The WHO Health Emergencies Programme is currently monitoring 50 events in the region. This week’s edition covers key new and ongoing events, including:
- Listeriosis in South Africa
- Rift Valley fever in South Sudan
- Lassa fever in Nigeria
- Cholera in Uganda
- Humanitarian crisis in Democratic Republic of the Congo
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 recent identification of the source of the listeriosis outbreak in South Africa provides critical guidance for the implementation of prevention and control measures, but risk communication to the public regarding food recalls and implementation of mechanisms to ensure removal of all potentially contaminated products from stores and regular inspection of food processing plants are needed to control this outbreak and prevent future cases.
The confirmation of additional animal cases of Rift Valley fever in South Sudan and detection of human cases in a new county underscore the importance of scaling up One Health interventions to contain the outbreak in livestock and reduce the risk of animal to human transmission in communities at risk