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Tag: World Health Organization

  • China ‘under-representing’ true impact of Covid outbreak, WHO says

    China ‘under-representing’ true impact of Covid outbreak, WHO says

    The World Health Organization has accused China of “under-representing” the severity of its Covid outbreak and criticized its “narrow” definition of what constitutes a Covid death, as top global health officials urge Beijing to share more data about the explosive spread.

    “We continue to ask China for more rapid, regular, reliable data on hospitalizations and deaths, as well as more comprehensive, real-time viral sequencing,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a media briefing in Geneva Wednesday.

    “WHO is concerned about the risk to life in China and has reiterated the importance of vaccination, including booster doses, to protect against hospitalization, severe disease, and death,” he said.

    Speaking in more detail, WHO executive director for health emergencies Mike Ryan said the numbers released by China “under-represent the true impact of the disease” in terms of hospital and ICU admissions, as well as deaths.

    He acknowledged that many countries have seen lags in reporting hospital data, but pointed to China’s “narrow” definition of a Covid death as part of the issue.

    The country only lists those Covid patients who succumbed with respiratory failure as having died of Covid. In the two weeks prior to January 5, China reported fewer than 20 deaths from local Covid cases, according to figures released on the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website – even as the outbreak has overwhelmed hospitals and crematoriums amid apparent Covid surges in multiple cities. 

    On Thursday, China’s Foreign Ministry said the country has always shared epidemic information “in a timely, open and transparent manner” and insisted its Covid situation was “under control.”

    “It is hoped that the WHO secretariat will take a science-based, objective and just position and play a positive role in addressing the pandemic globally,” spokesperson Mao Ning said at a daily news briefing.

    Chinese experts would attend a regular WHO member state briefing on Thursday to “respond to technical issues that are of concern to other parties,” Mao said, adding that China would continue to closely monitor possible mutations of the virus and release relevant information.

    WHO officials, who have grappled with Beijing’s tight control of data access throughout the pandemic, have become increasingly vocal in their calls for reliable information as a major outbreak rips across China’s urban centers in the wake of an abrupt relaxation of disease controls last month.

    The surge in cases in a country of 1.4 billion has also raised global concerns about the potential emergence of new variants – and of China’s levels of monitoring and sharing data. A number of countries have implemented Covid testing requirements for travelers from China, citing a dearth of data on strains circulating there.

    On Wednesday, the European Union “strongly encouraged” its member states to introduce a requirement for a negative Covid test for passengers traveling from China to the EU, according to a statement released by the Swedish presidency of the bloc.

    WHO’s Tedros said Wednesday it was “understandable” that some countries were taking these steps, “with circulation in China so high and comprehensive data not forthcoming.”

    China’s Foreign Ministry earlier this week decried the measures as unscientific and vowed to take “corresponding countermeasures for different situations in accordance with the principle of reciprocity.”

    Some health experts around the world have also criticized targeted travel screening as ineffective and voiced concern such measures could fuel racism and xenophobia.

    In an online statement updated Thursday, GISAID – an international initiative for sharing genomic data of viruses causing influenza and Covid-19 – said China had continued “to ramp up” its surveillance efforts and preliminary analyses indicated reported data closely resembles that of known variants already spreading globally.

    Chinese health officials also presented recent genomic data to a WHO advisory body during a closed-door meeting Tuesday. In a statement Wednesday, the WHO advisory body said the variants detected in China are known and have been circulating in other countries, with no new variant yet reported by the Chinese CDC.

    But the advisorygroup and top WHO officials stressed the need for more forthcoming genomic data. The latest situation adds to longstanding challenges for the UN body, which faced criticism at the start of the pandemic that it did not push China hard enough for data amid concerns Beijing was obscuring critical information.

    “There’s a lot more data that needs to be shared from China and additionally from around the world so that we can track this pandemic as we enter this fourth year,” Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead on Covid, said Wednesday.

    “We need more information on sequencing around the country, (and for) those sequences to be shared with publicly available databases like GISAID so that deeper analyses can be done,” she said.

    Source: CNN

  • Syrups linked to deaths in Gambia are fine – India

    Tests on cough syrups made in India that are thought to be connected to the deaths of close to 70 children in The Gambia revealed no contamination.

    Initial testing of four products revealed unacceptable levels of potentially toxic chemicals, according to the World Health Organization.

    Following the administration of the drugs made by Maidan Pharma and exported to The Gambia, the children passed away from acute kidney failure.

