Anyizi Bertha Nkemnyi^1,, Lucy Mange Ndip^{2, 3}, Benedicta Oshuware Oben⁴, Oben Pius Mbu⁴, Tambekong Talkspeak Arrey⁴, Mbeng Ashu Arrey⁴

Pristine or near-pristine freshwater rivers provide numerous ecosystem services to riverine communities. Yet they could be a significant public health threat due to contamination and pollution. This study assessed the disease burden among the population of Akonolinga, on the banks of River Nyong in Cameroon. Semi-structured questionnaires were administered to ten medical facilities within the town. Hospitalization and laboratory diagnosis logs for the year 2020 were reviewed. Results showed that 44.4 ± 1.15% of the respondents had recurrent foodborne diseases between 1 to 10 times a year, and there was strong positive correlation between the rate of foodborne diseases and that of waterborne diseases (rho = 0.881, p = 0.002). Foodborne disease cases were highest during the dry season (66.67 ± 1.73%). Malaria was most prevalent (27.8%) but statistically similar to prevalence of typhoid (22.2%) and diarrhea (22.2%). Bacteria were the major causative agent of diseases, dominated by members of Salmonella (30.3%), Pseudomonas (21.2%) and Escherichia (21.2%). The prevalence of Salmonella was statistically higher than that of Trichomonas, Shigella, Amoeba and Staphylococcus. These results are suggestive of a contaminated environment, poor hygiene etc. which would necessitate behavioural change within the population for better management.

disease burden, bacteria, food poisoning, waterborne diseases, riverine population