[Health promotion in Cameroon: current situation and prospects]

Health promotion (HP) is insufficiently implemented in Cameroon, despite a ministerial body in charge of HP. Health promotion activities are essentially limited to disease prevention and health education, while social determinants of health are virtually ignored. Although the Ottawa Charter constitutes the basic guidelines for HP, it presents a number of weaknesses when applied to the field, as the actions conducted do not comprise all lines of intervention of the charter. No action plane and no precise HP objectives have been defined and its conceptual framework is still poorly understood by the various stakeholders of the health system. Health is still considered to result from organization of health care and can only be ensured by medical personnel. In view of this fairly critical analysis of HP in Cameroon, concrete actions must be conducted to acquire a better knowledge of the conceptual framework of health promotion and its real application. Based on a critical review of the available literature on the social and health situation of Cameroon and the current status of HP, this article proposes actions to be conducted on organizational and political levels to ensure that HP has a real place in Cameroon and in order to improve significantly health indicators in this country. This approach inevitably requires the development of policies in favour of HP, reinforcement of HP capacities and finally the development of university structures specialized in HP practices and research.