Category: Medical & Health

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COVID-19: ANGOLA REGISTERS 242 NEW CASES AND 112 PATIENTS RECOVERED

Luanda- Angola reported, in the last 24 hours, 242 new cases, 3 deaths and the recovery of 112 patients.

According to the daily bulletin, 156 were registered in Luanda, 26 in Uíge, 20 in Zaire, 17 in Huambo, 10 in Cabinda, 6 in Namibe, 5 in Huíla, 1 in Cuando Cubango and 1 in Malanje.

With 131 males and 111 females, the new patients are aged between 1 month and 86 years.

In the last 24 hours, 2,400 samples were processed by RT-PCR, with a positivity rate of 8.1 per centi.

The deaths, according to the bulletin, occurred in Luanda, with Huambo with 1 and Namibe with 1.

Of those recovered, 47 live in Huambo, 34 in Luanda, 21 in Huila, 9 in Cabinda and 1 in Cuando Cubango.

Angola registers a cumulative 62,385 confirmed cases, of which 1,653 deaths, 50,303 recovered and 10,429 active. Of the 10,429 active cases, 16 are in critical condition, 40 are severe, 111 are moderate, 60 are mild and 10,202 are asymptomatic.

Source: Angola Press Agency

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Democratic Republic of the Congo starts Ebola vaccination

Brazzaville/Kinshasa – Ebola vaccination began today in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s North Kivu Province where a case was confirmed on 8 October. People at high risk, including contacts of the confirmed case and first responders will receive the doses as the health authorities move to curb the spread of the virus.

The confirmed case was a two-year old boy who died on 6 October in a local health facility. He lived in the same community where three members of the same family died in September after experiencing Ebola-like symptoms.

About 1000 doses of the rVSV-ZEBOV Ebola vaccine and other medical supplies were delivered from the capital Kinshasa to Goma city in North Kivu and around 200 doses were sent onward to Beni city, which is near the Butsili health area where the confirmed case was detected. Vaccinators are using the “ring vaccination” approach, where contacts and contacts of contacts are vaccinated. The Democratic Republic of the Congo has more than 12 000 vaccine doses in Kinshasa that can be deployed if necessary.

“Ebola is a virulent, lethal virus that can spread aggressively and fast. But vaccines can create a firewall of protection around cases, stopping the chain of transmission, averting a potentially large outbreak and saving many lives,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa. “The Democratic Republic of the Congo is spearheading the efforts to halt this latest Ebola resurgence, banking on expertise built in responding to previous outbreaks.”

In addition to organizing vaccination activities, emergency response teams are working around the clock to trace contacts, decontaminate infected spaces and step up surveillance and testing. Already, more than 170 contacts have been identified and teams are monitoring their health. To support the national authorities in the response efforts, WHO has released US$ 200 000 through its Contingency Fund for Emergencies. WHO is also in the process of shipping five tons worth of response supplies, including therapeutics, personal protective equipment and laboratory materials.

Among the first members of the 15-person WHO surge team deployed to Beni is an expert in the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse. The expert will brief WHO employees and partners on how to prevent any inappropriate and abusive behaviour. The expert will also work with local non-governmental organizations to sensitize communities on sexual abuse and how to report it.

Beni was one of the epicentres of the 2018–2020 Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and is about 50 km from Butembo city which experienced a new Ebola outbreak earlier this year. Sporadic cases can occur following a major outbreak, but further genomic sequencing is needed to determine if this latest case is linked to the previous outbreaks. The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s National Institute of Biomedical Research’s main laboratory in Kinshasa is currently testing samples of the confirmed case to identify the strain and results are expected this week.

Source: World Health Organization. Africa

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WHO Ghana supports ongoing COVID-19 vaccine rollout with digital tablets

The World Health Organization has reiterated its commitment to helping the Government of Ghana achieve its set target for the COVID-19 vaccine rollout by presenting 1 000 pieces of digital tablets to support the ongoing vaccination campaign.

Presenting the items to the Ghana Health Service, Dr Sally-Ann Ohene, Disease Prevention and Control Officer at the World Health Organization Ghana Country Office said the tablets were to be used to scale up e-registration at the various vaccination centres and help reduce delays in data entry.

“With funding support from the Government of Canada, WHO Ghana plans to present additional 500 digital tablets to the Ghana Health Service”, Dr Ohene hinted.

The Programme Manager for the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) at the Ghana Health Service, Dr Kwame Amponsa-Achiano, who received the items on behalf of the Ghana Health Service, expressed appreciation to the kind gesture.

