February 15, 2023

Angola seeking re-election at AUABC

Addis Ababa – Angola is committed to the re-election of its candidate for member of the African Union Advisory Board on Corruption (AUABC), the Deputy Attorney General, Pascoal Joaquim.

The commitment was announced by Angola’s permanent representative to the African Union (AU), Ambassador Francisco da Cruz, when speaking to the press Wednesday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopian.

The diplomat considered the country’s presence at the AUABC as crucial, stating that Angola itself has been focused on crackdown on corruption.

He noted that Angola can share what it is doing with other Member States of the AU and, within this common effort, attack corruption and its effects on governance for the development of the continent.

“That’s why we are doing our best to ensure the re-election of our candidate and continues to do his best and share Angola’s experience at the level of this African Union Advisory Board on Corruption”, he pointed out.

According to the criteria of equal representation of gender and geographic rotation in the bodies and institutions of the AU, there are two vacancies for the Austral Region, to which Angola belongs, one for a female candidate and another for a male candidate.

Two candidates are running from Botswana (Mophutholodi Molatudi and Érica Ndlovu), one from Zambia (Yvonne Diakhate – for re-election) and one from Angola (Pascoal Joaquim – for re-election).

Pascoal Joaquim, a magistrate for about 44 years, is a member of the Committee of Magistrates of the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) and of the Superior Council of the Magistracy of the MP. He was elected, for the first time, on February 4, 2021 for a two-year term.

The election of the members of the African Union Advisory Board on Corruption is based on the provisions of the AU Convention on Preventing and Combat Corruption, adopted in July, 2003, as well as the Rules of Procedure of the Executive Council.

The AUABC is tasked with promoting and encouraging States Parties to adopt and enforce anti-corruption measures with a view to preventing, detecting and eradicating corruption and related offenses in Africa.

It also regularly present a report to the Executive Council on the progress achieved in each State Party in complying with the provisions contained in the Convention.

Return to PSC

The Republic of Angola should return to the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union (AU) in March 2024, within the principle of rotation of regional representation.

The Angolan ambassador to Ethiopia, Francisco da Cruz, declared, in Addis Ababa, that the country is preparing, with great care, its return to the AU Peace and Security Council, where it will have the opportunity to, at least twice, chair the PSC for two separate months.

The African Union, which comprises 55 countries, is governed by a commission and its annual rotating presidency, chaired by the Head of State of one of the Member States.

The 36th AU Summit of Heads of State and Government, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, will mark the handover of the current presidency from Senegal to Comoros.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

February 15, 2023

More than 490,000 jobs created in last five years

Luanda – At least 490,798 jobs were created in Angola over the last five years as part of the government’s strategy to reduce unemployment, the minister of Public Administration, Labour and Social Security Teresa Dias said Wednesday.

Presenting the “Report on Youth Employment”, the minister said despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the restrictions imposed, the government managed to maintain 219, 206 jobs.

She admitted, on the other hand, that 271,596 people lost their jobs in above period, especially in the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The Angolan Executive recognised the need for interventions in the fields of social protection and employment, in order to allow for inclusive growth and mitigate the socio-economic impacts created by the crisis”, she stressed.

Teresa Dias said that MAPTSS, through the National Institute of Employment and Professional Training (INEFOP), invited the World Bank (WB) to provide technical assistance to understand the challenge of youth unemployment, especially in the post-COVID period , and to improve the design of active programmes in the labour market, with a view to better reaching young people and beyond.

“The creation of jobs, mainly for young people, and social inclusion are among the top priorities of the Angolan Executive”, stressed the minister.

In turn, the regional director of the World Bank, Albert Zeufack, said that the banking institution will continue to support Angola in the fight against unemployment, mainly among youth, because despite the economic slowdown, since 2015, the Angolan economy has created, on an annual average, 35,000 jobs between 2009 and 2019.

“Labour force participation is raised to 76 percent compared to 66 percent in comparable countries and two-thirds of the adult population has a job,” he noted.

The director of INEFOP, Manuel Mbangui, explained that the referred report reached several conclusions, among them, that the majority of young people are employed, but in positions where the income is considerably low.

“Young people have training above the jobs they hold down, there is the informality of employment and most of them are employed in informal activities”, he said. LIN/ASS

Source: Angola Press News Agency

February 15, 2023

Cameroon Dismisses Suspected Marburg Infections After Equatorial Guinea’s First Outbreak

Cameroon’s health ministry has dismissed a report of two suspected cases of Marburg virus in the country after a first deadly outbreak in neighboring Equatorial Guinea. Health officials along the border said Tuesday there were two suspected cases of the severe hemorrhagic fever in Cameroon after Malabo confirmed nine deaths and sixteen possible infections. Despite dismissing the reported cases, Cameroon’s health ministry says it is increasing surveillance and travel restrictions along the border.

