Cameroon to invest in children to boost economic growth

During a summit organised for the annual Assemblies of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) group, Cameroon and seven other countries, which are Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Madagascar, Pakistan, Senegal and Tanzania made the commitment to act on several fronts in order to give millions of children every opportunity to succeed, guarantees for stimulation of economic growth in their respective countries.

Indeed, according to estimates from the World Bank group, sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia could currently post a GDP per inhabitant superior to 9 and 10% respectively, if today’s adults had not suffered from stunted growth in their childhood.

To prevent this situation from occurring again, particularly in Cameroon, “the government took the firm commitment of investing in early childhood to continue its economic and social development”, a communiqué from the World Bank highlights.

Specifically, «we also hope to reduce the rate of chronic malnutrition in children under 5 years from 32% to 25% by 2019. To reach these goals, we are pursuing a multi-sectorial approach of collaboration in our education, health and social safety net programs, with a particular emphasis on the North and East of the country”, we can read in Cameroon’s declaration at this conference.