    Maiden Pharmaceuticals says it adheres to internationally recognised quality-control standards.

    But some of its products have failed to meet national or state-level quality-control standards in India.

    India produces a third of the world’s medicines, mostly in the form of generic drugs.

  • Ebola vaccines have arrived in Uganda for testing

    Uganda’s health minister will receive a shipment of Ebola vaccine candidates on Thursday, which will be used in a clinical trial.

    Since announcing an outbreak of the Sudan strain of Ebola in September, the country has confirmed 142 cases, with 56 deaths.

    The consignment will be received from World Health Organization representatives at a warehouse near the capital, Kampala, according to health ministry spokesman Emmanuel Ainebyoona in a tweet.

    According to the AFP news agency, the health minister is expected to announce the start date of the trials.

    Uganda has not registered any new positive Ebola cases in over three weeks, indicating that the outbreak might be under control.

  • Akufo-Addo’s management of coronavirus better than America, Brazil, Ecuador – Minister

    Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Kwaku Afriyie, has described Ghana’s fight against COVID-19 as spectacular.

    As a medical practitioner who trained in the United States of America and compared the two countries, he said Ghana managed the outbreak far better than America with the resources and logistics.

    The minister explained that the World Health Organization initially told the world that vaccination was unnecessary, but later reversed its position.

    “Nana Addo has performed admirably. He handled the case in a spectacular manner. America, with its sophisticated logistics and resources, could not handle the situation as well as Ghana. Check the figures for Brazil and Ecuador to understand my point,” he said.

    Dr. Afriyie said Ghana had done well, and per what we have gone through, more persons should have died, but our response to the Covid-19 outbreak was far better than in several countries.

    “We had very good leadership. President Akufo-Addo did well and must be commended,” he stressed.

    He further asserted that the current crisis is not caused by mismanagement as alleged by the opposition.

    He said the outbreak of the virus contributed largely to the current economic crisis.

    He assured Ghanaians that the President is competent and has what it takes to turn things around.

     

  • Selected mental illnesses to be covered by national health insurance

    The Mental Health Authority has indicated that four mental health illnesses will soon be covered by the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), as part of measures in improving the country’s mental health system.

    Speaking to Citi News on the sidelines of the World Health Organization’s conference on assessing Ghana’s Mental Health system, the Administrative Director for the Mental Health Authority, Victus Kpesese, disclosed that his outfit had been given the opportunity by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) to select the mental ailments to be covered by the scheme.

    “That is currently being worked on, and we hope that in the first quarter of 2023, these top four conditions will be included in the National Health Scheme benefits package.”

    “We’ve already recommended schizophrenia and its various types, bipolar and all forms of depression to the National Health Insurance Authority.”

    “So people who have these conditions, once they have the National Insurance Card, they will be covered and reimbursement will be done to the hospital,” Mr. Kpesese said.

    Only 2 percent of Ghana’s 2.3 million people living with mental health conditions are receiving psychiatric treatment and support from health facilities, according to the World Health Organisation.

  • WHO announces clinical trials of Ebola vaccine in Uganda

    The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Wednesday that three trial vaccines for Ebola will arrive in Uganda next week.

    The announcement was made during the G20 meeting in Indonesia.

    “Today I’m pleased to announce that the WHO committee of external experts, has evaluated three candidate vaccines and agreed that all three should be included in the planned trial in Uganda. WHO and Uganda’s minister of health has conceded and accepted the committee’s recommendation. We expect that the first dose of vaccines to be shipped to Uganda next week”, announced Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.

    An Ebola outbreak in Uganda was declared in late September. Since then, Ebola claimed at least 55 deaths.

    “We hope – I dearly hope – that this epidemic goes away. And this epidemic is controllable without vaccines, it’s clear that we can get containment without vaccines. But it’s also clear from the Congo experience that you can get to control much quicker using effective vaccines and that’s where the answers we need to get”, said Michael Ryan, WHO health emergencies director.

    Two of the three trial vaccines were developed in the UK, the third trial vaccine comes from the US.

     

    Source: African News

  • Diabetes killed 416,000 people in Africa in 2021

    Diabetes mellitus took the lives of 416,000 people on the African continent last year, thus becoming one of the leading causes of death in Africa by 2030.

    The World Health Organization (WHO) Representative to Ghana, Mr. Francis Kasolo who disclosed this in a statement read on his behalf at Ghana’s commemoration of the 2022 World Diabetes Day, said 24 million adults in Africa are currently living with the condition.

