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  • WHO boss worried over explosion of COVID-19 cases in Africa

    WHO boss worried over explosion of COVID-19 cases in Africa

    World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said COVID-19 cases and deaths are rising in all regions of the world, including Africa.

    Ghebreyesus, who spoke on Friday at COVID-19 news briefing at WHO headquarters in Geneva, expressed concerns that COVID-19 cases in Africa had increased by 52 per cent in the past week.

    “And we expect things to get worse; less than one per cent of Africa’s population has been vaccinated.

    “Vaccines donated next year will be far too late for those who are dying today, or being infected today or at risk today.”

    The WHO chief said millions more COVID vaccines needed to be donated now to save lives and help the UN health agency reach the key global target.

    “More vaccines need to be donated to help the global health body to reach the key global target of having 70 per cent of all national populations vaccinated by the middle of 2022.

    “If richer countries and pharmaceutical companies wait to donate and produce more shots until next year that will be too late for those who are dying today.’’

    Lauding Guinea’s expected announcement on Saturday that its latest Ebola virus disease outbreak has been curbed after just four months, he said it showed what could be done on a much larger scale with the coronavirus.

    “Tomorrow, we expect the government of Guinea to announce the end of its Ebola outbreak.

    “I would like to offer my congratulations to Guinea and the health workers who helped to contain the outbreak at very high personal risk.

    “Thank you also to our partners who provided financial and technical support.

    “As you know, Guinea was one of three countries that were affected by the devastating West African Ebola outbreak in 2014 and 2015,’’ Ghebreyesus said.

    According to him, nearly 11,000 people were vaccinated against Ebola.

    “And yet even after 18 months, the ineffective use of public health and social measures, increased social mixing and vaccine inequity continue to give COVID-19 an opportunity to mutate, spread and kill.

    “The global failure to share vaccines equitably is fuelling a two-track pandemic that is now taking its toll on some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people.’’

    WHO’s global targets are to vaccinate at least 10 per cent of the population of every country by September, at least 40 per cent by the end of 2021, and 70 per cent by the middle of 2022.

    Ghebreyesus added: “These are the critical milestones we must reach together to end the pandemic; we very much appreciate the vaccine donations announced by the G7 and others.

    “We thank those countries, including the U.S., that have committed to sharing doses in June and July.

    “We urge others to follow suit; we need vaccines to be donated now to save lives.”

  • WHO raises alarm, says Africa facing full blown third wave of Covid-19

    WHO raises alarm, says Africa facing full blown third wave of Covid-19

    The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Thursday disclosed that Africa is experiencing a full blown third wave of COVID-19 infections.

    Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, said this at a media briefing on Thursday.

    The development comes amid concerns over new variants of COVID-19, said to be responsible for increased infection rates.

    On Tuesday, the ministry of health in Zambia had said the country’s bed occupancy rate in COVID care centres had exceeded 100 percent.

    Moeti, who noted that several countries in Africa have experienced a surge in infections, said it is time to step up efforts on vaccination.

    “Africa is in the midst of a full blown third wave. The sobering trajectory of surging cases should rouse everyone into urgent action. We’ve seen in India and elsewhere just how quickly COVID-19 can rebound and overwhelm health systems. So public health measures must be scaled up fast to find, test, isolate and care for patients and to quickly trace their contacts,” she said.

    “The rise in cases and deaths is an urgent wake up call for those countries lagging behind to rapidly expand vaccination sites, to reach priority groups for vaccination and to respond to community concerns.

    “A number of African countries have shown that they can move vaccines quickly, so while we welcome the recent international vaccine pledges, if we are to curb the third wave, Africa needs doses here and now.”

    According to a statement from the WHO, “COVID-19 cases in Africa are surging by over 20% week-on-week as the continent’s third wave gains pace and nears the first wave peak of more than 120,000 weekly cases recorded in July 2020”.

    “COVID-19 cases rose to over 116,500 in the week ending on 13 June, up from the previous week’s nearly 91 000 cases, following one month of progressively rising case numbers that pushed the continent over the 5 million case mark. In 22 African countries—nearly 40% of Africa’s 54 nations—cases rose by over 20% in the week ending on 13 June. During the same week, deaths rose by nearly 15% to over 2200 in 36 countries,” the statement reads.

    “New cases recorded weekly in Africa have now exceeded half of the second wave peak of more than 224,000 weekly cases in early January 2021. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Namibia and Uganda have reported their highest number of new weekly cases since the pandemic began.”

    “Along with other factors, a lack of adherence to transmission prevention measures has fuelled the new surge that coincides with colder seasonal weather in southern Africa and as more contagious variants spread. The Delta variant has been reported in 14 African countries and the Alpha and Beta variants have been found in over 25 African countries.”

  • Risk of COVID-19 surge threatens Africa’s health facilities ,- WHO

    Risk of COVID-19 surge threatens Africa’s health facilities ,- WHO

    The World Health Organisation (WHO) says as the risk of a surge in COVID-19 cases increases, African countries must urgently boost critical care capacity to prevent health facilities from being overwhelmed.

    The world body said this in a statement, noting that the call came as vaccine shipments to the continent grind to a near halt.

    It stated that “weak observance of preventive measures, increased population movement and interaction, as well as the arrival of winter in southern Africa heightened the risk of COVID-19 resurgence in many countries.”

    It added that in the last two weeks, Africa recorded a 20 per cent increase in cases compared with the previous fortnight

    “The pandemic is trending upwards in 14 countries and in the past week alone, eight countries witnessed an abrupt rise of over 30 per cent cases.

    “South Africa is reporting a sustained increase in cases, while Uganda saw a 131 per cent week-on-week rise last week, with infection clusters in schools, rising cases among health workers and isolation centres and intensive care units filling up.

    “Angola and Namibia are also experiencing a resurgence in cases.

    “The increase came as COVID-19 vaccine shipments continue to slow down.

    “Burkina Faso this week received just 115 000 doses from the COVAX Facility, while Rwanda and Togo received around 100,000 Pfizer vaccine doses each and nearly 20 African countries have used up more than two-thirds of their doses.”

    It explained that the COVAX Facility is in talks with several manufacturers, as well as with countries which have vaccinated their high-risk groups to share doses, noting that “the threat of a third wave in Africa is real and rising.”

    Meanwhile, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO Regional Director for Africa, said the organisation’s priority was clear, stressing that “it is crucial that we swiftly get vaccines into the arms of Africans at high risk of falling seriously ill and dying of COVID-19.

    She made the world body’s position clear during a virtual news conference on Thursday, saying that “while many countries outside Africa have now vaccinated their high-priority groups and are able to even consider vaccinating children, African countries are unable to follow up with second doses for high-risk groups.

    “I’m urging countries that have reached a significant vaccination coverage to release doses and keep the most vulnerable Africans out of critical care.”

    According to her, 48.6 million doses have been received and 31.4 million doses administered in 50 countries in Africa.

    She said that around 2 per cent of the population had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 24 per cent vaccinated globally.

    “As the continent struggles with vaccine shortages, the care of critically ill COVID-19 patients is also lagging behind other parts of the world.

    “While Africa has 2.9 per cent of cases globally, it accounts for 3.7 per cent of deaths,” she said.

    Moeti also said that a WHO survey carried out in May found that in many African countries, crucial equipment and the health workforce required to handle severely ill COVID-19 patients fall far short of needs.

    She said that of the 23 countries responding to the survey, most had fewer than one intensive care unit bed per 100000 population and would require an increase of between 2500 per cent and 3000 per cent to meet needs during a surge.

    According to her, among the countries providing information on ventilators, only a third of their intensive care unit beds are equipped with mechanical ventilators.

    High-income countries such as Germany, Luxemburg or the United States of America that have been able to cope with COVID-19 surges have over 25 beds per 100 000 population.

    “Many African hospitals and clinics are still far from ready to cope with a huge rise in critically-ill patients.

    “We must better equip our hospitals and medical staff to avert the worst effects of a runaway surge.

    “Treatment is the last line of defence against this virus and we cannot let it be breached,” she said.

    She explained that since the onset of the pandemic, WHO worked around the clock and in collaboration with countries to ramp up COVID-19 treatment capacity by delivering essential medical supplies as well as health worker training.

    The number of oxygen concentrators, for instance, increased to over 6700 as of April 2021 compared with 2600 in April 2020, with WHO providing around 3700 of the medical equipment to countries in addition to shipping about 680 ventilators, she added.

    She noted that the organisation had deployed 21 experts in COVID-19 treatment to eight countries to assist in the clinical care of critically ill patients and share expertise with national health workers.

    She said that to further reinforce COVID-19 critical care services, WHO recommended that every district hospital should have a high-dependency unit, while those at the regional or provincial level have an intensive care unit and higher-level health facilities.

    “All intensive care units must be adequately equipped,” she added.

    Moeti spoke during a virtual press conference on Thursday.(

  • WHO condemns violence against healthcare workers

    WHO condemns violence against healthcare workers

    The World Health Organisation (WHO) has condemned violence against healthcare personnel, including incidents linked to COVID-19 pandemic response across the world.

    WHO, in a statement on “Protection of health care in complex humanitarian emergencies’’ stated that protecting the lives of health care workers was crucial to COVID-19 response.

    “During the COVID-19 pandemic, more than ever, protecting the health, welfare and lives of health care workers on the frontline is critical to enabling a better response.

    “WHO will continue to expand and refine its coordinated efforts to collect data on the incidence and types of attacks on health care, including in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, in all complex humanitarian emergencies.

    “By so doing we will further advance our understanding of the scope and nature of the problem in different contexts and better inform the design of mechanisms to prevent and respond to the attacks.’’

    WHO also takes the opportunity to underscore that all parties in armed conflicts must avoid militarising health care facilities and health transportation including ambulances and other types of mobile medical units.

    Such acts are totally unacceptable; they undermine the vital humanitarian work being undertaken and irresponsibly increase the risk of exposing patients and health care workers to potential attacks.

    According to the statement, 2021 marks the 9th anniversary of the World Health Assembly Resolution 65.20 (2012) in relation to the protection of health care in complex humanitarian emergencies.

  • Long working hours increasing deaths from heart disease, stroke – WHO, ILO

    Long working hours increasing deaths from heart disease, stroke – WHO, ILO

    World Health Organisation (WHO) and International Labour Organisation (ILO) on Monday, said long working hours led to 745, 000 deaths from stroke and ischemic heart disease in 2016, a 29 per cent increase since 2000.

    WHO and ILO stated this in a study published in Environment International Today.

    In a first global analysis of the loss of life and health associated with working long hours, WHO and ILO estimated that, in 2016, 398, 000 people died from stroke and 347, 000 from heart disease as a result of having worked at least 55 hours a week.

    “Between 2000 and 2016, the number of deaths from heart disease due to working long hours increased by 42 per cent and from stroke by 19 per cent.

    “This work-related disease burden is particularly significant in men (72 per cent of deaths occurred among males), people living in the Western Pacific and South-East Asia regions, and middle-aged or older workers.

    “Most of the deaths recorded were among people dying aged 60-79 years, who had worked for 55 hours or more per week between the ages of 45 and 74 years,” said the report.

    With working long hours now known to be responsible for about one-third of the total estimated work-related burden of disease, it is established as the risk factor with the largest occupational disease burden.

    This shifts thinking towards a relatively new and more psychosocial occupational risk factor to human health.

    The study concludes that working 55 or more hours per week is associated with an estimated 35 per cent higher risk of a stroke and a 17 per cent higher risk of dying from ischemic heart disease, compared to working 35-40 hours a week.

    Further, the number of people working long hours is increasing, and currently stands at nine per cent of the total population globally.

