From Forgotten to Protected: The Regional Coordinator's Testimony on CIMA Care's Unprecedented Vaccination Breakthrough

When Public Health Meets Digital Innovation: The Birth of a Solution

Dr. Chebo introduces CIMA Care with remarkable clarity: "It is actually coming to help us identify children that have missed out on vaccines and bring them back up to date." His opening statement resonates with urgency and hope. "Once any child is registered in the application, the application sends reminder messages so that parents or caregivers can actually, even if they have forgotten, they can now come back and their children get immunized." As he explains, his words capture the essence of a system that transforms forgotten appointments into timely interventions. This simple mechanism addresses the persistent crisis of children missing vaccine doses across regional health systems.

The Numbers Do Not Lie: Achieving remarkable success in decreasing rates of children who are not missing vaccines

When public health officials speak of "results-oriented" programs, this is what success looks like. The interview reaches its most powerful moment as Dr. Chebo reveals CIMA Care's documented impact: "If you look at the performance in the health facilities where the CIMA project is being implemented, in fact, we have more than 99% success rates of children that are not missing out on vaccines as compared to the other areas where it is not." This stark comparison between CIMA-enabled facilities and traditional approaches provides irrefutable evidence of digital health transformation. The coordinator's assessment is unequivocal: "That's already a very, very big success. Just the fact that parents are reminded, once they forget, is already a very, very big step in bringing them back."

From Manual Card Sorting to Automated Intelligence: The Digital Transformation of Vaccination Tracking

The coordinator's explanation reveals CIMA Care's elegant solution to a persistent operational challenge. Traditional reminder cards, physical documents requiring manual review and sorting—represented bottlenecks in busy healthcare facilities. CIMA Care's automated system eliminates this burden while simultaneously strengthening the safety net. "But now with the technology available, you don't need to—those reminder cards are no longer necessary because the app itself sends messages to the parents and even to the health facility." This dual notification system transforms missed appointments from inevitable losses into recoverable opportunities.

From Bulky Registers to Smart Planning: The Administrative Revolution Healthcare Workers Needed

The coordinator's testimony resonates with every healthcare worker who has struggled against overwhelming administrative demands. In high-volume facilities processing hundreds of children daily, manual tracking becomes untenable. The vivid picture of pre-CIMA reality is painted by Dr. Chebo: “Our vaccination registers are quite bulky. And if you are in a very busy center, you spend a lot of time trying to sort that out. Imagine somebody in the regional hospital, somebody in Azire, and somebody in the district hospital, where they receive hundreds of children every day." The system even enables predictive planning: "These are the number of children that we are expected to receive today that have not come."

Beyond Literacy: How CIMA Care's Human Touchpoint Complements Digital Innovation

The host raises a critical question that exposes real-world complexity: what about parents who cannot read? Dr. Chebo's response reveals CIMA Care's thoughtful design: "That is why I said even the health facility receives notification also. Because when the parent cannot read, the health facility now has the opportunity to call." The system's redundancy becomes a strength, not a weakness. Even illiterate parents can answer phone calls, and health facilities can provide verbal reminders with full context: "Madam, on this particular day, a child was supposed to come to the health center or to the health facility to receive a vaccine. And that child has not come." This human touchpoint, enabled by digital infrastructure, ensures inclusivity. The coordinator's emphasis on vaccination schedule adherence adds medical urgency: "Vaccines work better when we respect the schedule for which they are supposed to be administered."

No Stone Left Unturned: How CIMA Care Mobilizes Community Health Workers as Vaccination Advocates

CIMA Care's architecture reveals a sophisticated understanding of rural healthcare realities. When the host questions whether CIMA Care requires families to travel to health facilities, Dr. Chebo unveils the system's community-level integration. "We also have outreach sessions, and during these outreach sessions, some of these children that are met on outreach are also registered." CIMA Care extends beyond facility walls, supporting mobile vaccination teams who register children in villages and send reminders about upcoming community-based sessions. The coordinator's statement resonates with a comprehensive strategy: "Remember we have community health workers in almost all the communities in our region." These frontline workers receive names and phone numbers of lost-to-follow-up children, creating a human follow-up layer atop the digital infrastructure. Dr. Chebo's declaration captures the holistic approach: "We use all the available opportunities, including the technological and the physical ones, the human aspect of it."

The Regional Crisis Context: Why CIMA Care's Success Matters More Than the Numbers Suggest

The host's question about general effectiveness elicits a response that situates CIMA Care within Cameroon's complex humanitarian landscape. Dr. Chebo provides a sobering assessment of pre-CIMA realities before delivering the triumph. His evaluation is crystal clear: CIMA Care "has actually helped us to bring out many children that were lost to follow-up and indirectly now improved on the performance of vaccination activities as far as these health facilities are concerned." The 99% success rate emerges not in isolation but against a backdrop of ongoing regional challenges. The coordinator acknowledges the context: "We know the other reasons, the lengthy lockdowns, the ghost towns, and all of that prevent parents from being able to reach where they are supposed to reach and take vaccines." Yet even when security situations normalize, areas without CIMA Care continue experiencing losses to follow-up, while CIMA-enabled facilities maintain extraordinary coverage. This controlled comparison validates the platform's specific impact.

When Success Demands Scaling: The Roadmap from Pilot to National Implementation

The interview captures a pivotal moment in CIMA Care's evolution, the transition from a successful pilot to a scalable national program. Dr. Chebo acknowledges that even within Bamenda, coverage remains incomplete: "Bamenda Health District is a very big district. Bamenda 3 is another district that is still in Bamenda." Yet the coordinator's vision extends far beyond the Northwest Region: "We want to see how we can scale this up. We are already discussing with some partners, especially GAVI, to see how they can help us based on the successes that have been scored in this first phase of the project to implement it—why not in the rest of the country, if it is possible?" His pragmatic acknowledgment that scaling "entails funding" balances optimism with operational realism. With GAVI engagement, national transformation becomes feasible.

Beyond Technology and Medicine: Why Community Trust Determines Vaccination Success

The regional coordinator's final message transcends CIMA Care specifics to address fundamental public health principles. His observation that communities may reject even well-equipped facilities lacking their trust reveals a critical truth: technology and infrastructure are necessary but insufficient for health system success. CIMA Care's SMS health messages work precisely because they reinforce rather than replace community relationships. The platform enables health facilities to honor community preferences—respecting preferred communication languages, accommodating cultural practices, and responding to locally expressed concerns. Dr. Chebo's reference to "dialogue structures" highlights formal mechanisms for community voice in health facility governance. This institutional architecture ensures that digital innovations like CIMA Care emerge from community priorities rather than being imposed upon them. The coordinator's parting wisdom encapsulates participatory public health: understanding what communities want, delivering it through government systems, and ensuring "the population stays healthier."

THE TRANSFORMATION STORY: FROM REGIONAL PILOT TO NATIONAL VISION 

This Star TV interview with Dr. Cornelius Chebo represents far more than routine program coverage—it captures an inflection point in Cameroon's public health evolution. Over the course of this candid conversation, viewers witness the systematic unpacking of how digital innovation, when thoughtfully designed and community-centered, can overcome barriers previously considered insurmountable. 

Dr. Chebo's testimony weaves together multiple transformation narratives: healthcare workers liberated from administrative drudgery to focus on clinical care; illiterate parents reached through dual-channel communication strategies; community health workers empowered with actionable data for targeted follow-up; and most critically, thousands of children recovered from lost-to-follow-up status and protected against preventable diseases. The documented 99% success rate stands not as marketing hyperbole but as empirical evidence validated by the regional EPI coordinator himself.