Dr Amponsa-Achiano stated that the donation of the tablets was very timely and would be deployed immediately to the field for use in the ongoing vaccination campaign.

The digital tablets are anticipated to be useful for data capturing in other health interventions beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: World Health Organization. Africa

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Partners call for safe maternal and newborn care on National Patient Safety Day

The Ministry of Health and partners have collectively called for safe maternal and newborn care in Ghana at the 3rd National Patient Safety and Healthcare Quality Conference in Accra. The conference, which culminated in the observation of the 2021 Patient Safety Day, was under the theme: “No Quality, No Coverage; Safe Maternal and Newborn Care Now”.

The 2021 conference, organized in partnership with Ghana’s Network for improving the Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, incorporated a National Learning Forum for Quality of Care. The platform provided the opportunity for point of care quality improvement teams to share knowledge of quality improvement works done to promote safe quality care aimed at reducing maternal and newborn morbidities and deaths.

In Ghana, about 80% of births occur in health facilities. In spite of this high coverage, maternal mortality and neonatal mortality remain high at 319 per 100,000 live births and 25 per 1000 live births respectively.

Dr Francis Kasolo, WHO Country Representative noted that the statistics raise a red flag on the safety and quality of care received by mothers and their newborns, and emphasized that harm to patients during health care is avoidable, yet millions of patients are harmed while receiving care. He therefore, appealed to all stakeholders in health to make patient safety an urgent global public health concern since adding that “investments in reducing patient harm can lead to significant financial savings, improved system efficiency, and more importantly better patient outcomes”.

Mr Kwaku Agyeman, the Minister for health, said the Ministry was committed to high standards of patient safety as a component of quality, adding that, as the Government advanced in its Agenda 111, not only would it focus on coverage, but also quality.

He, however hinted that in recent years the number of cases of medical negligence were going up. This he said, was not just because patients and families were becoming conscious of their rights, but also because not much focus has been given to these areas.

Mr Agyeman Manu called for the support of the media in educating the public on patient safety and advocating for high standards of care within the country’s health care delivery system, especially for vulnerable groups such as pregnant women and children.

Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), iterated that the safety of patients, including maternal and newborns, were of great concern to the GHS for which reason it had made effort to develop the implementation Guidelines for the National Healthcare Quality Strategy. He further explained Ghana’s concept of Network of Practice as a strategy to achieving Universal Health Coverage.

Nana Ama Serwaa Bonsu, the Queen mother of Bekwai, and President of the Queen mothers’ Foundation, also highlighted the need for compassionate, professional and respectful care by health staff. She said that a common cause of the medical error was poor communication and that the need to improve it. She urged healthcare professionals not to condemn, and also acknowledge the confidentiality and privacy of patients.

The World Health Organization used the occasion to announce plans to support the review of the National Healthcare Quality Strategy, and an assessment of patient safety implementation activities that will inform the finalization of the National Patient Safety Policy.

Source: World Health Organization. Africa

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How WHO’s Intervention helped Hajara M.As’ mental health journey

It was a normal day for 62-year-old Hajara A.M., full of life queuing to get her free medication at Herwa Peace Primary Health Care Center (PHC) in Maiduguri, Borno state.

Hajara, a patient with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) could not hide her excitement upon meeting the World Health Organization (WHO) sponsored team who provided technical support and medication for mental health patients. “If not for this programme, (referring to the WHO intervention) and free medication I have been receiving, I would not have been here talking to you today. Due to their intervention, I have become completely sane now and fully recovered” she says.

“When I first I went to the WHO clinic I was given: a combination of medicines and psychotherapy. Since then, I have met regularly with a psychologist. I am now ok and I am working as a domestic maid to earn a living.”

Narrating her ordeal, Hajara stated that “in 2015, my world fell to pieces. Many painful and complicated events from insurgency resulted in episodes of psychosis, which shattered me. All my inner resources ran out and I wished I had never been born. I considered committing suicide, I didn’t know where I was or what I was doing, I could not sleep nor eat.”

“My sister’s husband was killed by the Insurgents at Doron Baga, Borno state in my presence, I could not bear it. Just when I thought I had seen it all, my younger brother, who was 33 years old was also killed, the killing of my two daughters followed and that almost made me lose my mind. We were forced out of Doron Baga with nothing, our houses burnt, our animals killed and our belongings confiscated by the insurgents.” Immensely affected by the insurgency, residents were forced to relocate to other parts of Borno, including Maiduguri

Baga is approximately 196 km from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State. The “Doron Baga” fish market is located about six kilometers from the town. Baga lies on the border of Lake Chad and was a fishing center itself in the 1960s and 1970s, but the diminishing size of the lake had caused fishermen to move away, and others had turned to subsistence farming.

