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WHO Regional Office for Africa
Source: WHO Regional Office for Africa |

Cyclone Freddy deepens health risks in worst-hit countries

In Malawi and Mozambique the cyclone tore through amid cholera outbreaks

The devastation by Tropical Cyclone Freddy is exposing major health risks in the hardest-hit southern Africa countries where emergency response efforts are being ramped up to provide relief to affected communities. More than 300 health facilities have been destroyed or flooded in Madagascar, Malawi and Mozambique following the devastation by…

WHO Regional Office for Africa
Source: WHO Regional Office for Africa |

Equatorial Guinea confirms eight more Marburg cases

WHO is working with the national authorities to step up emergency response measures

Equatorial Guinea’s Ministry of Health has confirmed eight more cases of Marburg, bringing the number of confirmed cases to nine since the outbreak of the viral haemorrhagic fever was declared on 13 February. The new cases were confirmed following laboratory analysis of additional samples. So far, there are 20 probable…

WHO Regional Office for Africa
Source: WHO Regional Office for Africa |

Tanzania confirms first-ever outbreak of Marburg Virus Disease

Marburg virus disease is highly virulent and causes haemorrhagic fever, with a fatality ratio of up to 88%

Tanzania today confirmed its first-ever cases of Marburg Virus Disease after laboratory tests were carried out following reports of cases and deaths in the country’s north-west Kagera region. Tanzania’s National Public Health Laboratory analysed samples to determine the cause of illness after eight people developed symptoms including fever, vomiting, bleeding…

WHO Regional Office for Africa
Source: WHO Regional Office for Africa |

Africa burdened with largest global increase of oral diseases

Oral health remains a low priority in many African countries, leading to inadequate financial and technical investment

Around 44% of the population in the African region suffer from oral diseases, and while the region has experienced the steepest rise globally in oral diseases over the last three decades, spending on treatment costs remains extremely low, a new report by World Health Organization (WHO) finds. Oral health remains…

WHO Regional Office for Africa
Source: WHO Regional Office for Africa |

Burundi declares outbreak of circulating poliovirus type 2

The Burundian government plans to implement a vaccination campaign to combat polio in the coming weeks, aiming at protecting all eligible children against the virus

Health authorities in Burundi today declared an outbreak of circulating poliovirus type 2 (CVDPV 2) after confirming eight polioviruses, the first such detection in more than three decades. The cases were confirmed in a four-year-old child in Isale district in western Burundi who had not received any polio vaccination, as…

WHO Regional Office for Africa
Source: WHO Regional Office for Africa |

World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Volunteers (UNV) Programme Launch Second Phase of Africa Women Health Champions Initiative

The African Women Health Champions initiative has been a resounding success, with 120 women health champions deployed in 38 countries, representing 36 nationalities, and from more than 25 professional fields

The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa and the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) Programme today launched the second phase of the Africa Women Health Champions (AWHC) initiative to recruit young African women professionals to help drive the region’s health agenda and objectives. Following the successful implementation of the…

WHO Regional Office for Africa
Source: WHO Regional Office for Africa |

Floods raise cholera risk even as cases decline in Africa

Some cholera treatment units have been flooded and there has been an increase in cases reported in some locations following the heavy rainfall

As weekly cholera cases in the affected African countries decline, heavy flooding due to seasonal rains and tropical cyclones in southern Africa are raising the risk of the disease spreading and threatening to undermine outbreak control efforts. New cholera cases fell to 2880 in the week ending on 26 February,…

WHO Regional Office for Africa
Source: WHO Regional Office for Africa |

Mozambique targets 720 000 people in cholera vaccination drive

People aged one year and older will be vaccinated in the five-day campaign, which started just 10 days after the country took delivery of vaccine doses

Mozambique today kicked off a cholera vaccination campaign targeting around 720 000 people in eight districts as the country steps up control measures against an outbreak in which 5260 cases and 37 deaths have been recorded to date since September 2022. People aged one year and older will be vaccinated…

WHO Regional Office for Africa
Source: WHO Regional Office for Africa |

African leaders call for urgent action to revitalize routine immunization

Across the continent, immunization coverage for many vaccine-preventable diseases is well below the 90‒95% range needed to keep Africa free of these diseases

African heads of state today agreed on key measures to revamp routine immunization across the continent following massive disruptions by the COVID-19 pandemic that stymied childhood vaccination programmes and heightened outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. A total of 8.4 million children in the African region, compared with 18 million globally, were…

WHO Regional Office for Africa
Source: WHO Regional Office for Africa |

Over 33 Million Children Vaccinated against Wild Poliovirus in Southern Africa

A total of nine wild poliovirus cases have been reported so far, with one in Malawi and eight in neighbouring Mozambique since the declaration of an outbreak on 17 February 2022 in Malawi

A year since Malawi confirmed its first case of wild poliovirus type 1 in 30 years, more than 33 million children across five southern African countries have been vaccinated against the virus, with over 80 million vaccine doses administered over the past year. A total of nine wild poliovirus cases…