This Weekly Bulletin focuses on public health emergencies occurring in the WHO African Region. The WHO Health Emergencies Programme is currently monitoring 67 events in the region. This week’s main articles cover key ongoing events, including:
- Malaria in Burundi
- Ebola virus disease in Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Humanitarian crisis in Nigeria.
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 largely been controlled and thus closed.
Major issues and challenges include:
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Malaria continues to remain a concern in Burundi. Since the beginning of the year, the country has faced an increase in the total number of malaria cases compared to the number recorded in the past five years. As deaths from malaria continue to be recorded, early and proper case management in addition to prevention strategies need to be instituted.
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The protracted humanitarian crisis in Northeast Nigeria continues into its tenth year, with over seven million people in need of humanitarian assistance.
The region remains destabilized due to the dynamic security challenges and hampered humanitarian access to the population, resulting in large population movements, both internally and across borders. Outbreaks of epidemic-prone diseases such as cholera continue to affect the region as access to clean and safe water is limited. The low number of partners conducting WASH activities, inadequate supply of aqua tabs and reports of resistance to water chlorination in some affected communities and in the state, pose a continues challenge to the outbreak response.