OVERVIEW
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This Weekly Bulletin focuses on selected acute public health emergencies occurring in the WHO African Region. The WHO Health Emergencies Programme is currently monitoring 54 events in the region. This week’s edition covers key new and ongoing events, including:
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The declaration of the end of the Ebola virus disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
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Focus on the outbreaks in Nakivale refugee camp in Uganda
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Monkeypox outbreak in Central African Republic
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Cholera outbreak in Nigeria
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Measles outbreak in Ethiopia
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:
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This week marked the end of the latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where the speed of the response ensuring the rapid containment of the outbreak has been widely commended. However, there are many other outbreaks ongoing in the country, including cholera and circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV). Dr Tedros, WHO Director-General, urged the Government and the international community to build on the positive momentum generated by the quick containment of the Ebola outbreak to address these.
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The need for the development of long term strategies to prevent future outbreaks is demonstrated in both the cholera outbreak in Nigeria and the outbreak of Monkeypox in the Central African Republic (CAR). CAR has been reporting Monkeypox outbreaks annually since 2013 and Nigeria major cholera outbreaks since 1991. Without significant strengthening of multi-sector preparedness measures these outbreaks will continue to adversely impact the population.