schools more than to faith-based schools.Education; cost of schooling; faith-based schools; public schools; Cameroon

Using weight-for-age for predicting wasted children

Background: The equipments for taking body weights (scales) are more frequent in Cameroon health centres than measuring boards for heights. Even when the later exist there are some difficulties inherent in their qualities; thus the height measurement is not always available or accurate. Objective: To construct statistical models for predicting wasting from weight-for-age. Methods: 3742 children a ged 0 to 59 months were enrolled in a cross-sectional household survey (2004 Cameroon Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS)) covering the entire Cameroon national territory. Results: There were highly significant association between underweight and wasting. For all discriminant statistical methods used, the test error rates (using an independent testing sample) are less than 5%; the Area Under the Curve (AUC) using the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) is 0.86. Conclusions: Weight-for-age can be used for accurately classifying a child whose wasting status is unknown. The result is useful in Cameroon as too often the height measurements may not be feasible, thus the need for estimating wasted children.Anthropometric measures, nutritional status, discriminant analysis, underweight, wasting