Category: Health Protection

A delegation of 125 Nigerians and others have arrived in Pakistan for the 2nd edition of the Engineering and Healthcare Show (EHCS) scheduled to hold from Feb. 23 to Feb. 25, in Lahore Punjab province.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that 736 delegates from 55 countries across the globe are participating in the show, organised by the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) and the Ministry of Commerce of Pakistan.

According to the Secretary of TDAP, Dr Fareed Qureshi, the trade show which started in 2022, is conceived to help showcase Pakistani products to the world.

“TDAP’s primary objective is to promote Pakistani indigenous products and help export them to the global market by organising shows of this kind and in international trade fairs.

“This can be done by organising trade delegations and international trade fairs abroad by arranging the businesses of the country’s companies abroad in form of trade delegations, taking part in international trade fairs as well as arranging such fairs within Pakistan.

“The advantage of the fair is for foreign buyers to visit Pakistan and get first-hand experience of the quality products offered to them.

“The engineering and healthcare show is a forum that has built up a strong reputation in highlighting the diversity in our export sector.

“The first edition was held in 2022 and it attracted 325 delegates from 46 countries.

“The visitors held successful meetings with our manufacturers and trade chambers,” he said.

NAN reports that some of the countries that are participating in the show include Nigeria, Botswana, Angola, Qatar, Benin, Kenya, Senegal, Uganda, Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, China/Hong-Kong, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Algeria, Morocco.

Others are Guinea, Gambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Uzbekistan, Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, SriLanka, Ethiopia, Ghana, Rwanda, Niger among others.

 

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

NAIROBI, KENYA — Researchers in Kenya say they’ve detected an invasive mosquito that can transmit malaria in different climates, threatening progress to fight the parasitic disease. Kenya’s Medical Research Institute this week urged the public to use mosquito nets and clean up areas where mosquitos can breed.

Kenya has detected the presence of a new malaria carrier, which was first discovered in the region in Djibouti in 2012.

The new carrier, the Anopheles stephensi mosquito, transmits plasmodium vivax, the parasite the causes the deadliest type of malaria.

Bernhards Ogutu is a chief researcher at Kenya Medical Research Institute. He says it was only a matter of time before the mosquito was discovered in the country after it appeared in Ethiopia and South Sudan.

“We’ve not been able to pick plasmodium vivax which is found in Asia and Kenya. It’s there in Ethiopia and this vector can also transmit it,” said Ogutu. “So that will also look at whether we might have plasmodium vivax in coming up with this new vector showing in our place. Vivax is more difficult to treat in that you can get treated and real up because it keeps staying in the body and the liver.”

Malaria affects over 229 million people each year and kills over 400,000 people, according to the World Health Organization.

More than a quarter of a million children die in Africa each year as a result of the mosquito-borne disease, including over 10,000 in Kenya.

Ogutu expresses concern for urban residents, saying that the new carrier may feed on poor environmental management systems.

“So the fact that this can survive in urban areas where water is not clean and that can transmit, that’s the worry people are having. For the time being its to monitor and see to what extent we are going to have its spreading and what impact it will be having,” said Ogutu.

Redentho Dabelen is a public officer in the Marsabit County town of Laisamis, where the vector was discovered.

He says experts are going to communities to teach people how to protect themselves from the disease.

“To sensitize them and teach them how to prevent themselves from the vector bites. We are trying to spray the houses,” said Dabelen. “We are trying to tell them about the disease through the community health volunteers and if they get infected they go to the hospital.”

According to the researchers, the population should continue to use malaria control tools such as sleeping under mosquito nets and practicing good environmental management and sanitation.

In 2021, the WHO approved a malaria vaccine for children aged five months to two years that has been shown to reduce child deaths.

 

Source: Voice Of America

WASHINGTON — Somali security forces have ended a more than 7-hour-long siege of al-Shabab militants at a residential building in the east of Mogadishu, the Somali government said.

The Ministry of Information said 10 people were killed by the militants and seven were injured, including four security personnel who were involved in the operation to end the siege.

The government said the victims were innocent civilians and “martyrs.”

In a statement the ministry said four militants behind the attack were killed.

The militants raided a care home for members of the pro-government forces who have been injured in military operations in central Somalia.

“An explosion that didn’t really sound like the typical explosion occurred, and I had a bad feeling, although my friends disagreed that it was an explosion,” said a resident in the area who requested anonymity for security reasons.

“A minute later sporadic gunfire started, and it was clear what was taking place. I thought it was the Djibouti Embassy because it’s the only high-profile building in the area but later realized that injured Ma’awisley from Hiran were the target of the attack.”

Since August of last year, Somali government forces supported by locally mobilized fighters known as Ma’awisley have been conducting military operations against al-Shabab, which drove the militant group from vast territories in the central regions.

Al-Shabab has been carrying out retaliatory attacks against local community elders and commanders who have supported the federal government.

The government has confirmed that a militant bomber detonated a suicide vest in front of the building in Abdiaziz district about 3 p.m. local time.

Following the explosion, four al-Shabab militants stormed the building.

Gunfire and explosions continued intermittently for hours as the government forces fought to take over the building.

The al-Shabab militant group claimed responsibility for the attack. In a statement the group said its fighters targeted the building housing “apostate” militias who participated in the fighting in Hiran, the region where mobilizations started in August last year.

Al-Shabab claimed to have killed 70 people in the attack, a figure that has not been independently verified.

Meanwhile, the Somali government on Tuesday reported killing more than 42 al-Shabab fighters in the latest operation in the Cadalay village near Mahaday town of the Middle Shabelle region.

In a statement, the Ministry of Information said government forces, local fighters and international partners were involved in the planned operation, which lasted more than 30 hours.

Casualty figures given by the government have not been independently verified.

 

Source: Voice Of America

Detection of cVDPV2 in Sudan

On 18 December 2022, the Federal Ministry of Health, Sudan notified WHO of the detection of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) in a child with acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) from West Darfur, Western Sudan. A field investigation was conducted and a risk assessment is currently ongoing by local and national public health authorities, supported by partners of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, and an outbreak response has been initiated.

Editorial Note

Wild poliovirus is the most commonly known form of poliovirus. However, circulating vaccinederived poliovirus or cVDPV is another form of polio that can spread within communities. While cVDPVs are rare, they have been increasing in recent years due to low immunization rates within communities. cVDPV type 2 (cVDPV2) is the most prevalent, with 428 cases occurring globally in 2022.
In recent years cVDPV2 cases have increased across the Eastern Mediterranean Region.
People’s movements across borders underscore the risk of importation across and beyond the Region (See map). The cVDPV2 cases count in 2022 was 164 cases (1 from Sudan, 4 from Somalia and 159 from Yemen).
In Sudan, the last reported outbreak was declared in 2020. It caused paralysis in 58 children in 15 out of 18 states. The outbreak was caused by a cVDPV2 imported from Chad. This strain has been detected in 8 neighbouring countries before and after Sudan’s outbreak.
Sudanese health authorities and partners responded to the outbreak through implementing a robust outbreak response plan. The plan included two nationwide campaigns using monovalent oral polio vaccine type 2 (mOPV2) covering all 18 states. The campaigns were conducted in November 2020 and January 2021 and reached over 8 million children under 5 years old in each of the 2 rounds. The outbreak was declared over in August 2022, after the Outbreak Response Assessment (OBRA) was conducted on 1 August 2022.
According to the WHO-UNICEF 2021 estimates of national immunization coverage in Sudan, the oral poliovirus vaccine third dose (OPV3) and inactivated poliovirus vaccine first dose (IPV 1) coverages were 85% and 94% respectively. On 18 December 2022, the Sudanese IHR National Focal Point notified WHO of the detection of cVDPV2 in one case, which was confirmed on 16 December. The case was for a child with acute flaccid paralysis (AFP), with onset of paralysis on 31 October, from West Darfur,
Western Sudan. Two stool specimens were collected on 10 and 12 November 2022. The isolate has undergone 38 nucleotide changes. The isolated virus is most closely related to the strain that circulated in Borno state,
Nigeria, in 2021, and is unrelated to the cVDPV2 strain that caused an outbreak in Sudan in 2020. On 1 January, cVDPV2 positive environmental sample were reported from West Darfur province, Genena district, with specimen collection date on 28 November 2022.
A field investigation was conducted, and a risk assessment is currently ongoing by local and national public health authorities, supported by partners of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, and an outbreak response is planned.
WHO advice all countries, in particular those with frequent travel and contacts with polioaffected countries and areas, to strengthen surveillance for AFP cases and commence planned expansion of environmental surveillance in order to rapidly detect any new virus importation and to facilitate a rapid response.
Countries, territories and areas should also maintain uniformly high routine immunization coverage at the district level to minimize the consequences of any new virus introduction.
WHO does not recommend any travel and trade restrictions to Sudan based on the information available for this current event.
WHO’s International Travel and Health recommends that all travellers to polio-affected areas be fully vaccinated against polio. Residents (and visitors for more than 4 weeks) from infected areas should receive an additional dose of oral polio vaccine or inactivated polio vaccine within four weeks to 12 months of travel.

