Category: Medical

“Africa is facing a fast-surging third wave of COVID-19 pandemic, with cases spreading more rapidly and projected to soon overtake the peak of the second wave the continent witnessed at the start of 2021,” according to the World Health Organization’s regional office in Africa.

WHO said in a statement the pandemic is resurging in 12 African countries. Meanwhile, the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus, first identified in India, has been detected in 14 African countries.

“The third wave is picking up speed, spreading faster, hitting harder. With rapidly rising case numbers and increasing reports of serious illness, the latest surge threatens to be Africa’s worst yet,” Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa said.

The third wave comes as Africa is experiencing a vaccine shortage. WHO says just slightly more than 1% of Africans have been fully vaccinated. While approximately 2.7 billion COVID-19 vaccine shots have been administered globally, WHO says just under 1.5% of those shots have been administered on the African continent.

The Associated Press reports that its analysis of recent COVID-19 deaths reveals that nearly all the deaths occurred in people who were unvaccinated. The news agency said the results of its assessment are “a staggering demonstration of how effective the shots have been.” In addition, AP said the deaths per day “could be practically zero if everyone eligible got the vaccine.”

Workers and residents in several neighborhoods in Sydney, Australia, have been told to stay home as officials attempt to bring a COVID-19 outbreak under control. Authorities say they believe they outbreak started with a limousine driver who transported an international flight crew to a quarantine hotel in Sydney.

The directors of the WHO, the World Intellectual Property Organization and the World Trade Organization say they met earlier this month to determine how they can collectively “tackle the COVID-19 pandemic and the pressing global challenges at the intersection of public health, intellectual property and trade.”

The three organizations said in a statement that their initiatives will include:

• a series of “capacity-building workshops to enhance the flow of updated information on current developments in the pandemic and responses to achieve equitable access to COVID-19 health technologies.”

• the creation of a “joint platform for tripartite technical assistance to countries relating to their needs for COVID-19 medical technologies, providing a one-stop shop that will make available the full range of expertise on access, IP and trade matters provided by our organizations, and other partners, in a coordinated and systematic manner.”

The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Friday that global count of COVID-19 infections has reached more than 180 million. The three countries with the most cases are the U.S. with 33.6 million cases, India with more than 30 million infections and Brazil with 18.2 million.

Source: Voice of America

The World Health Organization said Africa is facing a third wave of COVID-19.

WHO said cases have risen for five consecutive weeks, with 474,000 new cases since June 20. The increase indicates a more rapid spread than the continent’s second wave, which started at the beginning of the year, the organization said.

WHO blames “weak observance of public health measures, increased social interaction and movement, as well as the spread of variants” for the new wave. The so-called delta variant, first detected in India, has been reported in 14 countries, WHO said.

A lack of vaccines is also driving the wave. WHO said 18 countries have already exhausted nearly 80% of their supplies, while eight have completely run out.

Only 1% of the African population has been fully vaccinated, WHO said.

“The third wave has come with severity that most countries were not prepared for. So, the third wave is extremely brutal,” John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), said during a weekly online briefing, according to Reuters.

He reiterated the need for rapid access to more vaccines.

Source: Voice of America

Uganda’s reinstatement of a coronavirus lockdown through the end of July is squeezing the ability of many people to earn a living. Street market traders are forced to bicycle, walk long distances or just sleep in the market.

With coronavirus infections soaring and hospitals overwhelmed, Uganda has reimposed a lockdown on transportation through the end of July.

Buses have been shut down, driving requires a permit, and only essential workers are allowed into Kampala.

While the aim is to save lives, making a living is once again a struggle for traders like Saudha Namaga, one of many forced to sleep in the market.

She wants Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to ease the restrictions.

“We are selling rotten produce. All the bananas, as you can see, we don’t have buyers,” said Namaga. “So, we are asking the president, and those who talk to him should tell him, to relax the orders. Those who are able to walk to town should be allowed to come and buy.”

The situation is even worse for shops not selling food, which Ugandan authorities ordered closed.

