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Weekly Bulletin on Outbreaks and other Emergencies: Week 22: 22-28 May 2023 (Data as reported by: 17:00; 28 May 2023)

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This Weekly Bulletin focuses on public health emergencies occurring in the WHO African region. This week’s articles cover:

  • Marburg virus disease in the United Republic of Tanzania

  • Complex humanitarian crisis in The Democratic Republic of Congo

  • Mpox in Africa

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:

  • The ongoing first ever Marburg virus disease outbreak to be reported in the United Republic of Tanzania has nearly completed 42 days after the second negative test of the last confirmed MVD case in the country. Despite the outbreak nearly ending, the origin of the outbreak is still unknown. Therefore, strict surveillance must be maintained so that future cases are prevented.

  • The Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the African countries facing complex humanitarian crisis for several decades, mainly caused by the internal population displacements fleeing armed conflicts and also due to natural disasters. The most recent natural disaster happened in Kalehe health zone, South Kivu province where heavy rains caused the overflow of rivers with floods and landslides leading to extensive damages with fatalities, injuries, and infrastructural losses. The ongoing protracted complex humanitarian crisis has extremely impacted the country’s development momentum and placed the affected population in extreme socio-economic vulnerability