This Weekly Bulletin focuses on public health emergencies occurring in the WHO African region. This week’s articles cover:
- Marburg in Equatorial Guinea (End of outbreak declaration)
- Measles in South Africa
- 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:
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The first ever reported Marburg virus disease (MVD) outbreak reported in the Equatorial Guinea was declared over on 8 June 2023 by the Ministry of Health. However, the risk of re-emergence of MVD remains given that not all chains of transmission were linked, and one confirmed case was not identified as well as the initial source of the outbreak.
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Cameroon reported two new laboratory-confirmed mpox cases in Africa in the past two weeks. Adequate human resources and infrastructure for genomic sequencing and bioinformatics are necessary to respond to the outbreak in Africa effectively.