Month: May 2022

Tomson Phiri, for the World Food Program (WFP), said soaring food prices were being seen in Malawi which had started to push the poor onto the brink of hunger,. Rising global food prices as a result of covid 19 had adversely affected Malawi in 2020/2021. In newer WFP assessment, these challenges were further exacerbated by the effects of the Ukraine crisis. Over the last three months the cost of the food basket has increased by 18 percent in the country, registering the highest increase in Southern Africa. WFP expected a worsening situation if the price of the food basket remained high. 50 percent of Malawi’s population were already living in poverty, on less than 2 USD a day prior to these price hikes.

Mr. Phiri said that the price of bread had increased by 50 percent in the last three months. Interviews with bakery owners revealed that the retail price of a 50kg bag of wheat flour had risen by 42 percent. Malawi imported 100 percent of its petroleum and diesel, the prices of which had increase by 54 precent and 64 percent respectively, triggering an upsurge in the price of food. Fertiliser prices in Malawi were at an all time high; 130 – 160 percent higher than in 2020. As of the first week of May 2022, the price of beans had increased by 28 percent compared to the same time last year. The government of Malawi had removed its commodity tax on cooking oils since April, however prices remained high, reflecting a 300 percent increase compared with November 2020.

It was supposed to be a time of plenty in Africa right now, and the agricultural harvest and maize prices were anticipated to fall. However, maize prices rose sharply last month. If food prices continued to rise, the WFP would be affected in two ways. It would cost more to provide food for the hungry, and even to provide cash assistance. Secondly, this meant the existing financial resources would not last as long and would be stretched. On average, the WFP assisted 1.5 million people every year, and had been forced to provide reduced assistance to 400,000 people as a result of climate shocks. Some 2.9 million dollars were required to provide support to 22,500 families who had been affected by floods. WFP required 3.4 million dollars to continue providing vital food assistance to 48,000 refugees. Mr. Phiri concluded saying that while Malawi might not make headline news with all the crises happening in the world, this might be another potential huge crisis down the line.

Responding to questions, Mr. Phiri said the crisis in Ukraine had the potential to wreak havoc in many countries. While countries which relied on direct imports of their wheat are on the front line, there were other countries which were going under the radar but were equally affected - like Malawi. It was difficult to say whether Malawi was the most affected; time would tell, but the impact would definitely be high. WFP did not have the exact number of affected people yet.

Source: UN Department of Global Communications

GENEVA— Some prominent infectious disease experts are pushing for faster action from global health authorities to contain a growing monkeypox outbreak that has spread to at least 20 countries.

They are arguing that governments and the World Health Organization (WHO) should not repeat the early missteps of the COVID-19 pandemic that delayed the detection of cases, helping the virus spread.

While monkeypox is not as transmissible or dangerous as COVID-19, these scientists say, there needs to be clearer guidance on how a person infected with monkeypox should isolate, more explicit advice on how to protect people who are at risk, and improved testing and contact tracing.

“If this becomes endemic (in more countries), we will have another nasty disease and many difficult decisions to take,” said Isabelle Eckerle, a professor at the Geneva Centre for Emerging Viral Diseases in Switzerland.

The WHO is considering whether the outbreak should be assessed as a potential public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), an official said.

A WHO determination that an outbreak constitutes a global health emergency – as it did with COVID-19 or Ebola – would help accelerate research and funding to contain a disease.

“It is always under consideration, but no emergency committee as yet (on monkeypox),” Mike Ryan, director of the WHO’s health emergencies programme, said on the sidelines of the agency’s annual meeting in Geneva.

However, experts say it is unlikely the WHO would reach such a conclusion soon, because monkeypox is a known threat the world has tools to fight. Discussing whether to set up an emergency committee, the body that recommends declaring a PHEIC, is just part of the agency’s routine response, WHO officials said.

Eckerle called for the WHO to encourage countries to put more coordinated and stringent isolation measures in place even without an emergency declaration. She worries that talk of the virus being mild, as well as the availability of vaccines and treatments in some countries, “potentially leads to lazy behaviour from public health authorities”.

More than 300 suspected and confirmed cases of monkeypox, a usually mild illness that spreads through close contact, causing flu-like symptoms and a distinctive rash, have been reported this month.

Most have been in Europe rather than in the Central and West African countries where the virus is endemic. No deaths have been reported in the current outbreak.

However, global health officials have expressed alarm over the growing outbreak in non-endemic countries. The WHO has said it expects numbers to rise as surveillance increases.

On Friday, the WHO reiterated that the monkeypox virus is containable with measures including the quick detection and isolation of cases and contact tracing.

Mass vaccination is not considered necessary but some countries, including Britain and France, are offering vaccines to healthcare workers and close contacts.

Other experts say the current response is proportionate and that deeming monkeypox a global health emergency and declaring a PHEIC would be inappropriate at this stage.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK