Submission ID 130983
| Issue/Objective | Since 2016, armed conflict in Cameroon's North West and South West regions has produced one of the most protracted education emergencies in Africa. At the peak of the crisis, more than 855,000 children were out of school, while 90 percent of public primary schools and 77 percent of public secondary schools were closed or non operational. By 2025, although some reopening had occurred, 2,463 schools remained closed in the two regions. This paper argues that prolonged school closure is not only an education disruption but a neglected public health emergency driving intergenerational inequity. |
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| Methodology/Approach | A rapid evidence synthesis was conducted using peer reviewed literature, UNICEF reports, humanitarian situation analyses, and conflict related education datasets from 2017 to 2025. Evidence was examined across four pathways linking school closure to health inequity: protection risks, mental health burden, loss of school based services, and future economic exclusion. Findings were contextualized, reclaiming global health equity in fragmented settings. |
| Results | Evidence shows that prolonged school closure increases exposure to child marriage, adolescent pregnancy, sexual violence, hazardous labour, recruitment into armed groups, anxiety, depression, and permanent dropout. UNICEF reports that when children are out of school in Cameroon they face higher risks of exploitation and abuse. Loss of school platforms also interrupts vaccination, menstrual health support, nutrition programmes, psychosocial care, and abuse referral systems. Conflict related violence has additionally reduced learning outcomes, with causal evidence showing declines in reading and mathematics scores in affected areas. Across West and Central Africa, UNICEF notes that children affected by attacks on schools carry lasting psychological scars that extend beyond lost learning. |
| Discussion/Conclusion | School closure in Anglophone Cameroon represents a systems failure at the intersection of health, education, and protection. Reclaiming equity requires treating school reopening as a health intervention. Priority actions include protected community learning spaces, accelerated catch up education, school feeding, integrated mental health services, mobile vaccination linked to schools, and cash support for vulnerable households. If education remains disrupted, the conflict will continue to damage health long after violence subsides. Reopening schools is therefore not symbolic recovery. It is lifesaving public health action and a prerequisite for peace. |
| Presenters and Affiliations | Wacha Roose Youth 2 Youth Cameroon Kiyam Lamech Youth Thrive Initiative Cameroon |
