In Cameroon, road traffic crashes tend to be connected with poor road networks and overloaded motors. The burden of trauma is often suffered by the young, actively employed (often the breadwinner of the family), and many families are driven into poverty by the expenses of prolonged medical care.
The true extent of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in Cameroon in unknown. Although no population based data is available, some hospital studies have been done to try and estimate the incidence of TBI, in Teaching Hospitals of Yaoundé (Central Hospital of Yaoundé, University Teaching Hospital of Yaoundé), Teaching Hospitals of Douala (Laquintinie Hospital of Douala) and Regional Hospital of Garoua. The number of head injuries seen in the emergency unit of the University Hospitals ranges from 2,000 to 3,000 among a total number of 17,000 cases per year, and between 300 and 350 head injuries per year in the regional hospital.