Category: Medical

GENEVA — The World Health Organization is warning of growing health risks in the Horn of Africa as acute hunger spreads there.

The World Health Organization’s incident manager for the Horn of Africa, Sophie Maes, says urgent action is needed to slow the health and hunger crisis that is sickening and killing increasing numbers of people in the region.

WHO has released $16.5 million from its emergency fund for operations there.

“Due to the acute food insecurity, malnutrition rates are getting higher and higher, and especially children and pregnant and lactating women are very, very vulnerable," said Maes. "… There is this synergy between malnutrition and disease where malnourished children become more easily sick and sick children more easily malnourished.”

The World Food Program warns 20 million people are at risk of starvation as drought in the Horn worsens.

Speaking from the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, Maes says the priority is to ensure everyone has access to food. At the same time, she says it is important that’ health needs are not neglected.

She warns the risk of disease outbreaks is higher because of a lack of clean water. She says the drought has dried up water sources, forcing people to leave their homes in search of food, water, and pasture for their cattle. Consequently, she says people are more likely to get sick as their living conditions deteriorate.

“And we are seeing a spike in disease outbreaks. We are looking at measles in Djibouti, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Somalia, Sudan," said Maes. "Cholera and acute water diarrhea in Kenya, in South Sudan and Somalia. Meningitis, Hepatitis E, to name but a few.”

Maes appeals for international support to help WHO provide needed care to severely malnourished children.

She says it is crucial to respond to disease outbreaks quickly, to have sufficient supplies of drugs and equipment available, and to ensure children receive needed vaccines.

Source: Voice of America

GENEVA— The World Health Organization says it is working with experts to come up with a new name for monkeypox.

It comes after more than 30 scientists wrote last week about the “urgent need for a non-discriminatory and non-stigmatising” name for the virus and the disease it causes.

Continued reference to the virus as African is both inaccurate and discriminatory, they said.

Some 1,600 cases of the disease have been recorded globally in recent weeks.

While 72 deaths have been reported in countries where monkeypox was already endemic, none have been seen in the newly affected 32 countries, such as the UK.

At the latest count, as of June 12, there were 452 confirmed cases in England, 12 in Scotland, 2 in Northern Ireland and 4 in Wales.

The World Health Organization says it will hold an emergency meeting next week to determine whether to classify the outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern – the highest alarm the UN agency can sound.

The only other diseases this has happened for in the past are Swine flu, polio, Ebola, Zika and Covid.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “The outbreak of monkeypox is unusual and concerning.

“For that reason I have decided to convene the Emergency Committee under the international health regulations next week, to assess whether this outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern.”

Monkeypox is caused by the monkeypox virus, a member of the same family of viruses as smallpox, although it is much less severe.

Infections are usually mild and the risk to the general population is low, but the UK government has bought stocks of smallpox vaccine to guard against it.

The virus has been spreading in an unusual manner around the world in recent months. Previous outbreaks have been mainly confined to parts of Africa where rodents – not monkeys – are thought to be the main animal host.

The infection causes a rash that looks a bit like chickenpox. The virus can be spread when someone is in close contact with an infected person.

It has not previously been described as a sexually transmitted infection, but it can be passed on by close contact.

Anyone with the virus should abstain from sex while they have symptoms.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

GENEVA— The World Health Organization said that 780 laboratory-confirmed monkeypox cases had been reported to it from 27 non-endemic countries, while maintaining that the global risk level was moderate.

The WHO said the 780 figure, for cases from May 13 to Thursday, was probably an underestimate due to limited epidemiological and laboratory information.

“It is highly likely that other countries will identify cases and there will be further spread of the virus,” the UN health agency added.

Few hospitalisations have been reported, apart from patients being isolated.

The WHO listed the non-endemic countries reporting the most cases as Britain (207), Spain (156), Portugal (138), Canada (58) and Germany (57).

Besides Europe and North America, cases have also been reported — in single figures — in Argentina, Australia, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates.

One case of monkeypox in a non-endemic country is considered an outbreak.

“Some countries are reporting that new generations of cases are no longer appearing only among known contacts of previously confirmed cases, suggesting that chains of transmission are being missed through undetected circulation of the virus,” the WHO said.

“Although the current risk to human health and for the general public remains low, the public health risk could become high if this virus exploits the opportunity to establish itself in non-endemic countries as a widespread human pathogen,” it said in a disease outbreak update.