“Upon my arrival in Maiduguri in 2017, some good Samaritans took me to a psychiatric hospital as my condition was worsening. I was diagnosed with PTSD, but could not afford the medications, so I was forced to continue living with the condition.”

In October 2020, we came across some strangers that told me about a clinic that gives free consultation and medications to people living with mental health conditions here in Maiduguri. It is a Primary Health Care Center (PHC) named Herwa Peace center.

“When I was taken there, I didn’t know what I was doing, but I knew I had gone to the right place. Whenever I go for a consultation, I felt safe staying at the PHC rather than at home and was treated with care and understanding. The professionals counseled me and made me forget all my problems. We had serious conversations and they made me understand there is more to life than the thoughts of suicide. And within three weeks into my journey, I was sane, able to sleep, and had hope in life”

Due to insurgency in North-Eastern Nigeria, the population’s mental health needs were significantly increased, local mental health care resources are grossly inadequate. Relying solely on these local mental health resources to provide services for people affected by mental, neurological and substance use (MNS) disorders would prevent a large number of people from accessing the services they need.

To this end, WHO with funding from European Union (EU), USAID and Nigerian Humanitarian Fund (NHF) then included mental health care in its response and came up with a practical way of scaling up mental health care at the community levels in rural and hard to reach areas, and exercising its mandate to provide a comprehensive health care package to the vulnerable population.

From September 2017, 64 low cadre PHC workers were trained on how to deal with mental health patients using the WHO recommended mental health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP). So far, 547 PHC workers have been trained on mhGAP interventions and are being mentored on mental health care by psychiatric nurses conducting outreach care services. Over 90,000 patients with mental disorders have benefitted, with about 64% stable and coming for follow-up care while 36% are coming as new patients.

This support has led to the promotion of mental health, which is crucial to the overall wellbeing, functioning, and resilience of populations recovering from emergencies.

Source: World Health Organization. Africa

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Promoting mental health and well-being to reduce inequality and achieve universal health coverage

Mauritius marked the World Mental Health Day 2021 under the theme “Mental Health in an Unequal World” on 09 October 2021 at Mahebourg Hospital in the presence of the Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Hon. Kailesh Kumar Singh Jagutpal, the Private Parliamentary Secretary, Mrs T. Jutton, the Member of Parliament, Mr R. Doolub, the World Health Organization Representative in Mauritius, Dr L. Musango, and other personalities, including the health personnel of the Mahebourg Hospital.

Dr Hon. Jagutpal, in his address, said that mental health has always been associated to stigma. He added, “93 000 patients and more than 3200 people have been admitted at the Brown Sequard Mental Hospital in 2020 in Mauritius.” The Minister of Health and Wellness emphasized the fact that children too suffer from mental health problems and 224 patients suffering from mental health problems under the age of 18 have been admitted for treatment last year.

Globally 450 million people suffer from mental health issues while more than 700 000 people suffer from a mental health ailment including suicide.

“12 psychologists and 24 psychiatrists have been recruited in view of strengthening the national mental health services and necessary resources have been mobilized for recruitment of additional psychologists to be posted in the different Ministries”, said Dr Hon Jagutpal.

Mauritius has decentralized the psychiatric services across all the regional hospitals to reach a greater number of people island wise. The same services are gradually being implemented at the level of the Mediclinics. The Ministry of Health and Wellness is also focusing on the training of health personnel in view of improving the quality of mental health care.

“The COVID-19 pandemic did not only have a medical impact but has also had an impact on people’s mental health”, said Dr Hon. Jagutpal.

Dr Laurent Musango, the WHO Representative in Mauritius, advocated for the development of a national mental health strategy in line with the WHO’s Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2030, recently endorsed by the World Health Assembly. He added that concerted actions are needed to promote mental health and well-being for all and prevent mental health conditions for those at risk and achieve universal coverage for mental health services.

“The World Mental Health Day should not be limited to sensitization programme. It should instead be an opportunity to empower people to care for their own mental health and better support those suffering from mental health problems,” said Dr Musango.

“Depression is one of the main mental health problems globally while one out of seven people aged 10 to 19 years old is suffering from mental health problems around the world. It is thus importance to detect cases of mental health problems for appropriate treatment”, added Dr Musango. Many of the mental health problems such as depression, anxiety and schizophrenia can be treated successfully.

