Existing Aid and Capacity-Based Intervention
Since the practice of breast ironing was accidentally discovered in 2005, aid, both governmental and non-profit, for the victims has increased on a number of levels in Africa. In Djibouti, a major legal system reform has been under way, aimed largely at improving the access to the judicial system for all people. Recent improvements include a new judicial assistance law and the creation of “roaming courts” in rural areas (Committee, 2011). Cameroon has also implemented international laws to protect the rights of women and children. The 1959 United Nations Convention on Rights of the Child (CRC) states that governments should take measures to abolish “traditional practices prejudicial to the health of children,” while the 1992 United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) “calls for an end both to gender discrimination in general and to social and cultural customs based on the idea of the inferiority or superiority of either of the sexes.” However, Cameroon has failed in this area. Cameroonian parliamentarians have been petitioned to punish those caught practicing breast ironing with a 10-year prison sentence. However, not a single instance of legal intervention, detention, or arrest has been punished (Tapscott, 2012). Laws are only effective if enforced.
Medical Aid
In 2011, women’s and children’s health was the focus of Djibouti’s national health policy. Significant progress has since been made with the adoption of a highly successful decentralized health system and the provision of free health care throughout the country. The country had also built a reference center for reproductive health, which included mammography, a surgical ward and a cutting-edge pathology centre (Committee, 2011). Cameroonians would significantly benefit from following Djibouti’s example in meeting the medical needs of its women.
Cameroon refugee mother and child (UN, n.d.)
As of 2007, there were two government run general hospitals, ten provincial hospitals, and a handful of district hospitals in Cameroon. In the district and provincial hospitals, there might be a specialist who knows some discipline of medicine. There are also private clinics and hospitals, but their costs are much higher than the government facilities. Missionaries operate clinics and hospitals that are much more affordable to patients, however, they often lack highly trained personnel and modern equipment (Weinger, 2007).