Coalition 15%, Positive Generation, Cameroon

Steering Committee representative: Louis Merlin Tsamo, Permanent Secretary of Coalition 15%

Louis Merlin Tsamo is the permanent Secretariat of the Coalition 15%.Louis possesses a doctorate in health geography and has extensive knowledge of the Cameroon health system. His work has included mainstreaming HIV/AIDS programs in health programs, designing health policies in his native Cameroon, and advocating for rights-based approaches to health. He represents civil society in several national-level committees at the Ministry of Public Health and is an author and co-author of several publications.

Coalition 15% is a community of around thirty associations and NGOs from Cameroon operating in the area of health and health policy. Its principal objective is to promote domestic financing of the country's health system. In existence since 2010, the Coalition advocates for the Government to fulfil commitments made in the Abuja Declaration.

The Coalition pushes for increased participation of communities in the design of health policies, not only as beneficiaries but also as major actors of the health system. To achieve this, the Coalition implements activities around community mobilization, communication for development and capacity reinforcement of civil society leaders.

In the area of immunisation, Coalition 15% conducts community-level activities around access to information, education, and communication. Coalition 15% organizes educational talks for populations exposed to specific risks and reinforces the capacity of community leaders to support vaccination campaigns. This contributes to greater community-level knowledge and acceptance of vaccines. Currently the Coalition, in partnership with the media is diffusing information about services offered to communities as part of the country's routine immunisation program.