Public health emergencies occurring in the WHO African Region

The WHO Health Emergencies Programme is currently monitoring 62 events in the region. This week’s article cover key new and ongoing events, including: Circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 in Ghana Ebola virus disease in Democratic Republic of the Congo Floods in Congo Humanitarian crisis in Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Major issues and challenges include: The response to the Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo suffered a major setback in the past week, with the attacks and killing of responders in Biakato Mines and Mangina. These attacks and the ensuing civil unrest have severely impacted on Ebola response activities, with most operations in the security-affected areas temporarily suspended. These security incidents only serve to facilitate deeper penetration of Ebola infections in the community, and the resultant resurgence of the outbreak.

WHO and all the partners remain committed and dedicated to seeing the end of the EVD outbreak, however, this requires access to the affected communities and safety of the responders. Ghana reported four confirmed paralytic cases of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) during the reporting week, in addition to isolating cVDPV2 in two environmental samples.