Mere hand washing saves in Cameroon

The Cameroon Minister of Public Health is today granting a press conference. We will be treated to updates on the cholera outbreak. As usual it is hard to tell the exact number of people who have died in Cameroon over the last couple of weeks because of cholera. Official figures swing between 200 and 350 people.
I won’t venture to guess what reality might be. Cholera surfaced in the arid and poverty stricken Northern part of Cameroon and panic gripped the rest of the country as the disease flowed down the “civilized” South of the country. I mean real panic! Check this out.
A passenger crowded train (typical of sub Saharan Africa) making a routine trip from the cholera North to the South had to be stopped on its tracks when a victim was identified on board. The rest of the passengers were held hostage for a whole day by state authorities. Reason. The train must be disinfected and checks carried out to prevent the spread of cholera to the rest of the country.
Panic continues. A case is reported in the West Region; another in the East, Littoral etc. Unfortunately, the unreported cases grow. The advantage with this category is that the death toll keeps official figures down.
Smart state agents, NGOs and Common Initiative groups are having a feast – raising and using funds “to fight cholera” – Meetings here (with five coffee breaks and meals), missions there (with cholera allowances); conferences and brainstorming (with per diems).
This smart league for the protection of consumers comes up with a simple but eye catching idea. Buy and distribute a few bars of soap in addition to the slogan “wash your hands before and after meals – before?? and (obviously) after visiting the toilet”. The so called big media went for the story. Donors too are running to swell the league’s purse. Mere hand washing can save indeed.
The truth of the matter is, we need to get to the roots of what has been termed, “the poor man’s disease”. Some citizens think it is the “dirty man’s disease”.