Attachments
This Weekly Bulletin focuses on public health emergencies occurring in the WHO African region. This week’s articles cover:
-
Cholera in Zambia
-
Dengue in Mali
-
Cyclone Belal in Mauritius
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 cholera outbreak in Zambia, has escalated into a critical public health emergency, with the epidemic now afflicting all ten of the nation’s provinces and urgently demanding an integrated response. This situation calls for an immediate, multidisciplinary strategy that includes rigorous surveillance, effective case management, and ensuring access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene, complemented by robust community education efforts.
-
Mali’s dengue outbreak continues primarily in Bamako. While cases decreased slightly in week 2 of 2024, the ongoing dengue fever outbreak coupled with a concurrent Zika outbreak still poses threat to the West African nation struggling with political turbulence. Insufficient laboratory and vector control equipment and supplies such as, fumigation machines, sampling kits, rapid diagnostic tests, mosquito nets are hampering the control of this outbreak. The Ministry of Health, with WHO and partners, is actively responding with surveillance, vector control, and community education, but resource limitations and the broader humanitarian crisis require increased support to control both diseases effectively.