Health Minister Manaouda Malachie says Cameroon does not yet have any suspected cases of the Marburg virus, despite reports of two possible infections.

Health officials in Cameroon’s South region on Tuesday said a teenage boy and girl suffering from high fever were rushed to a hospital Monday in Olamze, on the border with Equatorial Guinea.

The health officials said the children were suspected of being infected with the Marburg virus, are in isolation, and are responding to treatment.

But Malachie seemed to contradict those reports when he spoke Wednesday to state broadcaster Cameroon Radio Television.

Malachie says the decision by Cameroon to stop Marburg virus, an illness like Ebola, by restricting movement along the border with Equatorial Guinea is so far yielding fruit. He says as of Wednesday at midday central African time, Cameroon had not reported any deaths or suspected cases of Marburg virus.

Malachie says civilians should avoid contact with animals and people who have travelled to Equatorial Guinea and make sure people with fever, fatigue, and blood-stained vomit and diarrhea are isolated.

But Malachie warned its porous border with Equatorial Guinea, which confirmed Monday its first outbreak of the deadly virus, puts it at risk.

Cameroon last week said it restricted movement along the border after Equatorial Guinea quarantined hundreds of people in Kie-Ntem Province, where the hemorrhagic fever was first reported.

The World Health Organization says Equatorial Guinea sent samples to the Pasteur Institute in Senegal, after an alert by a health official on February 7, and one of them tested positive.

The WHO says Marburg was transmitted to people from fruit bats, spreads between people via bodily fluids, and has a fatality rate of up to 88%.

Marburg is in the same family as the Ebola virus but, unlike Ebola, there are no vaccines for Marburg — just treatments for the symptoms such as dehydration and fever.

Health officials from Cameroon and Gabon, which also shares borders with Equatorial Guinea, met Tuesday in Yaoundé and agreed to work together to prevent the virus from spreading.

University of Yaoundé sociology lecturer Francois Bingono Bingono was in the meeting.

He says the frequent movement of people across the borders will make stopping the virus a challenge.

Bingono says in 2020 Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea restricted movement along their border to protect their populations from COVID-19, but civilians on both sides did not respect the order. He says people living on both sides of the Cameroon-Equatorial Guinea border belong to the same ethnic groups, speak the same language, and celebrate happy events or mourn sad events together.

Bingono says health workers not known in border communities are struggling to educate locals that a deadly virus threatens their lives.

He says they will need traditional rulers to help convince their people.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the virus was first identified in 1967 in simultaneous outbreaks in laboratories in Marburg and Frankfurt, Germany, and in Belgrade.

Marburg is not new to Africa but is relatively new to West Africa.

An outbreak in Ghana in September last year killed two people, while Guinea recorded one death from the virus in 2021 — the first known case in West Africa.

The WHO reported previous outbreaks in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, South Africa, and Uganda.

Source: Voice Of America

February 15, 2023

WHO scales up emergency response to reach displaced vulnerable populations in north-east Nigeria

Maiduguri, 15 February, 2023 – Raising from the recently concluded 12th Joint Operations Review (JOR) on humanitarian support in the northeast, the World Health Organization (WHO) is widening its emergency health response to reach displaced vulnerable populations in the region.

Already, the agency leads international action to expand universal health coverage and coordinates health emergency responses globally.

In Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states (BAY), WHO has been supporting the government of Nigeria to resolve health challenges, stemming from the humanitarian crisis in the region.

The JOR is a biannual evaluation of the health emergency response programmes in the BAY states since WHO declared the humanitarian situation in the northeast at grade 3, owing to its gravity and impact on public health that put intense pressure on healthcare services in the affected communities.

At the end of the 12th JOR meeting (6-8 February), WHO maintained its resolution per the General Programme of Work GWP 13 target to expand humanitarian aid to displaced persons in the BAY states.

Delivering the closing remark, WHO Dakar Hub Health Emergency Officer, Dr Ernest Dabire, notes that the JOR is necessary to map out a clear vision of the health needs in the BAY states.

Dr Dabire, representing WHO Country Representative, Dr Walter Kazadi Mulombo, says WHO will continue to provide leadership in the health sector to enable the states to reach vulnerable populations with the needed health services as per the GWP 13 goals.

“WHO remains committed to providing essential health services to high-risk displaced persons in the region. We are immensely grateful to humanitarian donors, including the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), the government of Germany, the Nigerian Humanitarian Fund (NHF)and the Contingency Emergencies Response Fund (CERF), for supporting the WHO with its HEALTH FOR ALL mandate,” he adds.

