The WHO Health Emergencies Programme is currently monitoring 118 events in the region. This week’s main articles cover the following events:
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Togo
Measles in Chad
Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Équateur Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
This curriculum will help you, and your community, understand the science of the virus that causes COVID-19 and other viruses like it. It will help you to figure out how this virus is impacting or affecting you or may impact you in the future. It will help you to understand the actions that you can ...take to keep yourself and your community safe.
It is available in 15 languages. Download for free at the website
more
This new plan has been developed to build on successes made and lessons learnt from implementation of the two initial plans and to provide a short to medium term strategic anchor against which preparedness and response plans to the corona virus disease COVID-19 epidemic in the country should focus o...n for the period June 2021 to June 2022.
more
In a retrospective review of hospital records of 40 human monkeypox cases from Nigeria, the majority developed fever and self-limiting vesiculopustular skin eruptions. Five deaths
were reported. Compared to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)–negative cases, HIV type 1–coinfected cases had more ...prolonged illness, larger lesions, and higher rates of both secondary bacterial skin infections and genital ulcers.
more
El dengue es una enfermedad vírica transmitida por mosquitos que en los últimos años se ha propagado rápidamente a todas las regiones de la OMS. El virus del dengue se transmite a través de mosquitos hembra principalmente de la especie Aedes aegypti y, en menor grado, de la especie Ae. albopict...us. Estos mosquitos también son vectores de los virus de la fiebre chikungunya, la fiebre amarilla y el Zika. La enfermedad está muy extendida en los trópicos, con variaciones locales en el riesgo que dependen de los parámetros climáticos y de los factores sociales y ambientales.
more
The use of safe and efficacious insecticides against the adult and larval populations of mosquito vectors is one of the most effective ways to rapidly interrupt transmission of Zika virus, as well as other viruses transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes such as chikungunya and dengue.
Policy Brief 2 June 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic is a health and human crisis threatening the food security and nutrition of millions of people around the world. Hundreds of millions of people were already suffering from hunger and malnutrition before the virus hit and, unless immediate action is tak...en, we could see a global food emergency. In the longer term, the combined effects of COVID-19 itself, as well as corresponding mitigation measures and the emerging global recession could, without large-scale coordinated action, disrupt the functioning of food systems. Such disruption can result in consequences for health and nutrition of a severity and scale unseen for more than half a century.
more
La Profilaxis Post-Exposición para el VIH (PEP) constituye una herramienta de prevención que consiste en el uso de medicamentos antiretrovirales para reducir el riesgo de infección luego de situaciones de potencial exposición del virus. Su incorporación está recomendada por la Organización Mu...ndial de la Salud en el marco de una estrategia de Prevención Combinada1,2. Cuando se inicia dentro de las 72 horas del episodio de potencial exposición al VIH, la PEP reduce en forma significativa el riesgo de transmisión, por lo que su uso se indica en exposiciones ocupacionales y no ocupacionales esporádicas. En la actualidad, una combinación de 3 drogas antirretrovirales durante 28 días es el esquema estándar empleado como PEP2.
A través de la Dirección de Sida, ETS, Hepatitis y TBC, se distribuye la medicación
necesaria para que la PEP esté disponible en efectores del sistema público de salud cuando está clínicamente indicada.
more
MENSAGENS PARA INSTITUIÇÕES RESPONSÁVEIS PELOS SERVIÇOS D E
ÁGUA E SANEAMENTO (ESGOTO) 2
Os responsáveis pelos serviços de água e saneamento têm um papel relevante na
prevenção e controle do vírus causador da doença COVID-19, e é importante que o
abastecimento de água, saneamento ...e higiene sejam gerenciados com segurança,
garantindo o cumprimento das regulamentações nacionais.
more
ePROTECT est une séance d'information sur la santé et la sécurité au travail qui couvre les renseignements de base dont vous avez besoin pour vous protéger lorsque vous vous déployez dans des pays où le virus Ebola est présent. Ceux d'entre vous qui effectueront des tâches spécialisées, c...omme travailler en contact direct avec des personnes malades, auront besoin d'une formation et d'un encadrement de niveau plus avancé.
more
Religion has continued to play an important role in the Nigerian public’s perception of the coronavirus disease and the willingness to take the newly developed vaccine. In an April 2020 NOI Poll Survey conducted to ascertain the public’s perception of the coronavirus pandemic and the Nigerian go...vernment’s initial response to the virus, 42% of respondents who stated that they were immune to coronavirus highlighted their belief in God as their reason, regardless of religious affiliation. Recent public opinion polls have also revealed that although Nigeria has surpassed over 100,000 coronavirus cases, more than a third of Nigerians who are aware of current scientific advances regarding the coronavirus vaccine are unwilling to take it whenever it is eventually made available nationwide. These respondents anchored their hopes on their faith, which for the Nigerian government could signal another public health risk in its efforts to curb the spread of the disease.
