Child Wellbeing: Cameroon ranked 49th in Africa
Child Wellbeing: Cameroon ranked 49th in Africa
Following the African report on child wellbeing 2023, published on the 14 of November 2023, by the African child policy forum (ACPF), Cameroon scored a provision index of 0.2569.
Cameroon is classified 49th out of the 52 African countries, on the ACPF index 2023, with a provision index score of 0.2569. The government of Cameroon and those of 37 other African countries who did not score a pass mark according to the report, were guilty of having high rate of child malnutrition, difficulty in accessing primary education, very limited sources of good portable water in their countries.
Still amongst the 38, Cameroon and nine others have been referred to as « The worst-performing countries in combating child poverty » her co-members on the list are « South Sudan, Eritrea, the Central African Republic, Chad, Uganda, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau ».
They are also said to have fallen short of crafting economic policies which are geared towards poverty alleviation for children. That is, ensuring that public budgets for key sectors takes into consideration the needs of children. After penning down this information, contained in their 2023 report, the ACPF reveals that « The poor performance of most African governments in combating child poverty points to an overall lack of leadership and of political commitment to respecting, promoting and fulfilling children’s rights ».
According to the ACPF index found in the report, the performance of African governments in the fight against child poverty in their countries is very poor. Ten countries in the continent stood out in 2023 in their fight to provide their children with basic social amenities. « Tunisia has gained the highest score. The other countries in the top ten are Algeria, Cabo Verde, the Seychelles, South Africa, Mauritius, Namibia, Botswana, Morocco and Egypt » it also echoes that all the other countries are far from fulfilling their duties to their children as required by the African charter on the rights and welfare of the child, as well as the UN convention on the rights of the child and even their own constitutions and laws.
Rex Afon (Intern)
