Expat insurance and health insurance in Cameroon

Cameroon’s healthcare system remains marked by a stark imbalance between urban and rural areas: according to the WHO, the country has roughly one doctor per 10,400 residents, with an even more severe shortage in the remote regions of the Far North and East. In 2023 the government launched Universal Health Coverage (CSU), still rolling out progressively: more than 9 million Cameroonian beneficiaries claimed as of September 2026, partial free access to certain maternity care and coverage for HIV/AIDS and malaria, though a legal framework protecting patients’ rights is still under development according to the Ministry of Public Health. Whether a foreign resident is explicitly eligible for the CSU could not be confirmed from an official source dedicated to expatriates. In practice, French residents in Douala and Yaoundé overwhelmingly turn to the private sector (clinics and polyclinics) or to reference facilities such as the Centre Pasteur du Cameroun for diagnostics and travel medicine. For serious conditions or complex surgical emergencies, medical evacuation to France or a better-equipped neighbouring country remains common practice, given the lack of sufficient medical infrastructure across the country.

• Mandatory yellow fever vaccination, to be done at an approved centre, with an international vaccination certificate checked on entry to Cameroon.
• Visa required before departure, applied for online: passport valid 6 months after the planned return date, return ticket and proof of accommodation.
• Stay of more than 30 days or for work purposes: temporary or long-stay visa to request from the Cameroonian consulate in Paris or Marseille before departure.
• No health insurance is formally required on entry, but France Diplomatie describes it as essential: an assistance or insurance contract covering medical costs, surgery, hospitalisation and medical repatriation, since the embassy covers no medical costs.
• CFE recommended alongside private insurance, with a subsidised category available on consular case review for households with modest income.

Heightened health vigilance: malaria (present across the whole country, a pre-departure medical consultation is recommended for prophylaxis), cholera (active outbreaks reported depending on area and season), ACWY meningitis (increased risk in the dry season, November to June, in the East, Adamawa, North and Far North regions), dengue, chikungunya and zika transmitted by mosquitoes.

The France-Cameroon social security agreement, signed on 5 November 1990 (administrative arrangement of the same date, in force since 1 March 1992), coordinates the maternity, invalidity, old-age/survivors, work accidents/occupational diseases and family benefit branches.

• It contains no coordination provision for the health branch or for death insurance — an important difference from the agreements linking France to other countries in the region, where sickness-maternity is at least partly coordinated.
• Unemployment insurance is explicitly excluded from the scope of the agreement.
• For maternity, the agreement provides for totalisation of insurance periods and coordination of benefits — an eligibility mechanism between schemes, not direct coverage of everyday healthcare costs in Cameroon.

• Before departure: mandatory yellow fever vaccination, online visa application, assistance or insurance contract covering medical costs, surgery, hospitalisation and medical repatriation.
• For a stay of more than 30 days or for work purposes: apply for a temporary or long-stay visa at the Cameroonian consulate in Paris or Marseille.
• Registration recommended with the roll of French nationals living abroad (consulate in Yaoundé or consulate general in Douala).
• Voluntary CFE affiliation recommended given that the France-Cameroon agreement does not cover illness; subsidised category available through the consular post's social service for households with modest income.