Ugandan police are being deployed to enforce the commands.

Area chairman Bashir Muwonge says without help, many shops won’t survive.

“If you keep imposing a lockdown, what do you think is going to happen? This means the country’s economy is falling because there is no work being done,” said Muwonge. “We have been appealing to the president to help by suspending rent payments. The economy is crashing because people can no longer maintain their businesses, even when you reopen.”

Ugandans living in the countryside are forced to walk for hours to get to town.

Lydia Nambogo walked more than five kilometers to withdraw money from her savings to feed her family, but the bank office was closed.

“I’ve been selling takeaway food, and I’ve been earning little money to take care of my family,” said Nambogo. “But we’ve been locked down, and we don’t know what’s coming next. The government isn’t going to give us food again. They should at least give us some of our little savings.”

With Uganda’s first lockdown in March 2020, the government gave flour and beans to the urban poor, which many hope will be repeated.

Ugandan Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja says they are going to identify the vulnerable.

“We are going to use a simple, some simple means of delivering support to you,” said Nabbanja. “And the vulnerable people are known.”

Meanwhile, many Ugandans can only wait for this latest wave of COVID-19 infections to recede while doing their best to keep their heads above water.

Source: Voice of America

Medical aid group Doctors Without Borders says tens of thousands of people in Cameroon’s western regions have been deprived of lifesaving healthcare since December, when authorities stopped their services. Cameroon accused the aid group of being too close to anglophone separatists, which the group denies.

Doctors Without Borders says over 1.4 million people in Cameroon’s restive western regions need humanitarian support, with access to healthcare extremely limited.

The coordinator for the group’s operations in Central Africa, Emmanuel Lampaert, said that’s due to insecurity, lockdowns, and the targeting of health facilities.

He said mortality among vulnerable groups, such as women and children, has increased, and the government’s suspension of their support since December has made the situation even worse.

“Humanitarian and health needs have surges due to the armed violence and notably for the population and several hundreds of thousands of them who have to flee their houses, and who have barriers to access health care. Concretely speaking, this means suffering from malaria or diarrhea for children in the bush, women in labor who are unable to reach health facilities, people suffering from acute respiratory infections, women victims of sexual violence and so on,” said Lampaert.

Cameroon’s government in 2020 accused Doctors Without Borders of being too close to separatists who are fighting to create an independent English-speaking state in the majority French speaking country.

Lampaert denied the accusation and said their only goal is to save lives.

“Responding to urgent health needs is our mere and only concern. Viruses, bullets, and infections do not care which side of the crisis one is on and neither do the Doctors Without Borders. That is our DNA and that is the DNA of principled humanitarian medical action,” he said.

When contacted by a reporter, Cameroon officials would not say when the aid group, known by its French initials MSF, might be allowed to resume work in the western regions.

Cameroon’s health ministry last week reported about 30 percent of hospitals in the regions are no longer functioning due to separatist attacks.

The health ministry said several hundred health care workers have fled the separatist conflict areas in the past month alone.

Philip Ambe is a government health worker who fled flighting in the northwest town of Bafut last Sunday.

Speaking from the town of Dschang, he said MSF’s work was professional and authorities should allow them to resume saving lives.

“The government does not need to stay mute on this issue [over asking MSF to resume work] again. The situation is very pathetic. People can no longer live in the comfort of their bedrooms. People were kidnapped. Some are in the bush. It is moving from bad to worse. The only way out is dialogue so that things should come back to normal.”

MSF was one of the few groups offering free emergency care to Cameroon’s northwest and southwest populations since 2018.

MSF says community health workers it supported last year conducted over to 150,000 consultations for communities in both regions.

And a free ambulance service it initiated transported over a thousand women in labor to hospitals.

Violence erupted in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions in 2017 when teachers and lawyers protested alleged discrimination at the hands of the French-speaking majority.

The military reacted with a crackdown and separatist groups took up arms, claiming that they were protecting civilians.