“We need to address the increasing demand for mental health services, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic and work towards reducing stigmatization associated to mental health, discrimination and human rights issues”, said the WHO Representative, who congratulated the Dr Hon Jagutpal for prioritizing mental health on the national health agenda and for mobilizing the necessary resources in view of strengthening the national mental health programme. Investing in mental health not only impact positive not only on health but also on economy and society in general.

Other speakers stressed on the need to eradicate stigmatization and stereotypes associated with mental health issues. The population should be sensitized on the mental health services available and how to detect mental health problems in the family for timely treatment.

The Ministry of Health and Wellness and WHO collaborated jointly to produce five pamphlets on different mental health issues, namely depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, suicide prevention and bipolar disorder. The pamphlets launched on this occasion will be distributed widely to sensitize the population on mental health problems and where to look for support.

Source: World Health Organization. Africa

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COVID-19: ANGOLA REPORTS 214 NEW CASES, 13 DEATHS

Luanda – Angola recorded 214 new cases, 13 deaths and 64 recoveries in the last 24 hours.

According to the daily bulletin, 170 were diagnosed in Luanda, 11 in Huambo, 9 in Cuando Cubango, 6 in Benguela, 6 in Zaire, 4 in Namibe, 3 in Cabinda, 3 in Uíge and 2 in Huíla.

Deaths were registered in Luanda with 11, Benguela with 1 and Uíge, equally with 1.

Among those recovered, 35 are residents in Namibe, 12 in Luanda, 10 in Huíla, 4 in Cuando Cubango, 2 in Moxico and 1 in Bengo.

Angola has so far totaled 61,794 cases, 1,642 deaths, 50,041 recoveries and 10,111 active patients.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

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WHO Supports Dissemination and Validation of Preliminary Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child Health, Adolescent, Ageing & Nutrition – Short Program Review findings 4-6 October 2021

The State of Eritrea has made huge strides in improving the health and wellbeing of women and children since independence. This is primarily due to the strong political commitment to social development, particularly the drive to improve the lives of the mothers and children.

In line with the government’s SDGs commitment, Eritrea in 2017 conducted a review of the RMNCAH, Nutrition and Ageing programs and developed the Integrated RMNCAH, N & HAA Strategic plan 2017 -2021 with support from WHO, UNICEF and UNFPA at country and regional level. This plan delineated the objectives, strategies, priority actions and specific activities, together with national targets and milestones to be attained during the implementation period. This strategic plan has guided the implementation of sexual and reproductive health, maternal and new-born health, child health, adolescent health, nutrition, and healthy ageing including during the COVID pandemic.

Taking cognizance of the impending end date of the 2017/ 2021 strategic plan, the Ministry of Health with support from WHO, UNFPA and UNICEF undertook a comprehensive review of the RMNCAH, Nutrition and Ageing strategic plan 2017-2021 under the guidance of an international expert engaged by WHO and the WCO/ MCAT technical team. The newly released WHO Short Program Review tools and approaches were used. The results of the review were disseminated on 04/10/2021in a national workshop attended by Director CDS, WR Eritrea, UNFPA Country Rep a.i., UNICEF Representative, MOH RMNCAAH Unit heads and focal points, Zoba health Directors, FCH focal points from all Zobas. Among others the review highlighted trends in attainment of set targets for the period under review at national and Zoba level. Additionally, critical indicators and areas that need focused attention in the new strategic plan were identified. Following the dissemination, discussions are ongoing with the Zoba teams to clarify issues, identify bottlenecks and define relevant actionable solutions to identified challenges. The findings will be used to define strategic priorities in the new strategic plan 2022-2026.

Eritrea was one of the countries in Africa that attained MDG 4, and one of the few that were on track for MDG 5. We believe that collectively we can design strategies and priority actions to ensure the survival, health and wellbeing of Eritrean men, women, adolescents and children across the life-course towards attainment of SDG and GPW 13 related goal and targets.

Source: World Health Organization. Africa

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WHO Rwanda facilitates a workshop on the adaptation of the 3rd Edition Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response Technical Guidelines

Musanze, 5 October 2021 – The Rwanda Biomedical Center and affiliated government institutions with technical support from the World Health Organization (WHO) Rwanda Country Office are reviewing and contextualizing the 3rd edition of the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) Technical Guidelines (TGs).

