This Weekly Bulletin focuses on public health emergencies occurring in the WHO African region. This week’s articles cover:
Cyclone CHENESO in Madagascar
Lassa fever in Nigeria
Mpox in the WHO African Region
For each of these events, a brief description, followed by public health measures implemented and an interpretation of the situation is provided.
A table is provided at the end of the bulletin with information on all new and ongoing public health events currently being monitored in the region, as well as recent events that have been controlled and closed.
Major issues and challenges include:
Since 19 January 2023, Madagascar is responding to cyclone CHENESO which has currently left around 500 000 people without access to health care services, in almost half of the 114 districts across the country. Many roads and bridges have been cut or made impassable, many health care facilities are now inaccessible, hence complicating the provision of care and humanitarian assistance to affected communities. There is urgent need for resource mobilization, in a context of extreme precarity and poverty, weak and fragile health system, and lack of qualified human resources. In addition, there are concomitant and resource-consuming emergencies including a protracted malnutrition crisis in southern and south-eastern parts of the country, the COVID-19 pandemic, resurgence of malaria and plague, and an outbreak of circulating vaccine derived poliovirus-2.
There is an ongoing seasonal Lassa fever outbreak in Nigeria for which the number of suspected and confirmed cases as well as the number of the affected Local Government Areas (LGA) and States increased compared to that reported for the same period for the previous two years.
While the increased number of cases reported may be considered as result of improved surveillance activities, more effort is needed to further reduce the fatality of the disease and limit its geographical extension. Additional resources are also required for the country to be able to respond to others ongoing emergencies including other disease outbreaks (cholera, Covid-19, meningitis, etc.) and mitigate the impact of the volatile security situation in the affected areas.
Source: World Health Organization