Emergencies
POLIO
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)
https://polioeradication.org/polio-today/polio-now/this-week/
Polio this week as of 09 February 2022
:: Dr Pascal Mkanda, Director for the Polio Eradication Programme in the World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Africa (AFRO), also famously known as our ‘villager in polio’, is this month (February 2022) entering a well-deserved retirement. Pascal’s contribution over the years to polio eradication in Africa, and indeed broader immunization, is second to none. Read more about his journey to polio eradication.
:: At its fourth meeting held this week, the EMRO Regional Subcommittee on Polio Eradication and Outbreaks issued two statements, on the importance of achieving and sustaining a polio-free Eastern Mediterranean, specifically on stopping wild poliovirus transmission in Afghanistan and Pakistan and on stopping cVDPVs in Yemen.
:: “I hope one day I can tell my son the story of how polio was eradicated and how no child will ever be paralyzed by this virus again.” – Dr Nida Ali a former polio worker in Pakistan shares her experience contributing to the programme. Read more…
Summary of new WPV and cVDPV viruses this week (AFP cases and ES positives):
– Afghanistan: one WPV1 case
– Congo: one cVDPV2 positive environmental sample
– DR Congo: one cVDPV2 case
– Niger: five cVDPV2 cases
– Nigeria: two cVDPV2 cases and 14 positive environmental samples
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Statement on stopping wild poliovirus transmission in Afghanistan and Pakistan
:: Statement by the Eastern Mediterranean Ministerial Regional Subcommittee on Polio Eradication and Outbreaks
:: Delivering on a promise: achieving and sustaining a polio-free Eastern Mediterranean Region
Fourth Meeting of the Regional Subcommittee on Polio Eradication and Outbreaks
[Excerpt]
…We, the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Subcommittee on Polio Eradication and Outbreaks:
DECLARE:
1. The ongoing circulation of wild poliovirus in Afghanistan and Pakistan to be a Regional Public Health Emergency; and,
COMMIT TO:
2. Enhancing engagement and support by all political, community and civil society leaders and sectors at all levels, needed to fully resolve the afore-declared Regional Public Health Emergency;
3. Supporting the coordination of activities across borders to ensure synchronized and cross-border response activities, including in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
REQUEST:
4. The international donor and development community to provide the much-needed humanitarian relief and financing to sustain and expand health services to the people of Afghanistan;
5. The sustained and strengthened commitment by all leaders at all levels in Afghanistan and Pakistan, to capitalise on the current epidemiological window of opportunity through intensified eradication efforts, including by continuing to increase access to all children in previously inaccessible areas, implementing area-specific emergency action plans in known under-performing areas and responding to the detection of any new viruses from any source (be it from an acute flaccid paralysis case or environmental sample) as an emergency;
6. All authorities in Afghanistan to facilitate resumption of house-to-house vaccination in all areas to ensure delivery of vaccine to the youngest and most vulnerable children who are not being reached by mosque-to-mosque only vaccination and who must be vaccinated to capitalize on the current opportunity across both countries…
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:: Measles – Afghanistan
10 February 2022
Measles is endemic in Afghanistan, with almost all provinces reporting suspected cases every year. Following periods of lower transmission in 2019 and 2020, and amid the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, weekly notifications of suspected measles cases have been increasing in all provinces since the end of July 2021, with the highest weekly toll observed in the last four weeks in January 2022 (Figure 1). The number of cases and deaths increased by 18% and 40% respectively from week 4, 2022 (week commencing January 24) to week 5, 2022 (week commencing January 31).
Figure 1. Weekly number of reported suspected measles cases in Afghanistan. Week 1, 2018 to week 4, 2022. Source: WHO Country Office in Afghanistan, WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean.
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WHO/OCHA Emergencies
Health emergencies list – WHO
“The health emergencies list details the disease outbreaks, disasters and humanitarian crises where WHO plays an essential role in supporting countries to respond to and recover from emergencies with public health consequences.”
Afghanistan crisis [Last apparent update: 17 Jan 2022]
Crisis in Northern Ethiopia [Last apparent update: 1 June 2021]
Ebola outbreak, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2021 [Last apparent update: 17 Aug 2021]
Ebola outbreak outbreak, N’Zerekore, Guinea, 2021 [Last apparent update: 17 Aug 2021]
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic [See COVID above]
Ebola outbreak, Equateur Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2020
[Last apparent update: 17 Aug 2021]
Ebola outbreak, North Kivu, Ituri, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2018 – 2020
[Last apparent update: 17 Aug 2021]
Ebola outbreak, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2018 [Last apparent update: 24 July 2018]
Yemen crisis [Last apparent update: 12 February 2021]
Syria crisis [Last apparent update: 18 June 2021]
Somalia crisis [Last apparent update: 24 March 2018]
Nigeria crisis [Last apparent update: 1 Oct 2021]
Ebola outbreak, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2017 [Last apparent update: 17 Aug 2021]
Zika virus disease outbreak, 2015-2016 [Last apparent update: 24 Jan 2020]
Ebola outbreak: West Africa, 2014-2016 [Last apparent update: 17 Aug 2021]
Iraq crisis [Last apparent update: 9 Jan 2008]
South Sudan crisis [Last apparent update: 23 Sep 2020]
Avian influenza A (H7N9) virus outbreak [Last apparent update: 13 September 2021]
Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS-CoV) outbreak [Last apparent update: 8 July 2019]
Influenza A (H1N1) virus, 2009-2010 pandemic [Last apparent update: 10 Aug 2010]
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UN OCHA – Current Emergencies
Current Corporate Emergencies
Afghanistan
No new updates identified.
Northern Ethiopia
Ethiopia – Northern Ethiopia Humanitarian Update Situation Report, 10 February 2022
HIGHLIGHTS
Humanitarian operations in Tigray are largely reduced or suspended due to lack of fuel, cash and supplies.
The second phase of the measles vaccination campaign in Tigray concluded reaching 595,000 children in 69 locations.
Malnutrition rates among children and pregnant and lactating women in Tigray, Amhara and Afar remain alarmingly high, reaching 95% among screened women during the week in Tigray.
More than one million people assisted with food in Amhara during the week under two food distribution rounds, and nearly 85,000 people assisted in Afar.
The ongoing fighting in Afar continue to drive large-scale displacement and increased needs in the region, and to block the delivery of humanitarian supplies into Tigray.
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vaccines and global health :: ethics and policy 