    The number was, however, predicted to swell by 129 percent to 55 million by 2045.

    Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disease typically characterised by high sugar in the blood. Types are ‘Type 1’, affecting usually children with little or no insulin, ‘Type 2’, usually occurring after 18 years with poor response to insulin and ‘Gestational Diabetes’, one that is caused by pregnancy among women.

    Mr Kasolo said Diabetes is the only major non-communicable disease for which the risk of dying early is increasing, rather than decreasing.

    The commemoration, organised by the Ministry of Health, was on the theme: “Access to Diabetes Care”.

    He said epidemiological trends were reflected in Ghana as Type-2 Diabetes affected approximately six per cent of adults, a percentage that is expected to rise.

    The WHO Representative said the known factors include family history and increasing age, along with modifiable risk factors such as overweight and obesity, sedentary lifestyles, unhealthy diets, smoking and alcohol abuse.

    When left unchecked and without management and lifestyle changes, Diabetes, he said, could lead to several debilitating complications like heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, lower limb amputation, visual impairment, blindness, and nerve damage.

    To enhance controlling of the condition, Mr Kasolo appealed to governments of WHO member states to prioritise investment in essential products like insulin, glucometers and test strips, explaining: “This is critical to ensure equitable accessibility for everyone living with diabetes, no matter where on the continent they are”.

    Dr Efua Commeh, Acting Programme Manager, Non-communicable Diseases, Ghana Health Service, said Diabetes affected a significant number of children, many of whom were not recognised.

    “Children with this condition will live with it for very long time and it will affect productivity. Moreover, there are many who walk around with the condition without knowing about it,” she noted.

    In Ghana, she said Diabetes prevalence is between six and seven per cent, adding: “Obesity, hypertension, unhealthy diet and lifestyles are rising and it’s therefore, not surprising that diabetes is also rising among the public”.

    Dr Commeh said more than 200,000 people passed through the Out Patient Department of health facilities every year with diabetes, including gestational conditions.

    Deputy Minister of Health, Tina Mensah who launched the commemoration, said rate of Diabetes infection is beyond the government health system and called on health development partners to join hands with the government to control the condition in Ghana.

    Mr. Steven Arthur, a representative of Roche, a biotech company, who said Diabetes is a lifestyle disorder, encouraged the public to acquire a certified glucometer to check their sugar levels every morning before breakfast and two hours after lunch.

    He also asked those with Diabetes to engage in physical activities at least 150 minutes per week, spread within three discontinuous days.

    Mr Arthur admonished the public to consume only low, good quality calories, as bad ones affected sugar levels with sweetness and unhealthy fats.

    “There are a lot of apps that can help you to track your sugar and calories levels and also try to visit your Diabetes Specialists regularly to enable them modify your treatments accordingly,” he said.

    DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.

     

    Source: GN

  • Cholera: Death toll rise in Haiti, with the outbreak becoming ‘worse and worse every day’

    Haiti’s health ministry has announced that, a deadly resurgence of cholera has claimed 136 lives so far.

    According to the Haitian Health Ministry’s statement, 89 of those infected died in hospitals or cholera treatment centres, while 47 died at home.

    To address the crisis, the Haitian government is collaborating with international health organisations.

    “We have been receiving 250 people a day lately. There’s a surge in cases in most parts of the metropolitan area. This is very concerning for us as we have a limited capacity with around 350 beds in our cholera treatment centers,” said Alexandre Marcou, a communications officer for medical NGO Médecins Sans Frontières, speaking to CNN on Wednesday.

    A worker disinfects around a clinic run by Doctors Without Borders in Cité Soleil, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, October 7, 2022.
    A worker disinfects around a clinic run by Doctors Without Borders in Cité Soleil, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, October 7, 2022. Richard Pierrin/AFP/Getty Images

    People who live in areas with shortages of safe drinking water or inadequate sanitation are vulnerable to cholera, which can result from consuming bacteria-contaminated food or water.

    Although vaccines exist and symptoms can be “easily treated,” according to the World Health Organization, cholera remains an insidious killer through dehydration in the developing world.

    Just one month ago, the Health Ministry had documented only eight cholera deaths, all in the densely populated capital Port-au-Prince.

    Critical Haiti gas terminal freed after weeks of talks with G9 gang leader

    Now, according to Marcou, the virus is spreading in remote areas of the country, which health services struggle to access and monitor.

    “These places are harder to know what is going on there in real time due to the current crisis. It is clear the situation is getting worse and worse every day,” he said.

    Until this year, the disease appeared to have been largely stamped out of the country, after a nationwide public health effort.

    The last outbreak began in 2010, when cholera spread from a camp of United Nations peacekeepers into the population.

    That outbreak ultimately reached 800,000 cases and claimed at least 10,000 lives. Though the UN has acknowledged its involvement in the outbreak, it has not accepted legal responsibility. Rights organizations have not stopped calling for financial compensation for victims.

  • Indonesia bans all syrup medicines after 99 child deaths

    After 99 children died this year from acute kidney damage, Indonesia has banned the sale of all syrup and liquid medications.

    According to the nation’s Food and Drug Monitoring Agency, ethylene glycol was discovered in the suspended medications in quantities that “above the safe limit.”

    According to the BBC, 200 cases of AKI in children, the most of whom were under five, had been reported by Indonesian health officials.

    “Some syrups that were used by AKI child patients under five were proven to contain ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol that were not supposed to be there, or of very little amount,” Budi Gunadi Sadikin, Indonesia’s Health Minister, said Thursday.

    Ethylene glycol, along with diethylene glycol, are typically added as cheap adulterants in propylene glycol, which is used as a solvent in cough syrups. The metabolism of these compounds causes significant liver and kidney damage, according to The Straits Times.

    Earlier this month, The World Health Organization issued a global alert over four cough syrups that were linked to the deaths of 66 children in the Gambia.

    The organization released the alert for Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup and Magrip N Cold Syrup, all made by Maiden Pharmaceuticals Limited in Haryana, India.

    The WHO said Maiden failed to provide safety guarantees and respond to quality issues surrounding the products.

    “Laboratory analysis of samples of each of the four products confirms that they contain unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol as contaminants,” the WHO said in a statement.

    After the WHO announcement, Maiden was ordered to stop all manufacturing activities.

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  • WHO Special initiative to redefine Ghana’s mental healthcare

    The World Health Organization (WHO) establishment of the Director General’s Special Initiative for Mental Health (DG-SIMH) in Ghana is expected to redefine and address gaps in the country’s mental healthcare delivery.

    The five-year initiative supported by the Government of Norway seeks to get 100 million more people to have access to quality and affordable mental health in 12 countries around the world.

    The vision of the initiative is to ensure that all people in the target population in the selected countries achieve the highest standard of mental health and well-being.

    This was in a statement signed by Mr Ibrahim Suhuyini Sayibu, the Communications Officer, WHO Ghana,copied to the Ghana News Agency at an inception meeting for the initiative in the Western North Region of Ghana.

    Ahead of the implementation in Ghana, WHO helped Ghana to develop a national implementation plan and is currently assisting the country’s six new regions in the development of their regional plans towards effective implementation.

    Dr Joana Ansong, WHO Noncommunicable Diseases and Risk Factors Officer, Ghana, said, “We recognize the important role of stakeholders in the implementation of this initiative.”

    ”That is why we want the regions to map out their implementation strategies so they can own the process and strengthen partnerships to achieve universal health coverage for mental health.”

    Ghana launched the initiative in July 2022 and is expected to start implementation in the third quarter of 2022.

    It will span five years with the aim of improving access to integrated, quality person-centered mental health care for an additional 5.2 million Ghanaians.

    The Initiative will advance mental health policies, advocacy, and human rights and scale up quality interventions and services for individuals with mental health conditions, including substance use and neurological disorders.

    For health authorities in Ghana, this initiative is a great opportunity to strengthen the mental health system whilst mobilizing communities to create an environment devoid of stigma and abuse against people with mental health conditions.

    “We need to create an environment that is conducive enough for people with mental disorders to come out and seek help at any level of the health system.”

    “This special initiative is an opportunity for us to redefine mental healthcare in Ghana,”Dr. Marion Okoh-Owusu, the Western North Regional Director of Health, said.

    Whilst expressing profound gratitude for the WHO Special Initiative on Mental Health, the Kyidomhene of Sefwi Wiawso Traditional Area, Nana Elluo Panyin III, underscored the critical role traditional leaders can play to help improve mental health service delivery in Ghana.

    ”We need to deepen collaboration between health authorities and traditional leaders to strengthen mechanisms for the protection of people with mental health conditions,” the Chief added.

    The Initiative will build on the successes of other mental health interventions such as the QualityRights Initiative, which is helping to improve the quality of care and promote the human rights of people living with mental health conditions.

    Mental, neurological, and substance use disorders account for more than 10 per cent of the global disease burden.

    The lost productivity resulting from depression and anxiety, two of the most common mental disorders, costs the global economy US$ 1 trillion each year.

    In low- and middle-income countries, more than 75 per centof people with mental disorders receive no treatment at all.

    In Ghana, significant gaps remained, with only about two per cent of the country’s 2.3 million people living with mental health conditions receiving psychiatric treatment and support from health facilities according to WHO.

    Source:GNA

  • Covid-19 vaccination stagnate in Africa – WHO

    Covid-19 vaccination coverage has stagnated in half of African countries, while the number of doses administered monthly declined by over 50% between July and September, a World Health Organization (WHO) analysis has established.

    Although Africa is far from reaching the year-end global target of protecting 70% of the population, modest progress has been made in vaccinating high-risk population groups, particularly the elderly.

    The WHO analysis shows that the percentage of people with complete primary vaccination series (one dose for Johnson and Johnson and two doses for other vaccines) has barely budged in 27 out of 54 African countries in the past two months (17 August – 16 October 2022).

    In addition, in September, 23 million doses were given, 18% less than the number registered in August, and 51% less than the 47 million doses administered in July. The number of doses provided last month is also about one-third of the peak of the 63 million doses reached in February 2022. However, there are signs of improvement this month, with 22 million doses given as of 16 October 2022, representing 95% of the total administered in September.

    Overall, as of 16 October 2022, just 24% of the continent’s population had completed their primary vaccination series compared with the coverage of 64% at the global level. Liberia has now joined Mauritius and Seychelles as one of three countries to surpass 70% of people with full vaccination coverage. Rwanda is on the verge of achieving this milestone as well.

    Other small signs of progress are that the number of countries with less than 10% of people completing their primary series has dropped from 26 in December 2021 to five now. Despite these achievements, at the current pace of vaccination, Africa is expected to meet the global target of 70% of people with complete primary vaccination series by April 2025.

    “The end of the Covid-19 pandemic is within sight, but as long as Africa lags far behind the rest of the world in reaching widespread protection, there is a dangerous gap which the virus can exploit to come roaring back,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.

    “The biggest priority is to shield our most vulnerable populations from the worst effects of Covid-19. On this front, we are seeing some progress as countries step up efforts to boost coverage among health workers, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems.”

    Based on data from 31 countries, by 16 October 2022, 40% of African health workers had completed their primary series. This latest data uses country estimates of population size instead of previous figures which used International Labour Organization estimates of the health workforce. In 15 of these countries, more than 70% of health workers have been fully vaccinated compared with 27% at the beginning of the year. Thirty-one per cent of older adults (between 50 and 65 years and older depending on country set age limits) have been fully vaccinated according to data from 27 countries, an increase from 21% in January 2022.

    While difficult access to doses undermined vaccination efforts in 2021, these issues have been largely resolved with countries on average receiving 67 doses per 100 people compared with 34 doses per 100 people at the end of 2021 and 13 doses per 100 at the end of September 2021. The continent has received 936 million vaccine doses, 62% of which came from the COVAX Facility.

    “After a bumpy start, the COVAX partnership has assured a steady pipeline of Covid-19 vaccines to Africa,” said Dr Moeti. “Now, we are a victim of our own success. As vaccines have helped bring the number of infections down, people no longer fear Covid-19 and so few are willing to get vaccinated.”

    Mass vaccination campaigns have been instrumental in boosting Covid-19 vaccine coverage, contributing to 85% of total doses administered in the African region. However, in the past few months, the number of people vaccinated has dropped significantly while the operational costs per person keep increasing. This decline in effectiveness is due to sub-optimal planning and preparations, especially at the sub-national levels.

    “Covid-19 vaccination campaigns are quick operations and are only effective with good planning,” said Dr Moeti. “I urge countries to make our goal of reaching every district a reality by improving preparations for vaccination campaigns.”

    Vaccine hesitancy and a low-risk perception of the pandemic, notably with the recent decline in cases are also dampening uptake. Over the past 12 weeks, Africa has recorded the lowest case numbers since the start of the pandemic. In the week ending on 16 October, 4281 new cases were reported, representing 1.3% of the peak of the Omicron-fuelled surge reached in December 2021. No country is currently in resurgence or on high alert and deaths remain low across the region, with a case fatality rate of 2.1%.

    The response to multiple public health emergencies is also affecting Covid-19 vaccine rollout. Outbreaks of polio, measles, yellow fever and now Ebola have shifted priorities in the affected countries.

    To assist countries to intensify vaccination efforts, WHO in Africa has embarked on a raft of measures including supporting countries to assess the preparedness for vaccination campaigns at provincial and district levels, tracking vaccination among priority groups, carrying out high-level advocacy to boost uptake, helping countries integrate Covid-19 vaccines in other planned mass vaccination campaigns as well as deploy surge missions to countries to improve quality of vaccination drives.

    Dr Moeti spoke on Thursday during a virtual press briefing. She was joined by Dr Wilhelmina Jallah, Minister of Health, Liberia; and Ms Aurelia Nguyen, Special Adviser, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

    Also on hand from the WHO Regional Office for Africa was Dr Modjirom Ndoutabe, Polio Programme Coordinator; Dr Phionah Atuhebwe, Vaccines Introduction Medical Officer; and Dr Patrick Otim, Health Emergency Officer, Acute Events Management Unit.

  • Photos: See the 4 cough syrups the WHO has warned about after 66 deaths in Gambia

    A global alert has been issued over four cough syrups after the World Health Organization (WHO) warned they could be linked to the deaths of 66 children in The Gambia.

    The syrups have been “potentially linked with acute kidney injuries and 66 deaths among children”, it said.

    The products were manufactured by an Indian company, Maiden Pharmaceuticals, which had failed to provide guarantees about their safety, the WHO added.

    The firm has not yet commented.

    The BBC has contacted Maiden Pharmaceuticals for comment.

    Indian officials say they have asked the WHO to share evidence of the link between the syrups and the deaths.

    The WHO identified the medicines as Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup and Magrip N Cold Syrup.

    The four products had been identified in The Gambia, but “may have been distributed, through informal markets, to other countries or regions”, the WHO added, in the alert published on its website.

    It warned that their use may result in serious injury or death, especially among children.

    The WHO’s intervention came after medical authorities in The Gambia – a popular tourist destination – detected an increase in cases of acute kidney injury among children under the age of five in late July.

    The Gambia’s government has since suspended the use of all paracetamol syrups and has urged people to use tablets instead.

    The number of deaths has declined since the ban but two more have been recorded in the past two weeks, Gambia health services director Mustapha Bittay told the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme.

    He said that The Gambia did not currently have a laboratory capable of testing whether medicines were safe and so they had to be sent abroad for checking. Mr Bittay added that The Gambia was in discussions with the World Bank to get funding for a quality-control laboratory.

    The WHO said that laboratory analysis of samples of the products “confirms that they contain unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol as contaminants”.

    The substances were toxic, and their effects “can include abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, inability to pass urine, headache, altered mental state and acute kidney injury which may lead to death,” it added.

    Mr Bittay also said that traces had also been found of E.Coli, a bacteria which can cause diarrhoea and vomiting.

    The Gambia’s health officials said last month that dozens of children had died, without giving an exact number.

    Speaking in Geneva on Wednesday, WHO chief Tedros Ghebreyesus said: “The loss of these young lives is beyond heart-breaking for their families.”

    The WHO said that India’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation indicated that the manufacturer may have only supplied the contaminated medications to The Gambia, AFP news agency reports, quoting an email from the UN health agency.

    But the WHO said that “global exposure” was possible as the “manufacturer may have used the same contaminated material in other products and distributed them locally or exported” them, the agency reports.

    See the four cough syrups below;

  • Polio Vaccination: Round two slated for October 6 to 9

    The Ghana Health Service (GHS) and the Ghana Red Cross Society (GRCS) are set to vaccinate over six million children below the ages of five against Polio.

    This will be done in a four-day National Polio Vaccination Campaign slated for Thursday October 6, to Sunday October 9, 2022.

    Mr Kwame Gyimah-Akwafo, President of the Ghana Red Cross Society (GRCS) who launched the vaccination campaign in Accra on Tuesday said the exercise was expected to increase population immunity against the Type 2 Poliovirus and break transmission of the disease.

    Polio, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus.

    It invades the nervous system and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours.

    The virus is transmitted by person-to-person and spread mainly through the faecal-oral route or contaminated water or food and multiplies in the intestine.

    Initial symptoms are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness of the neck and pain in the limbs.

    One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis, usually in the legs.

    Mr Gyimah-Akwafo said the campaign would target about 60,000 households through door to door interactions in all 16 regions and that the vaccination would be done in all public health facilities.

    Mobile teams would also vaccinate children in communities.

    He said in effort to improve upon achievements in the first round in September, the GRCS had deployed over 400 trained volunteers nationwide to mobilise communities and create awareness for the second-round polio vaccination,expecially in hard to reach areas.

    Mr Gyimah-Akwafo said the GRCS’s partnership with the GHS to vaccinate children was in line with the Red Cross (RC) and International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) mission to maintain the focus of governments in ensuring that all other diseases were not left behind due to efforts to immunise populations against COVID-19.

    He urged Ghanaians to join in the fight against polio and other public health emergencies and called on parents to make thier children avaliable for vaccination.

    “We have fought polio for a very long time, it goes, hides and comes back and there is the need to make sure that we protect our under five children,” he said.

    The GRCS President said the World Health Organization (WHO) had supported the government with financial, logistical and technical support to reach out and vaccinate all eligible children across the country.

    Polio mainly affects children under five years of age. However, anyone of any age, who is unvaccinated can contract the disease.

    There is no cure for polio, it can only be prevented.

    Polio vaccine, given multiple times, can protect a child for life.

    There are two vaccines available – oral polio vaccine and inactivated polio vaccine – both are effective and safe.

    The two are used in different combinations worldwide depending on local epidemiological and programmatic circumstances.

    This is to ensure the best possible protection to populations.

  • Health expert calls on WHO to rename Monkeypox disease

    The Chief of Party and Public Health Physician, JSI Research and Training Institute, Dr Henry Nagai, has called on the World Health Organization (WHO) to rename the Monkeypox disease.

    The clarion call follows growing concerns in some Ghanaian communities who consider the disease “derogatory,” as it instigates stigma and discrimination.

    “WHO must listen, work hard and change the name of the disease now”, Dr Nagai stated when he spoke on Ghana’s perspective at a free webinar session on emerging viral infections and diseases with a focus on the Monkeypox virus.

    As of September, the country had recorded 84 cases of the Monkeypox disease.

    The Greater Accra region topped the list of suspected and confirmed cases with 191 and 51, respectively.

    The suspected cases recorded were 535 across 38 districts. Also, four deaths were recorded, two in the Upper East and one each in the Greater Accra and Central regions.

    In a breakdown, Dr Nagai explained that 51 cases of the Monkeypox disease were among males and constituted 60.7 per cent.

    According to him, the national fatality rate also stood at 4.8 per cent.

    So far, the Bono region has recorded 16 suspected cases, Ahafo region nine, Ashanti 69, Bono East 15, Central region 15, Eastern region 48 and North-East region four.

    The northern region has recorded 24 suspected cases, Oti region seven, Savannah seven, Upper East 43, Upper West 25, Volta region 18, Western 11 and Western North three.

    The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa organised the four-hour webinar, which among other objectives, sought to support the continental response, by advocating proactive measures from African leadership to overcome the Monkeypox disease.

    Source; angelonline.com

  • Ethiopia’s Tigray war: Tedros Ghebreyesus unable to send money to ‘starving’ family

    The World Health Organization (WHO) boss, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, has revealed he is unable to send money to his “starving” relatives in Ethiopia‘s war-torn Tigray region.

    “I have many relatives there. I want to send them money. I cannot send them money,” he said in a press conference.

    “I don’t know even who is dead or who is alive,” he continued.

    Since the war began in 2020, the region has been cut off from the outside world, with no electricity or phones.

    The internet and banking services are also unavailable.

    Ethiopia’s government has been accused of imposing an aid blockade on the region which impeded crucial deliveries – something it blamed on the fighting.

    Tens of thousands of civilians have died and millions are in urgent need of food aid. The World Food Programme says that almost half of Tigray’s 5.5m population are in “severe” need of food.

    Fighting resumed this week after months of calm following a truce agreed in March between Tigrayan forces and the Ethiopian government to allow aid to get through.

    It is not the first time Dr Tedros, a former Ethiopian health minister, has spoken about the war. On Wednesday he said the situation was worse than that in Ukraine and suggested that racism was behind the difference in the global response.

    “I can tell you that the humanitarian crisis in Tigray is more than Ukraine, without any exaggeration. And I said it many months ago, maybe the reason is the colour of the skin of the people in Tigray.”