Dr Dabire further says that the resolutions from the JOR will align with recommendations from the Lake Chad conference, especially the stabilization strategy developed to better support the states in addressing the growing humanitarian needs.

Meanwhile, the participants commended WHO, local and international partners, for supporting the BAY states in providing quality health interventions to at-risk populations in the region.

Appreciating WHO for its support, the Director of Medical Services, Dr Ibrahim Mohammed Ngulde, representing the governor of Borno state, says the exercise (12th JOR meeting) is very important to ensure effective and coordinated humanitarian intervention in the region.

We are optimistic that implementing the recommendations from the 12th JOR meeting will strengthen the health systems to provide quality health intervention to those needing it.”

Some of the recommendations during the meeting include, but are not limited to, supporting the development of a state multi-hazard disaster preparedness and response plan, conducting Health Resources and Services Availability Monitoring System (HeRAMS) assessment to map critical strengths and gaps in health resources, and strengthening community activities at the LGA borders.

The resolution from the meeting stemmed from concerns about the dwindling resources/ humanitarian funds from national and international quarters.

The participants noted that the diminishing humanitarian funding continues to interfere with the aid from partners to improve the capacity of the health workforce to respond to health emergencies in the BAY states.

Additionally, there was apprehension about the negative impact of reoccurring epidemic-prone diseases on the health of displaced populations.

The 12th JOR consultation and review brought-in public health experts from WHOs 3-level (Headquarters, the African Region, and the Country Office, Nigeria), program officers, health sector partners, and key government officials from the BAY states.

The activity is WHOs core internal strategy to review its health emergency programmes in north-east Nigeria to improve current standards and develop the roadmap for future interventions.

Source: World Health Organization. Africa

February 15, 2023

The Government of Japan commits more than half a million dollars to strengthen Surgical, Obstetric and Anaesthesia Care Services in Zimbabwe

Harare, 15 February 2023 – The Government of Japan has committed USD 633,975 to strengthen access to safe, timely and affordable Surgical, Obstetric and Anaesthesia (SOA) care services in Manicaland and Matabeleland North Provinces. The project will be implemented by the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO). The funding from the Japanese Government will support SOA care services for everyone in need of care at all levels. It will also build the capacity of critical specialist health workers providing SOA services in Zimbabwe, provide basic and critical SOA equipment and consumables at selected high-burden secondary-level health facilities, and strengthen the national Health Management Information Systems (HMIS) to allow effective decision-making. It is expected that, by the end of 2023, a significant number of patients in need of surgical care services will have received high quality care.

The Ambassador of Japan to Zimbabwe, H.E Mr. Satoshi Tanaka, said “Zimbabwe’s sustainable development and the attainment of its vision of a middle-income country by 2030 can only be assured if its citizens are healthy and have access to quality health care services. Japan will support Zimbabwe’s efforts to attain Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by strengthening access to safe, timely and affordable SOA care, for which there is a dire need.”

Zimbabwe is currently experiencing challenges in providing SOA care services owing to lack of surgical equipment, shortage of medicines, consumables, and sundries essential for SOA care services. This has seen in a decline in essential surgical procedures being done in hospitals across the country and resulting in long waiting lists.

The Permanent Secretary for MoHCC, Dr Jasper Chimedza, highlighted that MoHCC is committed to ensuring that every person in need of SOA services receive quality and timely care at all levels of the healthcare system. In this regard, the SOA care system is currently being strengthened, as articulated in the first ever National Surgical, Obstetric and Anaesthesia Strategy (NSOAS: 2022 – 2025) which was launched in September 2022.

The supplementary budget funding from Japan will make a significant contribution in the delivery of quality surgical care services in Zimbabwe. Essential surgical and anaesthetic care is an indispensable component of UHC.

“The MoHCC will maintain its stewardship in making progress towards achieving the highest possible level of health and quality of life for every person in Zimbabwe. The funding will also contribute to the ongoing efforts to address some of the emerging challenges of Non-Communicable Diseases which include conditions amenable to surgical care,” said Dr Chimedza.

WHO Country Representative a.i. Professor Jean-Marie Dangou Director reaffirmed WHO’s commitment to support the MoHCC in strengthening the health system and implementation of the National Health Strategy (NHS 2022 – 2025) for which delivery of safe and quality SOA care are amongst its priorities. He appreciated the support of development partners for the implementation of Zimbabwe’s SOA Strategy to accelerate Zimbabwe’s progress towards attainment of UHC.

An estimated 845 631 people are expected to access emergency surgical services by end of 2023 through the proposed interventions in this project.

Source: World Health Organization. Africa