“I was coughing. My eyes were red, and my nose was running. My skin had rashes.”
7-year-old Djoubeda from Mayo-Oulo village in Cameroon’s North region was at home with her grandmother when she started showing worrying symptoms of measles.
A highly contagious viral infection, measles spreads easily among the unvaccinated—with young children at highest risk. It’s a serious illness that can require hospital admission, cause permanent disability, and even kill if not treated properly.
But thankfully help wasn’t far away. Local Cameroon Red Cross Society volunteer, Ramatou—affectionately known as Aunty Ramatou in the village—was called to come see little Djoubeda straight away.
Ramatou had previously received training in how to recognize and prevent disease outbreaks, and how to quickly report any unusual health events to authorities, through the Community Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness Programme (CP3).
“I received training on detecting diseases in the population. When I visited Djoubeda, I deduced her symptoms resembled measles and that inaction could spread it,” she explains.
Without hesitation, Ramatou notified local health authorities of the suspected measles case using a digital community-based surveillance tool set up through the CP3 programme, then took Djoubeda straight to the nearest health centre.
Within three days, tests confirmed that Djoubeda did indeed have measles. During that time, Ramatou and fellow CP3 volunteers got to work educating the community in Mayo-Oulo about measles signs and symptoms, how to prevent it from spreading, and how to report if they noticed something was wrong.
Upon confirmation of measles, local health authorities immediately launched a mass vaccination campaign in and around the village—calling upon Cameroon Red Cross volunteers for their support in sharing trusted health information about the vaccines and encouraging families to bring their children along to be immunized.
“It’s you, the Red Cross, going around to sensitize us. It’s because of people going around the village talking about vaccination that I brought him,” explains Maya Sylvie, a mother from Mayo-Oulo village who was supported by the Cameroon Red Cross to vaccinate her baby boy.
To achieve herd immunity against measles and prevent recurring outbreaks, at least 95% of the population must be fully vaccinated. This vaccination campaign was therefore a huge joint effort between local health authorities and Cameroon Red Cross volunteers, who mobilized as many community members as possible to bring their children for their jabs. Thankfully, since this outbreak, local health authorities haven’t recorded any further measles cases.
“We vaccinated nearly 500 children. What if this epidemic had not been stopped? Measles is deadly. We could have recorded a lot of deaths. After the Ministry vaccinated all the children, we have not had any more cases of measles,” explains Dr Laboulaye, Head of the Mayo-Oulo Health Centre.
“I want to say to the Red Cross: thank you. Thank you for your support, for all your disease prevention activities and help with the response,” she adds.
For Ramatou, learning the skills to quickly detect and report outbreaks in Mayo-Oulo was exactly why she wanted to volunteer in the first place:
“I’ve lived here for over 30 years, since I was 6 years old. I became a CP3 volunteer to help my community. As a volunteer, my motivation is to save lives, ease pain, help the sick, and prevent diseases from spreading. What pleases me is that people listen, volunteers work well, the past diseases are gone and the community values and appreciates our efforts.”
And as for little Djoubeda, she happily made a full recovery from measles and is grateful to Ramatou for being there for her when she was sick.
“I was injected and given medicine. I got better and went back home. Aunty Ramatou, who wears the uniform, does her job well,” she says.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).