Yokadouma is a town and Catholic bishopric in eastern

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

, lying near the border with the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

. It was an early French administrative centre. During the colonial period, Yokadouma was the centre for a widespread but ill-fated immunisation campaign against

sleeping sickness African trypanosomiasis, also known as African sleeping sickness or simply sleeping sickness, is an insect-borne parasitic infection of humans and other animals. It is caused by the species ''Trypanosoma brucei''. Humans are infected by two typ ...

, known as 'lomidinisation'. The administration of the drug had little preventative benefit and in many cases the colonial doctors cut corners. In one incident on November 15, 1954, known as the "accident of Yokadouma", the French doctor misadministered the drug to such an extent that more than 300 people contracted gangrene and 32 more died. It has been described as "one of the most violent medical catastrophes in African history." Its Cathédrale Marie Reine de la Paix, dedicated in 2010 to Our Lady

Queen of Peace Our Lady of Peace, Mother of Peace, Queen of Peace or Our Lady Queen of Peace is a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Roman Catholic Church. She is represented in art holding a dove and an olive branch, symbols of peace. Her official memori ...

, is the

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

episcopal see of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Yokadouma The Roman Catholic Diocese of Yokadouma ( la, Yokaduman(a)) is a suffragan Latin diocese in the Ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan of Bertoua in Eastern Cameroon, yet depends on the missionary Roman Congregation for the Evangelization of P ...

(founded 1991). COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Onder bestuur gebrachte nederzetting van Pygmeeen even ten zuiden van Yokadouma TMnr 20014014.jpg , The

pygmy In anthropology, pygmy peoples are ethnic groups whose average height is unusually short. The term pygmyism is used to describe the phenotype of endemic short stature (as opposed to disproportionate dwarfism occurring in isolated cases in a pop ...

settlement just south of Yokadouma, photographed in 1965. Grumier dans la ville de Yokadouma.jpg , A truck in Yakadouma. Caravane de boeufs à Yokadouma1.jpg , A caravan of oxen being herded through Yakadouma.

References

Populated places in East Region (Cameroon) {{Cameroon-geo-stub

See also

References