The U.N. says 3,000 people have since been killed and more than 750,000 displaced both internally and to neighboring Nigeria.

Source: Voice of America

A bomb blast killed dozens of people Tuesday at a market in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, as new fighting flared up in areas outside the regional capital, Mekelle.

The bomb went off in the town of Togoga west of Mekelle at about 1 p.m. local time. There were conflicting reports on whether the blast was the result of a plane dropping a bomb or artillery shells hitting the market.

Local medical officials that at least 43 people were killed, with dozens of others wounded.

Berhan Ghebrehiwet, who sells coffee for a living, said her hand was wounded during the attack.

“First they bombed the market and later they continue bombing the houses. My hand was injured from the bombing. I am suffering a lot and it is causing me great pain,” she told a reporter for VOA’s Horn of Africa Service at Hyder Hospital in Mekelle.

Health workers said Ethiopian soldiers blocked ambulances from reaching the scene of the attack.

Negasi Berhane, a Mekelle resident who suffered leg injuries in the attack, said he saw three people die in front of him, with many others left to suffer.

Ambulance driver Kahsu Tsegay told VOA he unsuccessfully tried five times to transport injured civilians to the hospital. The driver said he was barred from transporting wounded people on the grounds they had tried to help Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) fighters.

Reuters news agency says an Ethiopian military spokesman, Colonel Getnet Adane, denied the military was blocking ambulances.

Later Wednesday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it helped the Ethiopian Red Cross Society and other parties evacuate wounded people from Togoga and transport them to a hospital in Mekelle.

“We cannot stress enough how vital it is for the medical mission to be respected and protected at all times,” ICRC official Nicolas von Arx said in a statement.

The U.S. State Department released a statement Wednesday, saying, “We strongly condemn this reprehensible act.” It said it was “gravely concerned” by the reports of the airstrike on the market.

State Department spokesman Ned Price urged Ethiopian authorities to “ensure full and unhindered medical access to the victims immediately.”

Ethiopian defense forces commander General Berhanu Jula denied the military attacked the market. The general said the attack was targeting an armed group, not civilians.

Asked if he saw armed people during the bombing, Mekelle resident Negasi said he only saw civilians.

On Tuesday, residents said new fighting had erupted elsewhere in Tigray. Residents said TPLF fighters had entered towns north of the capital, only to withdraw within hours.

Tigray has been embroiled in conflict since November, when the Ethiopian military launched an offensive to oust the ruling TPLF. Eritrea’s military has been helping Ethiopian troops battle the TPLF in the ongoing dispute.

Thousands of people have been killed and some 2 million others have fled their homes to escape the violence since fighting erupted.

Source: Voice of America

The World Bank announced a partnership with the African Union Tuesday to finance the acquisition and distribution of COVID-19 vaccine for 400 million people in Africa.

In a remote news conference via Zoom, World Bank Managing Operations Director Axel van Trotsenburg said the World Bank is providing $12 billion to not only acquire but deploy 400 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine — a single dose shot — in support of the Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT) initiative.

The announcement comes a day after African finance ministers and the World Bank Group met to fast-track vaccine acquisition on the continent and avoid a third wave of COVID-19.

Van Trotsenburg said the bank is making the financing available in an effort to address the imbalance in vaccine access between the world’s wealthy and not-so-wealthy nations.

He said, “Less than one percent of the African population has been vaccinated. Africa has been marginalized in this global effort to get a vaccine. We have to correct this unfairness; and given that this is a global pandemic, we need global solutions and global solidarity.”

The project will be a big step toward helping the African Union meet its goal to vaccinate 60% of the continent’s population by 2022.

Van Trotsenburg said the regional effort complements the work of the World Health Organization-managed COVAX vaccine cooperative and comes at a time of rising COVID-19 cases in the region.

The World Bank has already approved operations to support vaccine roll outs in 36 countries. By the end of June, the World Bank expects to be supporting vaccination efforts in 50 countries, two thirds of which are in Africa.

Source: Voice of America