    This trend puts even more people at risk of work-related disability and early death.

    The new analysis comes as the COVID-19 pandemic shines a spotlight on managing working hours; the pandemic is accelerating developments that could feed the trend towards increased working time.

    Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said the COVID-19 pandemic had significantly changed the way many people work.

    “Teleworking has become the norm in many industries, often blurring the boundaries between home and work.

    “In addition, many businesses have been forced to scale back or shut down operations to save money, and people who are still on the payroll end up working longer hours.

    “No job is worth the risk of stroke or heart disease. Governments, employers and workers need to work together to agree on limits to protect the health of workers,” he said.

    Dr Maria Neira, Director, Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health, at WHO, said, “working 55 hours or more per week is a serious health hazard.

    “It’s time that we all, governments, employers, and employees wake up to the fact that long working hours can lead to premature death.”

    The UN agencies, however, said governments, employers and workers could take the following actions to protect workers’ health.

    They stated that governments could introduce, implement and enforce laws, regulations and policies that ban mandatory overtime and ensure maximum limits on working time.

    “Government could introduce bipartite or collective bargaining agreements between employers and workers’ associations can arrange working time to be more flexible.

    “At the same time agreeing on a maximum number of working hours; employees could share working hours to ensure that numbers of hours worked do not climb above 55 or more per week,” the agencies said.

  • 2021 will be a ‘far more deadly’ year of COVID-19 – WHO raises fresh alarm

    2021 will be a ‘far more deadly’ year of COVID-19 – WHO raises fresh alarm

    The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that 2021 will be a “far more deadly” year of COVID-19, as cases have begun to surge across the globe.

    “We are on track for the second year of this pandemic to be far more deadly than the first,” organisation’s Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, according to news agency AFP.

    The latest casualty was Japan. The country had further expanded a coronavirus state of emergency from six areas, including Tokyo, to nine, as Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga repeated his determination to hold the Olympics in just over two months. Japan has been struggling to slow infections ahead of the games. The three additions are Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido, where the Olympic marathon will be held, and Hiroshima and Okayama in western Japan. Infections are escalating extremely rapidly in populated areas, Suga said. “As new variants continue to spread, we judged that now is a very important time to stop the further spread of infections.”

    Countries with the poorest results in addressing COVID-19 had uncoordinated approaches that devalued science, denied the potential impact of the pandemic, delayed comprehensive action, and allowed distrust to undermine efforts, a panel of independent experts said on Wednesday.

    In a report released in Geneva, the panel, which reviewed the World Health Organisation’s response to the deadly coronavirus pandemic, also said the denial of scientific evidence was compounded by a failure of leadership to take responsibility or develop coherent strategies aimed at preventing community transmission.

    “Countries with the poorest results in addressing COVID-19 had uncoordinated approaches that devalued science, denied the potential impact of the pandemic, delayed comprehensive action, and allowed distrust to undermine efforts,” it said. “Leaders who appeared sceptical or dismissive of emerging scientific evidence eroded public trust, cooperation and compliance with public health interventions,” the report said.

    The panel’s review of a range of country responses up until March 2021 demonstrates that countries that recognised the threat of SARS-CoV-2 early, and were able to react comprehensively, fared much better than those that waited to see how the pandemic would develop. “The early-responding countries acted in a precautionary way to buy time, while getting information from other countries, particularly from Wuhan in China where the impact of the lockdown showed that stringent measures could effectively stop the outbreak,” it said.

    The experts called on the global community to end the COVID-19 pandemic by immediately implementing a series of bold recommendations to redistribute, fund, and increase the availability of and manufacturing capacity for vaccines, and to apply proven public health measures urgently and consistently in every country.

    The report demonstrates that the current system at both national and international levels was not adequate to protect people from COVID-19. The time it took from the reporting of a cluster of cases of pneumonia of unknown origin in mid-late December 2019 to a Public Health Emergency of International Concern being declared was too long.

    February 2020 was also a lost month when many more countries could have taken steps to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and forestall the global health, social, and economic catastrophe that continues its grip.

