The vaccination rate in the District Health Service of Muyuka, Cameroon’s Southwest region, has risen to over 80 percent from 30 percent five years ago, Dr. Njang Mbeng Emmanuel, District Medical Officer, has revealed.
He said this during an interview with The Post in Muyuka on Thursday, April 30, as the district joined the entire nation and the African continent at large to commemorate African Immunization Week 2026.
Held at the Muyuka District Hospital, the event was characterised by a series of health talks, honours to nurses and community health workers, and vaccination of children, among other activities.
There, mothers brought their children—the oldest being age five—who were vaccinated against polio, IPV, yellow fever, HPV, and measles, among other diseases.
“For us here at the Muyuka Health District, it’s been very special because of the journey we have covered in the last five years,” Chief Medical Officer of the Muyuka Health District Dr. Njang Mbeng Emmanuel, said, enumerating the various activities that happened between April 24 and 30, which was African Immunisation Week. The activities included stakeholder engagement, capacity building, celebrating parents’ adherence to their children’s vaccination calendar, recognition of key health workers, and a dedicated vaccination team at the district hospital for optimising vaccination coverage.
“In 2021, Muyuka Health District had a vaccination rate of about 30 percent, but over the past five years, we have increased it to over 80 percent,” Dr. Njang added, thanking the Ministry of Health and its partners, stakeholders of the Muyuka Health District—directors of health facilities, health workers, and parents—for their efforts.
“We are using this opportunity to appreciate our efforts and to tell the community that vaccines from generation to generation work”, he said.
The end of immunisation week does not mean the end of vaccination at Muyuka District Hospital.
“We are doing vaccination 24/7,” Dr. Ngoni Frankline, director of the Muyuka District Hospital, said. “This area was once affected by the sociopolitical crisis, and the population is coming back. We are encouraging people to use the facility and come for vaccination services.”
According to the hospital director, there is a whole unit dedicated to vaccination, and vaccines are available and properly stored.
“Feel free to come any day, any time, and have your children vaccinated,” he urged the parents.
Muyuka Health District was affected just like other places suffering from the ongoing separatist armed conflict in Cameroon’s Northwest and Southwest regions. Because of that, many people left for safer areas, and the vaccination rate in the district plummeted. Even the district hospital was attacked, and sections were burnt.
Now, it has been rehabilitated and is operating at full capacity, and the district as a whole has seen its population return to normalcy.
However, despite the past challenging times, there were others who stayed, ensuring that people’s access to healthcare was not affected.
One of them is John Enow Eyong, a community health worker who has served in Muyuka for over 20 years. He says his determination and zeal to ensure a healthy community continue to motivate him.
Because of him and the vaccination teams, parents like Gwanpu Vigina, a mother of two, can boast that her children respond positively to vaccinations.
“Since I started vaccinating my child, he has never fallen sick. Always healthy,” she told The Post.
Because of the collaboration from the various stakeholders and strides recorded so far, the health district under the leadership of Dr. Njang Mbeng Emmanuel awarded certificates and gifts to nurses involved in vaccination, parents who have remained consistent in vaccinating their children, and health workers who have continued to go into communities to advise parents on the various ongoing vaccinations.
This story was done in collaboration with The Post Newspaper
