The Impact of COVID-19 on Access to healthcare For Minority Women in Cameroon

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of COVID-19 on access to healthcare of minority women with a focus on female inmates in the New Bell Prison in Douala, Cameroon. The female inmates in New Bell Prison are conceptualised as a minority and a marginalised social category, not in statistical terms, but in sociological terms because of the discrimination and sexual abuse they tend to suffer. This study is a largely uncharted research domain focusing

on female inmates in the context of COVID-19. This paper argues that the poor and deteriorating health infrastructure of the New Bell Prison jeopardised the access of female inmates to healthcare and this situation was compounded by the advent of COVID-19 with its own dynamics. The methodology was essentially qualitative and involved the use of narratives, official

documents and online newspapers. It was revealed in this study that COVID-19 compounded the access of female inmates to healthcare. Female inmates’ approach to vaccines was compromised by anti-vacs campaign circulating in social media. The mental healthcare of inmates was totally neglected and the types of food made available to them could not boost their immune system to stand COVID-19. They suffered from a double minority syndrome of

being women and being incarnated in a hostile, overcrowded and resource starved environment, and were often sexually abused. There was no evidence of COVID-19 testing among female inmates to checkmate the spread of COVID-19. Women’s biological needs could hardly be met. But the invention of Archbishop Samuel Kleda herbal remedy Elixir Covid and Adsak Covid helped to alleviate and facilitated the access of female inmates to healthcare. It is recommended that the government should learn lessons from this pandemic to be better prepared in the future and implement international protocols, taking into

consideration the special needs of women.

Keywords: COVID-19, Women inmates, Public health, Challenges, Clinical care,

Archbishop Kleda’s herbal remedy Elixir Covid and Adsak Covid.

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