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WHO AFRO Outbreaks and Other Emergencies, Week 17: 21 - 27 April 2018 (Data as reported by 17:00; 27 April 2018)

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This Weekly Bulletin focuses on selected acute public health emergencies occurring in the WHO African Region. The WHO Health Emergencies Programme is currently monitoring 64 events in the region. This week’s edition covers key new and ongoing events, including:

  • Cutaneous anthrax in Uganda
  • Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever in Mauritania
  • Listeriosis in South Africa
  • Cholera in Tanzania
  • Cholera in Uganda
  • Humanitarian crisis in Central African Republic.

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:

Two new zoonotic events have been reported this week, namely: cutaneous anthrax in Uganda and Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever in Mauritania. In both events, the disease was propagated by handling either sick animals or carcasses. Again, in both events, the detection and/or confirmation were delayed. These facts emphasize the need to take implementation of the One Health strategy to the community level in order to make meaningful progress.

The persistence and recent upsurge of cholera in Tanzania Mainland is concerning. The country has been experiencing a cholera outbreak since 2015, in the setting of normal society. This outbreak needs concerted efforts and commitments from the national authorities and partners in order to bring it to an end.