WHO AFRO Outbreaks and Other Emergencies, Week 28: 8 - 14 July 2017 (Data as reported by 17:00, 14 July 2017)

Overview

This weekly bulletin focuses on selected acute public health emergencies occurring in the WHO African Region. WHO AFRO is currently monitoring 37 events: three Grade 3, six Grade 2, seven Grade 1, and 21 ungraded events.

This week, one new event has been reported: an outbreak of Rift Valley fever in Mali. This week’s edition also covers key ongoing events in the region, including the grade 3 humanitarian crises in Nigeria and Ethiopia, the grade 2 humanitarian crisis in the Central African Republic and outbreak of cholera in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and outbreaks of Lassa fever in Nigeria and dengue fever in Kenya.

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 public health events currently being monitored in the region.

Major challenges include:

• The emerging scale of the severe acute malnutrition in the southeastern part of Ethiopia calls for urgent multisectoral actions to alleviate the suffering and prevent avoidable morbidity and mortality in the vulnerable populations.

• The deteriorating security situation in Central African Republic continues to affect the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the populations in need. In addition, the increasing trend of targeting humanitarian actors is worrying.