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Overview
This Weekly Bulletin focuses on public health emergencies occurring in the WHO African region. This week’s articles cover:
Ebola Disease caused by Sudan virus in Uganda (End of outbreak Declaration)
Meningitis in Niger Monkey pox 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:
The Ministry of health in Uganda has declared an end of the Ebola disease caused by Sudan virus outbreak that affected nine districts, after 42 consecutive days with no record of a confirmed case.
Although the outbreak has been successfully contained in the absence of specific therapeutics and vaccines, there is need to strengthen surveillance and detection capacities both at national and subnational levels. The survivor program is also to be continued and reinforced, in order to avoid any resurgence from persistent virus among survivors.
The ongoing meningitis outbreak in Niger is concerning due to the high case fatality rate, in a context when the country is responding to multiple disease outbreaks and humanitarian crises linked to the Sahel region’s insecurity. The current outbreak affects the Zinder region and is concentrated in Dungass district, which borders Nigeria. Early case detection and management remain the major challenges for the current meningitis outbreak. In addition, a few factors are still hindering implementation of the reactive vaccination campaigns in affected targeted health districts. Epidemiological surveillance should be reinforced along the border of Nigeria and Niger (in the proximity of the Dungass region) to avoid transborder transmission.
New Mpox cases further dropped throughout Africa during the past week as countries continue to intensify response efforts to the outbreak. Only the Democratic Republic of the Congo reported new cases among the thirteen African countries that are currently experiencing Mpox outbreaks.
Understanding the characterization and modes of transmission of mpox in Africa remains the major challenge.