ReliefWeb

This Weekly Bulletin focuses on selected acute public health emergencies occurring in the WHO African Region. The WHO Health Emergencies Programme is currently monitoring 68 events in the region. This week’s edition covers key ongoing events, including:

• Cyclone Kenneth in Comoros and Mozambique
• Ebola virus disease in Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Measles in Nigeria
• Humanitarian crisis in Mali.

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 and thus closed.

Major issues and challenges include:

• Tropical Cyclone Kenneth has hit the Comoros Islands and parts of Mozambique, barely weeks after tropical Cyclone Idai devastated Mozambique, as well as Malawi and Zimbabwe. While the death toll and injuries have been relatively low, damage to physical infrastructure, crops and livestock were significant, impacting on the livelihoods of the affected communities. The immediate humanitarian needs include ensuring access to the affected people, relocation of displaced families and provision of shelter, food, potable water and healthcare services, as well as restoration of electricity and communication.

• The Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo continues, with increasing incidence. This recent rise in the number of new cases could be partly attributed to the disruption of response interventions following the latest spate of insecurity, including the attacks on the response teams, and continuing pockets of community mistrust. The response teams are beginning to restore full operations in all outbreak affected areas and hope to halt this trend.