more
The state of the Guinean health workforce is one of the country’s bottlenecks in advancing health outcomes. The impact of the 2014–2015 Ebola virus disease outbreak and resulting international attention has provided a policy window to invest in the workforce and reform the health system. This re...search constitutes a baseline study on the health workforce situation, professional education, and retention policies in Guinea. The study was conducted to inform capacity development as part of a scientific collaboration between Belgian and Guinean health institutes aiming to strengthen public health systems and health workforce development. It provides initial recommendations to the Guinean government and key actors.
more
Hand Hygiene is one of the most effective actions to reduce the spread of pathogens and prevent infections, including the COVID-19 virus. This document promotes the WHO global hand hygiene campaign SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands in the context of other hand hygiene initiatives launched by WHO for COVI...D-19, and provides rapid technical guidance.
more
Rabies is 100% fatal but also 100% preventable with prompt and complete post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). All animal bites, scratches and licks must be assessed for potential rabies virus exposure.
A WHO Guideline for Emergency Risk Communication (ERC) policy and practice.
Recent public health emergencies, such as the Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa (2014–2015), the emergence of the Zika virus syndrome in 2015–2016 and multi-country yellow fever outbreaks in Africa in 2016, h...ave highlighted major challenges and gaps in how risk is communicated during epidemics and other health emergencies. The challenges include the rapid transformation in communications technology, including the near-universal penetration of mobile telephones, the widespread use and increasingly powerful influence of digital media which has had an impact on ‘traditional’ media (newspapers, radio and television), and major changes in how people access and trust health information. Important gaps include considerations of context – the social, economic, political and cultural factors influencing people’s perception of risk and their risk-reduction behaviours.
more
To date, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and American Samoa have reported measles cases. The outbreaks in Samoa and Tonga are caused by the D8 strain (genotype) of measles virus. Measles vaccine coverage varies in Pacific island countries and areas, ranging from 31% in Samoa to 99% in the Cook Islands, Nauru and... Niue.
more
Accessed: 25.04.2020
El presente documento tiene por objeto brindar a las autoridades competentes algunas recomendaciones prácticas para reducir el impacto de la pandemia del virus responsable de la COVID-19 (“la pandemia”) en lugares de detención. El Comité Internacional de la Cruz Roja (...CICR) reconoce que la prevención y el control de la pandemia resulta compleja y ha puesto a prueba a toda la sociedad y los sistemas de salud del mundo y la región. La falta de preparación, así como de recursos humanos, materiales, y financieros puede dificultar la respuesta a las necesidades de las personas que sufren de la enfermedad y la contención de la pandemia. Igualmente, se comprende que los lugares de detención, en particular aquellos donde existe sobrepoblación podrían ser espacios proclives a una rápida propagación del virus.
more
Reports of antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) microorganisms are increasing globally, threatening to render existing treatments ineffective against many infectious diseases. In Africa, AMR has already been documented to be a problem for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the pathogens that cause mala...ria, tuberculosis (TB), typhoid, cholera, meningitis, gonorrhoea and dysentery. Recognizing the urgent need for action, the 2016 United Nations (UN) General Assembly approved a resolution to ensure sustained and effective global action to address AMR.
more
Contact tracing for COVID-19 is the process of identifying, assessing, and managing people who have been exposed to someone who has been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, while quarantine is the separation of contacts from other people after exposure to a probable or confirmed case of SARS-CoV-2 i...nfection. In the context of growing global population immunity from COVID-19 vaccination and past SARS-CoV-2 infection, WHO recommends that identification, contact, quarantine and follow-up should be prioritized for individuals at high risk who have been in contact with a confirmed or probable case of SARS-CoV-2 infection, rather than targeting all contacts. This updated guidance also introduces shorter recommended quarantine periods, including the ability to further shorten quarantine through the use of testing. National and local health authorities should use risk-based approaches to contact tracing and quarantine that include reviewing and adjusting to their local circumstances and disease epidemiology, population immunity, their health system’s capacities, and risk tolerance.
more
Coronavirus and HIV. The impact of the new coronavirus pandemic on people with HIV, sexual health and HIV services. The new virus is called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) while the illness it causes is coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).