“WHO assesses the risk at the global level as moderate considering this is the first time that many monkeypox cases and clusters are reported concurrently in non-endemic and endemic countries.”

Most reported cases so far have been presented through sexual health or other health services and have mainly involved men who have sex with men, said the WHO.

The organisation said many cases were not presenting with the classical clinical picture for monkeypox: some have described having pustules appear before symptoms such as fever, and having lesions at different stages of development — both of which are atypical.

The WHO said there had been no deaths associated with outbreaks in non-endemic countries, but cases and deaths continue to be reported from endemic areas.

The WHO listed the endemic states as Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Congo-Brazzaville, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Gabon and Ivory Coast, plus Ghana where it has been identified in animals only.

From the first seven of those countries, 66 deaths were reported in the first five months of 2022.

Last week the WHO convened virtually more than 500 experts and over 2,000 participants to discuss monkeypox knowledge gaps and research priorities.

Experts stressed the need for clinical studies of vaccines and treatments to better understand their effectiveness, and called for faster research into the disease epidemiology and transmission.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

Aid agencies warn the number of people facing starvation in the Horn of Africa is expected to reach 20 million by the end of September without a stronger response to an ongoing drought.

The warning comes after the fourth rainy season in a row for the region without adequate rain. The worst drought in 40 years has killed more than seven million livestock across Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.

In some parts of East Africa, communities have not seen significant rainfall for the past two years.

Yusuf Guure, 67, who lives in northeastern Kenya, said he has lost 294 animals to drought.

"We have never seen such a persistent drought, a drought that has wiped out pasture and a drought that has left animals with nothing to feed," he said, adding, "Where do you get that money to feed them and you are unemployed?"

Shashwat Saraf is the regional emergency director for East Africa with the International Rescue Committee. He said pastoral communities living in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are feeling the effects of the drought, and that millions are on the move in search of water, food and pasture.

"We are seeing anywhere between 60 to 100 percent loss of livestock, which is a mainstay for the population because they lost their only source of livelihood," he said. "We are seeing massive displacement happening of households and people moving to urban centers or moving to other locations and to find ways to make their household food secure."

Agencies say that since mid-2021, one-third of all livestock in Somalia has died and 3.6 million livestock have died in Ethiopia and Kenya.

Alyona Synenko, regional spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said Somalia is the most affected country of the three and decades of conflict have complicated the situation for those suffering and for aid agencies.

"The needs are extremely high and sometimes you look at people and you see people who are displaced and they lost everything," she said. "So it's difficult to say that people are getting the help they need because their needs are so important. We also speak about a crisis that is one of the most protracted crises in the region and there is also a level of donor fatigue, especially when there is so much competition for the humanitarian funds, so sometimes we have to make very difficult choices."

The combination of harsh weather and rising food and fuel prices has made the humanitarian outlook worrisome for months to come.

The U.N. humanitarian office, UNOCHA, said Somalia is at risk of famine, and more than 80,000 people are experiencing extreme hunger. Officials also said Tuesday that severe acute malnutrition is on the rise across the three countries and poses an immediate threat to children's lives.

The U.N. and aid agencies have reached 6.5 million people in the affected areas with food, water and health services. They warn more funding and food are needed to save lives in the coming months.

Source: Voice of America

GENEVA— The World Health Organization said that monkey pox constitutes a “moderate risk” to overall public health at global level after cases were reported in countries where the disease is not typically found.

“The public health risk could become high if this virus exploits the opportunity to establish itself as a human pathogen and spreads to groups at higher risk of severe disease such as young children and immunosuppressed persons,” WHO said.

As of May 26, a total of 257 confirmed cases and 120 suspected cases have been reported from 23 member states that are not endemic for the virus, the health agency said in a statement. There has been no reported fatalities so far.

WHO also said that the sudden appearance of monkeypox at once in several non-endemic countries suggests undetected transmission for some time and recent amplifying events.

The agency added that it expects more cases to be reported as surveillance in endemic and non-endemic countries expands.

Monkeypox is an infectious disease that is usually mild, and is endemic in parts of west and central Africa. It is spread by close contact, so it can be relatively easily contained through measures such as self-isolation and hygiene.

Most of the cases reported so far have been detected in the UK, Spain and Portugal.

“The vast majority of reported cases so far have no established travel links to an endemic area and have presented through primary care or sexual health services,” the UN agency said.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK