President Donald Trump’s decision to stop US funding for the World Health Organisation (WHO) in the middle of the coronavirus fight could harm other programmes in Africa and hamper efforts to eradicate polio, says the body’s regional head for the continent. “The impact potentially of this decision will be quite significant on areas such as polio eradication,” Business Day quotes Matshidiso Moeti as telling the World Economic Forum (WEF).
“We are on the way to having the certification of polio being eradicated from Africa, and the US is one of the biggest supporters of that as well as other priority programmes”, including those on fighting HIV/Aids, malaria and strengthening health systems. “We are very much hoping that this decision will be rethought,” Moeti said.
Moeti said the US government was an important partner “not only in financial terms. It’s also an important strategic partner. We work with many of the technical institutions in the US. They are important players in WHO policy-making, strategy-making, and we value the relationship.”
WHO has confirmed two positive cases of yellow fever in the Kajo Keji county, Central Equatoria State, South Sudan, report Polity. The cases were identified through a cross-border rapid response team investigation mounted in response to the recently declared outbreak in the bordering Moyo district, Uganda.
Yellow fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes and has the potential to spread rapidly and create a serious public health impact. Vaccination is the most important means of preventing the infection, which provides immunity for life, says WHO.
Melinda Suchard, head of the Centre for Vaccines and Immunology at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), has, meanwhile, warned in a Daily Maverick report of a “negative impact” of COVID-19 on the routine vaccination of children. “There may be less demand for vaccination because mothers may have logistic difficulties attending vaccination clinics because of transport issues,” she said.
“During the lockdown, the National Advisory Group on Immunisation suggested that mothers delay vaccination until after lockdown, as a short delay will not be harmful to the children. It is, however, critically important that mothers catch up the missed vaccinations as soon as possible.” She advised mothers to contact their vaccination clinics to confirm when they should attend. Suchard emphasised that when attending clinics for vaccination, social distancing and hand washing were important.
South Africa’s vaccination programme works well on the whole, with perhaps only a middle-class minority sometimes resisting having their children inoculated. According to Daily Maverick, the Health Department estimated that the measles vaccine coverage in 2019 was 83% for the first dose (given at six months of age), and 79% for the second dose (12 months of age). In 2018, the NICD recorded 64 measles cases. So, even before COVID-19, one in five children were not fully immunised against measles, said Suchard. Elsewhere in Africa, measles remains a pressing public health concern, with the DRC worst affected.
According to the WHO, vaccinations prevented an estimated 23.2m measles deaths from 2000 to 2018. The WHO’s 187 member states in November 2019 reported a total of 413,308 cases of measles.
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Ministry of Health and Childcare has reported a 44.7% increase in malaria cases this year compared to 2019. The ministry released the statistics against a backdrop of fear that some suspected COVID-19 cases have been mistaken for malaria.
“The sharp increase coincides with the peak period of malaria transmission and is compounded by the current COVID-19 situation in the country. The two diseases do have similar symptoms, particularly fever as the main feature,” said the ministry.
[link url="https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/world/africa/2020-04-16-us-cancellation-of-who-funding-a-setback-for-programme-to-combat-polio/"]Full Business Day report[/link]
[link url="https://www.polity.org.za/article/who-confirms-yellow-fever-outbreak-in-south-sudan-2020-04-14"]Full Polity report[/link]
[link url="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-04-20-fears-grow-over-lack-of-measles-suppression-during-covid-19-outbreak/"]Full Daily Maverick report[/link]
[link url="https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/africa/2020-04-20-man-who-peddled-fake-news-about-zim-lockdown-faces-20-years-in-jail/"]Full report in The Times[/link]