The World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO AFRO), in accordance with recommendations from various WHO committees, has developed three flagship initiatives to support Member States in the
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African region to prepare for, detect and respond to public health emergencies. They are the result of extensive consultations with more than 30 African government ministers, technical actors, and partners across the continent as well as regional institutions such as the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), whose contributions have shaped the priority activities. This report provides the fourth quarterly summary of progress in implementing the flagship initiatives.
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4. Central African Republic
Clashes throughout 2018 in the capital Bangui and a number of major towns illustrate
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the deadly threat posed by armed groups – a mix of pro-government militias, ex-rebels, bandits and local “self-defence” units – that control much of the country. MINUSCA, the UN peacekeeping force, has failed to neutralise these groups and, as a result, is mistrusted by the general public. Likewise, the national army, slowly being deployed in parts of the country, has been unable to constrain the armed groups’ predatory activities. The humanitarian situation remains dire, with more than one million people internally displaced or fleeing to neighbouring countries and 2.5 million in need of assistance, according to the UN.
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The Lancet Global Health, Vol. 6, No. 10 Published: August 29, 2018
Report of Meeting: 4 November 2014, Roma
UNAIDS 2016 / Meeting Report
It is too early to know the full impact of COVID-19 on Africa. To date the experience has been varied. There are causes for concern, but also reaso
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ns for hope. Early estimates were pessimistic regarding the pandemic’s impact on the continent. But the relatively low numbers of COVID-19 cases reported thus far have raised hopes that African countries may be spared the worst of the pandemic. While the virus is present in all African countries, most countries have recorded fewer than 1,000 cases. The African Union acted swiftly, endorsing a joint continental strategy in February, and complementing efforts by Member States and Regional Economic Communities by providing a public health platform.
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Vitamin A supplementation (VAS) programs targeted at children aged 6–59 months are implemented in many countries. By improving immune function, vitamin A (VA) reduces mortality associated with measles, diarrhea, and other illnesses. There is currently a debate regarding
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the relevance of VAS, but amidst the debate, researchers acknowledge that the majority of nationally-representative data on VA status is outdated. To address this data gap and contribute to the debate, we examined data from 82 countries implementing VAS programs, identified other VA programs, and assessed the recentness of national VA deficiency (VAD) data.
Article published in: Nutrients, 2017, 9, 190
https://doi.org/10.3390/nu9030190
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Aerosol pollutants are known to raise the risk of development of non-communicable respiratory diseases (NCRDs) such as asthma, chronic bronchitis,
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chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and allergic rhinitis. Sub-Saharan Africa’s rapid pace of urbanization, economic expansion, and population growth raise concerns of increasing incidence of NCRDs. This research characterizes the state of research on pollution and NCRDs in the 46 countries of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This research systematically reviewed the literature on studies of asthma; chronic bronchitis; allergic rhinitis; and air pollutants such as particulate matter, ozone, NOx, and sulfuric oxide.
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Onchocerciasis used to be an important public health problem in Africa, with over 37 million people infected and millions suffering from debilitating skin disease, terrible itching, impaired vision and
blindness. But the epidemiological situation h
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as improved dramatically over the last two decades. Community directed treatment with ivermectin has effectively brought the disease under control in most endemic areas where onchocerciasis is no longer a public health risk.
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VOX Sanguinis, 2021:
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) affected millions of people worldwide and caused disruptions at the global level inc
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luding in healthcare provision. Countries of the WHO African region have put in place measures for the COVID-19 pandemic containment that may adversely affect blood system activities and subsequently reduce the supply and demand of blood and blood components. This study aims to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on blood supply and demand in the WHO African Region and propose measures to address the challenges faced by countries.
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The Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Pro
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blems in Africa takes into account the unique aspects of the refugee situation on the African Continent. The 1951 Geneva Convention definition of refugees as "persons fleeing a well-founded fear of persecution" had not considered several problems encountered by African refugees and was too narrow within the African context. As a result, Article One of the OAU Convention adds a second paragraph to extend the definition of the term "refugee" and include external aggression, occupation, foreign domination or events seriously disturbing public order as causes of migration and flight.
The document contains both the English and the French versions of the original text.
For versions in Arabic, Kirundi, Russian and Spanish check also:
http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b36018.html
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In 2015 around 15 million people living with HIV were receiving antiretroviral treatment (ART) in sub–Saharan Africa. Sustained provision of ART, though both prudent and necessary, creates substantial long–term fiscal obligations for countries a
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ffected by HIV/ AIDS. As donor assistance for health remains constrained, novel financing mechanisms are needed to augment funding domestic sources. We explore how Innovative Financing has been used to co–finance domestic HIV/AIDS responses. Based on analysis of non–health sectors, we identify innovative financing instruments that could be used in the HIV response.
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The Emergency Ministerial meeting on Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) with Health Ministers agreeing on a range of priority actions to end the Ebola outb
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reak in West Africa. The scale of the ongoing outbreak is unprecedented with reports of over 750 cases and 445 deaths in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia since March 2014.
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Les 25 et 26 février 2015
L’émergence de l’épidémie de la maladie à virus Ebola en Afrique de l’Ouest menace la sécurité sanitaire publique régionale et mondiale. La Guinée, le Mali et le Sénégal partage une longue frontière de pl
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usieurs milliers de kilomètres. La rencontre de Labé les 25 et 26 février 2015 permettra de renforcer la collaboration transfrontalière afin de prévenir et d’arrêter la propagation de l’épidémie de la maladie à virus Ebola
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Ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all is possible – but only if economically better-off and disadvantaged countries play their part