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WHO AFRO Outbreaks and Other Emergencies, Week 23: 2 - 8 June 2018 (Data as reported by 17:00; 08 June 2018)

Attachments

1 New event

54 Ongoing events

46 Outbreaks

9 Humanitarian crises

This Weekly Bulletin focuses on selected acute public health emergencies occurring in the WHO African Region. The WHO Health Emergencies Programme is currently monitoring 55 events in the region. This week’s edition covers key new and ongoing events, including:

  • Rift Valley fever in Kenya
  • Ebola virus disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
  • Listeriosis in South Africa
  • Cholera in north-east Nigeria
  • Humanitarian crisis in Central African Republic.

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 events that have recently been closed.

  • Major issues and challenges include:

  • The Ebola virus disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo remains active, with occurrence of a new confirmed case during the reporting week. Notably, the confirmed case was a known contact under follow up. The Ministry of Health and other national authorities, WHO and partners continue to consolidate all pillars of the response and the global community and donors have remained supportive, attentive and watchful. Despite the gains made so far, the challenges on the ground are still enormous, and call for more efforts. It is critical to sustain the ongoing interventions as well as efforts to improve coverage and effectiveness until the outbreak is contained.

  • The outbreak of listeriosis in South Africa has been controlled, with only a few sporadic cases and deaths being reported. The South African Department of Health, other national authorities and partners responded effectively to the outbreak. In spite of this comprehensive and effective response, and the transparency demonstrated by the South African national authorities, some State Parties in the region imposed trade bans on food products from South Africa, apparently against WHO advice. In light of the current situation and the measures taken so far, the countries that are maintaining trade bans on South African food products need to lift these bans.