For 5 days, participants at the workshop will adapt the IDSR TGs developed by WHO African Regional Office (AFRO) to Rwanda’s context. Mrs. Adeline Kabeja, Director of the Surveillance Unit officiated the opening of the workshop on behalf of Dr. Edson Rwagasore, Division Manager Public health surveillance and emergency preparedness and response.

In her remarks, Mrs. Kabeja highlighted her trust in the skills and knowledge of the technicians gathered in the workshop. “Participants in this workshop constitute a multi-disciplinary team. They are from the central and district levels. The participant diversity, knowledge, experience, commitment as well as the consultative approach we will use constitutes a positive aspect for the success of this workshop and the work ahead.” Said Mrs. Kabeja.

In 1998 the IDSR strategy was adopted by countries in the WHO African Region (AFRO) for implementing comprehensive public health surveillance and response systems at all levels of the health system The goal of IDSR is to efficiently integrate multiple vertical surveillance and response systems and linking information with public health action. The role of IDSR in enhancing prompt detection and timely response to public health events at all times cannot be overemphasized.

Rwanda adopted the IDSR in 2002, with the development of country specific TGs and accompanying tools. Since inception, two editions have been implemented. However, in view of changing public health landscape and the lessons learnt from multiple recent outbreaks including the unprecedented Ebola Virus Disease outbreak in West Africa and in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo as well as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the review of the IDSR TGs was thus necessitated.

The guidelines clearly describe what needs to be established at each level of the health system from the national, sub-national and community in order to prepare, promptly detect and timely respond to priority diseases, conditions and public health events and threats that are responsible for preventable illnesses, deaths and disabilities in local communities. The guidelines also recommend thresholds for action for identifying and responding to the threats.

Following Mrs. Kabeja’s remarks, Dr. Elizabeth Mgamb, WHO Rwanda outgoing Emergency team lead invited participants to leverage on their past experiences to consolidate the most pragmatic guidelines. “This workshop is timely as it will allow us to contextualize the third edition TG to the situation by using the experience and lessons learned during the implementation of the second IDSR TGs and COVID-19 pandemic to enhance IDSR systems in Rwanda. For IDSR to be implemented successfully in a consistent manner it requires national standardized guidelines and training modules.” Said Dr. Mgamb.

Dr. Lyndah Makayotto, WHO Rwanda incoming Emergency team lead took participants through an overview of the 3rd edition TGs and training modules: “Successful implementation of IDSR will require a well-trained, competent and dedicated workforce. Outbreaks are detected by our frontline health workers at community and facility level and not in our offices in Kigali. As the saying goes, we are as strong as our weakest link.” Said Dr. Makayotto.

After Dr. Makayotto’s presentation, Dr. Alfred Rutagengwa, WHO Rwanda Public Health Officer and Mrs. Kabeja organized participants into work groups to review technical guidelines and Training Modules (TMs). By the end the 5-day workshop, Rwanda will have adapted the 3rd edition IDSR TGs and TMs to the health system in Rwanda, set a date for the training of trainers and developed a list of national trainers for implementing IDSR in Rwanda.

The IDSR TGs and TMs in Rwanda will take in consideration: the broader context of health systems strengthening; the better coordination between human and animal surveillance; the improved use of laboratory network capacity in surveillance and response; and better community engagement in public health interventions that require a strong community based surveillance (CBS), and event based surveillance (EBS) strategies.

Source: World Health Organization. Africa

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COVID-19: ANGOLA WITH 527 NEW CASES, 7 DEATHS

Luanda – Health authorities reported Saturday 527 new cases, 7 deaths and 39 recoveries, according to the daily bulletin.

The source states that 489 new cases were detected in Luanda, 11 in Huambo, 10 in Cuanza Norte, 7 in Cabinda, 6 in Zaire, 2 in Huíla and 2 in Namibe.

The list, which includes patients aged 2 months to 82 years, has 244 men and 283 women.

Deaths were recorded in Luanda, with 5, Cuanza Norte 1 and Huambo also 1.

Among those recovered, 15 are residents in Huambo, 13 in Namibe, 7 in Luanda, 3 in Huíla and 1 in Moxico.

In the last 24 hours, the laboratories have processed 5,559 samples, with a daily positivity rate of 9.5 percent.

In the internment centers there are 319 patients, 123 in institutional quarantine and 4,648 contacts of positive cases are under epidemiological surveillance.

The country’s global tally stands at 58,603 infections, 1,574 deaths, 48,118 recoveries and 8,911 active patients.

Source: Angola Press News Agency