This Weekly Bulletin focuses on selected acute public health emergencies occurring in the WHO African Region. The WHO Health Emergencies Programme is currently monitoring 56 events in the region. This week’s edition covers key new and ongoing events, including:
Botulism in Nigeria
Lassa fever in Benin
Lassa fever in Nigeria
Humanitarian crisis in Central African Republic
Suspected Rift Valley fever in South Sudan
Cholera in Angola
Suspected Rift Valley fever in The Gambia
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 challenges include:
The outbreak of botulism in Nigeria is of great concern because of the potential for a large increase in the number of cases associated with contamination of the food supply. The source of the toxin needs to be identified urgently and anti-toxin should be made available in country as soon as possible. Continuation of active surveillance is also needed to facilitate rapid detection and treatment of cases.
The humanitarian situation in Central African Republic has continued to deteriorate in 2018, with persistent internal displacement of the population and outbreaks of typhoid fever and acute watery diarrhoea particularly affecting the internally displaced population.