    The panel said that the system as it stands now is clearly unfit to prevent another novel and highly infectious pathogen, which could emerge at any time, from developing into a pandemic.

    The report also said the WHO should be granted guaranteed rights of access in countries to investigate emerging outbreaks.

    The panel also recommended that national governments and the international community immediately adopt a package of reforms to transform the global pandemic preparedness and response system and prevent a future pandemic.

  • Ministry, WHO, NCDC make urgent call for increased funding for health

    Ministry, WHO, NCDC make urgent call for increased funding for health

    The WHO, Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Tuesday issued urgent call for increased funding for the health sector in Nigeria.

    The ministry and the NCDC, supported by Resolve to Save Lives, an NGO, made the call hosting a multisectoral workshop on ”Health Security and Health Financing’.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that in 2018, Nigeria launched a five year comprehensive multi-sectoral National Action Plan on Health Security (NAPHS).

    Speaking , the Director-General, Budget Office of Federation (BoF), Mr Ben Akabueze, said the workshop was an advocacy call to increase funding for implementation of the NAPHS and explore opportunities to cascade it to the sub-national level.

    ”If anybody had any doubts prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, or about the need to strengthen the Nigerian health system, or any doubts at all, it has been resolved by the COVID-19.

    ““The International Health Regulations (IHR), last revised in 2005 requires Nigeria, as a third party, to provide for the financing of its health system and other related activities and as an obligation in its annual budget,” he explained.

    He noted that the workshop would improve the knowledge of thematic leads identified in the National Action Plan on Health Security on the national budgeting process.

    “It will equip budget officers in the MDAs with the ability to mainstream budget for health securities in their annual budget, create the necessary synergy between budget officers and the NAPHS technical leads.

    ”It is hoped that the workshop will establish the needed budget lines within key MDAs to strengthen health security activities outlined in NAPHS for 2021,” he said.

    Speaking on behalf of the World Health Organization(WHO), Dr Rex Mpanzanje suggested that Nigeria should ensure adequate framework for financing epidemic preparedness and response.

    “As a country, we need to stand on our own feet and not solely rely on external financing,” Mpanzanje advised.

    Also contributing, Dr Chike Ihekweazu, Director-General of the NCDC, said that the preparedness for future outbreaks, starts from the budgeting stage.

    “Investing in preparedness is much cheaper than response. But, how, where, and by who?” he asked.

    Ihekweazu said in 2020, stakeholders worked hard to scale up our ability to respond to infectious diseases and strengthen our health systems nationwide with support from the Federal government and partners.

    The NCDC boss noted that Nigeria must ensure health security remains a national priority.

    D. Emmanuel Agogo, Country Representative for Resolve to Safe Lives, said that previous and ongoing outbreaks were evidence of how critical funding was to drive all aspects of public health response.

    “We can not over estimate the impact and importance of this workshop,” Dr Agogo stressed.

    NAN reports that the NAPHS is a comprehensive document that aims to address major gaps identified in a 2017 Joint External Evaluation (JEE) of Nigeria’s International Health Security (IHR) core capacities.

  • No deaths, blood clots recorded so far from COVID-19 vaccinations in Nigeria – FG, WHO

    No deaths, blood clots recorded so far from COVID-19 vaccinations in Nigeria – FG, WHO

    The Federal Government and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have disclosed that since the covid-19 vaccination with AstraZeneca vaccine began on March 15, 2021, there has been no record of deaths and blood clotting.

    The government however stated a total of 8,439 mild adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) have been reported such as pain, swelling at the site of the inoculation, body pains and nausea.

    Also, 52 cases of moderate to severe incidents of AEFI have been reported, such as fever, vomiting, diarrhea headaches, dizziness, and allergic reactions.

    It further revealed that five states have the highest records of the AEFI namely: Kaduna (970); Cross River (859); Yobe (541); Kebbi (511) and Lagos (448).

    The Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Faisal Shuaib, made these known in Abuja at a briefing on updates on the status of covid-19 vaccination.

    He said: “There has been no death from administration of the vaccine. We have also not diagnosed any case of blood clots related to the administration of the vaccines.

    “Nevertheless, we are working with NAFDAC, NCDC and other relevant agencies to set up a more active surveillance system built on our experience with polio surveillance.

    “As of today, April 16th, 1,071,346 representing 53.2 percent of the eligible persons targeted with the Astrazeneca vaccine have been administered with their first dose in this vaccination phase.

    “In many states, we have completed inoculating frontline health workers and are now offering vaccination to the elderly, particularly those that are 65 years and above.

    “We are glad to be able to progress quickly and offer immunization to more members of the community. Our rollout has been marked by safety, efficiency, best practice and speed.”

    The Country Representative of WHO, Dr Walter Kazardi, added: “Till date, over 200 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine have been administered. About 182 cases of thromboembolic events with thrombocytopenia have been reported. If there is a causal link, the events are very rare and the risk is extremely low.

    “More data from regions outside Europe and the UK is needed to fully understand the potential relationship between the vaccinations and blood clot with low platelet count.

    “And no such events have been documented in Nigeria even as we have reached over a million population that have been vaccinated.”

  • Rising cases of COVID-19 alarming – WHO

    Rising cases of COVID-19 alarming – WHO

    Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) has said that there is an alarming rise in COVID-19 cases.

    He noted that the surge has pushed global infections toward their highest level since in the pandemic began.

    Ghebreyesus said this on Friday in a briefing focused on Papua New Guinea and the western Pacific.

    “Around the world, cases and deaths are continuing to increase at worrying rates,” he said.

    “Globally, the number of new cases per week has nearly doubled over the past two months. This is approaching the highest rate of infection that we have seen so far during the pandemic,” he said further.

    He said countries like Papua New Guinea had previously avoided widespread transmission but are now seeing steep increases in infections.

    Tedros said the United Nations health agency will continue to assess the evolution of the coronavirus crisis and “adjust advice accordingly.”

  • Ramadan: WHO raises alarm of possible surge in COVID-19

    Ramadan: WHO raises alarm of possible surge in COVID-19

    Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month would begin on Tuesday in many Arab countries, as the holy month comes amid restrictions for the second year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

    Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt and Tunisia announced on Sunday night that the new moon was not spotted and therefore, Monday marks the last day of the Islamic month of Shaaban.

    However, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had warned of a possible surge in coronavirus infections during the month of Ramadan.

    The beginning and end of Islamic months are determined by the sighting of the new moon.

    Other countries are expected to confirm the start of Ramadan later on Monday.

    During Ramadan, observant Muslims abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex from dawn to sunset.

    Muslims usually celebrate by large social and religious gatherings, such as special evening prayers, where mosques are traditionally packed.

    However, many restrictions due to the coronavirus would limit some practices for the second year.

    Charity banquets had been banned in several countries.

    Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates would allow Ramadan’s evening prayers “taraweeh’’, but limited them to half an hour.

    In Jordan and Tunisia, worshippers would not perform taraweeh at mosques due to a night-time curfew.

    A similar curfew has been imposed in Iraq for weeks and is expected to be renewed, especially after the country’s daily infection rate surged, almost hitting 8,000 on Friday.

    While the state closed Sunni mosques since 2020, Shiite mosques have been open in the country.

    In Singapore where about 15 per cent of the 5.7 million inhabitants are Muslim, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong wished Muslims “a peaceful and happy Ramadan.’’

    With the coronavirus pandemic appearing largely under control in the city-state, most worshippers would be permitted to perform congregational prayers in mosques, though migrant workers would be restricted to praying in their residences.

    Singapore hosts more than one million foreign workers, including tens of thousands from Muslim-majority neighbours such as Bangladesh and Indonesia.

    Most of Singapore’s roughly 60,000 confirmed coronavirus cases were reported among mostly young and low-wage migrants crammed into purpose-built dormitories.