Eva Songue^{1, 2,}, Claudel Tagne², Pretty Mbouyap², Paul Essomba², Roger Moyou –Somo³

Background: Cameroon is endemic for malaria; however, the level of endemicity varies between the various eco-epidemiological zones. A public private partnership including many stakeholders was set up to control malaria along the Chad-Cameroon pipeline corridor. The present paper presents the baseline epidemiological data obtained in the zone prior to the implementation of control measures. Methods: A prospective study was conducted in three sites along the Chad-Cameroon pipeline including Bipindi in the forest humid zone, Meidougou in the high Guinean savanna and Dompta in the sudano-sahelian zone. A total of 2492 participants aged from 6 months to 10 years were included in the survey. Finger prick blood was taken to prepare thick and thin blood films for the determination of parasite density and identification of parasite species. Results: Malaria prevalence was 12.74% in dry season versus 55.5% in wet season in Bipindi; 2.77% against 3.6% in Meidougou and 26.8% versus 29.7% in Dompta. In wet season plasmodic index was 54.82% in Bipindi, 4.04% in Meidougou and 31.3% in Dompta site versus 13.40%; 4.09% and 28.8% during dry season. Only Plasmodium falciparum infections were detected. Splenic index in Bipindi was 52.79% in wet season versus 43.81% in dry season; 17.04% against 16.20% in Meidougou and 28.1% versus 25.8% in Dompta. Bipindi wasmeso-endemic for malaria in dry season and hyper-endemic in wet season. Meidougou was hypo-endemic and Dompta wasmeso-endemic in both seasons. Conclusion: This study along the Chad-Cameroon pipeline highlighted variations of the intensity of malaria transmission which is high and perennial in the forest humid zone, low and seasonal in the high savanna zone, moderate and perennial in the sudano-sahelian zone. These baseline results will help to evaluate the impact of control measures recommended by the Ministry of Health.

malaria, public-private partnership, transmission, prevalence, Cameroon