 

 

Source: World Health Organization

Ministers and representatives from twelve African countries have committed themselves, and laid out their plans, to end AIDS in children by 2030. International partners have set out how they would support countries in delivering on those plans, which were issued at the first ministerial meeting of the Global Alliance to end AIDS in children.

The meeting hosted by the United Republic of Tanzania, marks a step up in action to ensure that all children with HIV have access to life saving treatment and that mothers living with HIV have babies free from HIV. The Alliance will work to drive progress over the next seven years, to ensure that the 2030 target is met.

Currently, around the world, a child dies from AIDS related causes every five minutes.

Only half (52%) of children living with HIV are on life-saving treatment, far behind adults of whom three quarters (76%) are receiving antiretrovirals.

In 2021,160 000 children newly acquired HIV. Children accounted for 15% of all AIDS-related deaths, despite the fact that only 4% of the total number of people living with HIV are children.

In partnership with networks of people living with HIV and community leaders, ministers laid out their action plans to help find and provide testing to more pregnant women and link them to care. The plans also involve finding and caring for infants and children living with HIV.

The Dar-es-Salaam Declaration on ending AIDS in children was endorsed unanimously.

Vice-President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Philip Mpango said, “Tanzania has showed its political engagement, now we need to commit moving forward as a collective whole. All of us in our capacities must have a role to play to end AIDS in children. The Global Alliance is the right direction, and we must not remain complacent. 2030 is at our doorstep.”

The First Lady of Namibia Monica Geingos agreed. “This gathering of leaders is uniting in a solemn vow – and a clear plan of action – to end AIDS in children once and for all,” she said. “There is no higher priority than this.”

Twelve countries with high HIV burdens have joined the alliance in the first phase: Angola, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, the United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The work will centre on four pillars across:

1. Early testing and optimal treatment and care for infants, children, and adolescents;
2. Closing the treatment gap for pregnant and breastfeeding women living with HIV, to eliminate vertical transmission;
3. Preventing new HIV infections among pregnant and breastfeeding adolescent girls and women; and
4. Addressing rights, gender equality and the social and structural barriers that hinder access to services.

UNICEF welcomed the leaders’ commitments and pledged their support. “Every child has the right to a healthy and hopeful future, but for more than half of children living with HIV, that future is threatened,” said UNICEF Associate Director Anurita Bains. “We cannot let children continue to be left behind in the global response to HIV and AIDS. Governments and partners can count on UNICEF to be there every step of the way. This includes work to integrate HIV services into primary health care and strengthen the capacity of local health systems.”

