This Weekly Bulletin focuses on selected acute public health emergencies occurring in the WHO African Region. The WHO Health Emergencies Programme is currently monitoring 57 events in the region. This week’s edition covers key new and ongoing events, including:
Yellow fever in South Sudan
Ebola virus disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Cholera in Zimbabwe
Hepatitis E in Central African Republic
Humanitarian crisis 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 recent events that have largely been controlled thus closed.
Major issues and challenges include:
The Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in North Kivu and Ituri provinces,
Democratic Republic of the Congo continues to evolve. There has been some reduction in the number of new cases and deaths reported during the week, and this trend is being closely monitored. Outbreak control interventions have been intensified in spite of the prevailing insecurity and pockets of community resistance. It is anticipated that the current thrust in efforts will turn the tide in the evolution of the outbreak.While the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe has greatly improved, especially in Harare city, a new foci has emerged in Mount Darwin District in Mashonaland Central Province, which calls for urgent attention. This cluster of cases and the ongoing low-level transmission in Harare city are potential sources of cholera, which can be seeded to unaffected areas, given the prevalent risk factors for the disease. It is therefore critical that the ongoing transmissions are ultimately contained.