“This meeting has given me hope,” said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “An inequality that breaks my heart is that against children living with HIV, and leaders today have set out their commitment to the determined action needed to put it right. As the leaders noted, with the science that we have today, no baby needs to be born with HIV or get infected during breastfeeding, and no child living with HIV needs to be without treatment. The leaders were clear: they will close the treatment gap for children to save children’s lives.”

WHO set out its commitment to health for all, leaving no children in need of HIV treatment behind. “More than 40 years since AIDS first emerged, we have come a long way in preventing infections among children and increasing access to treatment, but progress has stalled,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “The Global Alliance to End AIDS in Children is a much-needed initiative to reinvigorate progress. WHO is committed to supporting countries with the technical leadership and policy implementation to realise our shared vision of ending AIDS in children by 2030.”

Peter Sands, Executive Director of The Global Fund said, “In 2023, no child should be born with HIV, and no child should die from an AIDS-related illness. Let’s seize this opportunity to work in partnership to make sure the action plans endorsed today are translated into concrete steps and implemented at scale. Together, led by communities most affected by HIV, we know we can achieve remarkable results.”

PEPFAR’s John Nkengasong, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, said he remains confident. “Closing the gap for children will require laser focus and a steadfast commitment to hold ourselves, governments, and all partners accountable for results. In partnership with the Global Alliance, PEPFAR commits to elevate the HIV/AIDS children’s agenda to the highest political level within and across countries to mobilize the necessary support needed to address rights, gender equality and the social and structural barriers that hinder access to prevention and treatment services for children and their families.”

EGPAF President and CEO, Chip Lyons, said that the plans shared, if implemented, would mean children were no longer left behind. “Often, services for children are set aside when budgets are tight or other challenges stand in the way. Today, African leaders endorsed detailed plans to end AIDS in children – now is the time for us all to commit to speaking up for children so that they are both prioritized and included in the HIV response.”

Delegates emphasized the importance of a grounds-up approach with local, national and regional stakeholders taking ownership of the initiative, and engagement of a broad set of partners.

“We have helped shape the Global Alliance and have ensured that human rights, community engagement and gender equality are pillars of the Alliance,” said Lilian Mworeko, Executive Director of the International Community of Women living with HIV in Eastern Africa on behalf of ICW, Y+ Global and GNP+. “We believe a women-led response is key to ending AIDS in children.”

The alliance has engaged support from Africa REACH and other diverse partners and welcomes all countries to join.

Progress is possible. Sixteen countries and territories have already been certified for validation of eliminating vertical transmission of HIV and/or syphilis; while HIV and other infections can pass from a mother to child during pregnancy or while breastfeeding, such transmission can be interrupted with prompt HIV treatment for pregnant women living with HIV or pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for mothers at risk of HIV infection. .

Last year Botswana was the first African country with high HIV prevalence to be validated as being on the path to eliminating vertical transmission of HIV, which means the country had fewer than 500 new HIV infections among babies per 100 000 births. The vertical transmission rate in the country was 2% versus 10% a decade ago.

UNAIDS, networks of people living with HIV, UNICEF and WHO together with technical partners, PEPFAR and The Global Fund unveiled the Global Alliance to end AIDS in children in July 2022 at the AIDS conference in Montreal, Canada. Now, at its first ministerial meeting, African leaders have set out how the Alliance will deliver on the promise to end AIDS in children by 2030.

Media Contacts

Charlotte Sector
UNAIDS
Email: sectorc@unaids.org

Ann Vaessen
The Global Fund
Email: ann.vaessen@theglobalfund.org

Sonali Reddy
Communications officer
WHO
Mobile: +41 79 509 0647
Email: reddys@who.int

Lazeena Muna-Mcquay
UNICEF
Email: lmunamcquay@unicef.org

 

 

Source: World Health Organization