    In 2020 he denied an Ethiopian general’s accusations that he had helped procure weapons for the Tigray rebels. “There have been reports suggesting I am taking sides in this situation. This is not true,” he tweeted at the time.

    Other Tigrayans have had the same difficulties as Dr Tedros in contacting their relatives.

    An economist and researcher who lives abroad, Kibrom Abay, said sending money to Tigray was extremely difficult and costly, which he blames on the suspension of financial services in the region.

    “The fact that I cannot help my starving parents, who used to rely on remittances from me, is extremely painful,” he said.

    One person living in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa told the BBC they had found someone who would deliver money to Tigray for a 20% commission.

    “The plan was to get it to them in a week. It has been more than a month and my family could not receive it… I don’t know about their current status. I could not get in touch with them.”

    Others cannot even find brokers to send money to their families because of the lack of transport.

    These middlemen sometimes charge around 40%, or even more, to travel to Tigray and bordering areas on foot to hand-deliver money. One of them recently told the BBC their work was done based on “trust”. Some have also used the same methods to send essential medicines.

    Fighting is reported to be continuing on Friday, with Tigrayan forces saying the government had conducted air strikes in the region’s capital, Mekelle.

    Television affiliated with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) showed images of a destroyed building and said civilians, including children, were killed in the strikes, but the reports cannot be independently verified.

    A statement released by the government’s communications office urged people in Tigray to stay away from “areas where TPLF’s military equipment and training facilities are located”. The statement didn’t address the accusations of air strikes but it seems to suggest aerial attacks are imminent.

    The TPLF blames the Ethiopian army for the outbreak of fighting, while the government blames the Tigrayans.

    TPLF spokesperson Getachew Reda told the BBC’s Newsday programme that heavy fighting was still going on and that the people of Tigray were suffering.

    “We have people who are starving because of the siege imposed on us by the authorities in Addis Ababa and their partners in crime. We have people who desperately need humanitarian aid,” Mr Getachew said.

    “It would be foolhardy for us to start a war when in actual fact our people are in need of humanitarian aid.”

    Residents of Kobo, a city approximately 15 miles (25 km) from some of the reported fighting, told the BBC they could still hear the sound of heavy weapons.

    “The community is confused and some are fleeing to the nearby city. But most of them are alongside the federal defence force and the Amhara special force to face what is coming,” a man said.

    The Tigray war broke out in Ethiopia’s northernmost region in November 2020 – later spreading south to the Amhara and Afar regions.

    Thousands were killed, over two million people fled their homes and some 700,000 people were left living in “famine-like conditions”, US officials said.

    Source; BBCnews

  • WHO boss says ‘color of skin’ behind lack of help for Tigray

    The World Health Organization‘s director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has suggested that racism is behind a lack of international attention being paid to the plight of civilians in Ethiopia’s war-shattered Tigray region.

    Calling it the “worst humanitarian crisis in the world”, with 6 million people unable to access basic services, Tedros questioned in an emotional appeal why the situation is not getting the same attention as the Ukraine conflict.
    “Maybe the reason is the color of the skin of the people,” Tedros, who is from Tigray, told a virtual media briefing on Wednesday. In April this year at a briefing, he questioned whether “black and white lives” in emergencies worldwide are given equal attention.

    Fighting between Ethiopian and Tigrayan forces have left thousands dead and hundreds of thousands facing severe food insecurity, according to Internal Displacement Monitoring Center.
    Last year, the crisis set a world record for displacements in a single year causing over 5.1 million displacements.
    WHO emergencies director Mike Ryan also hit out at an apparent shortage of concern about the drought and famine unfolding in the Horn of Africa, and the ensuing health crisis.
    “No one seems to give a damn about what’s happening in the Horn of Africa,” said Ryan, speaking at a virtual media briefing on Wednesday.
    The WHO called for $123.7 million to tackle the health problems resulting from growing malnutrition in the region, where around 200 million people live and millions are going hungry.

  • Iranian women who need certificates to prove they are virgins

    In Iran, virginity before marriage is important for many girls and their families. Sometimes men demand a virginity certificate – a practice that the World Health Organization (WHO) deems to be against human rights. But in the past year, more and more people have been campaigning against it.

    “You tricked me into marrying you because you’re not a virgin. Nobody would marry you if they knew the truth.”

    This is what Maryam’s husband said to her after they had sex for the first time.

    She tried to reassure him that, even though she didn’t bleed, she had never had intercourse before. But he didn’t believe her, and asked her to get a virginity certificate.

    This is not uncommon in Iran. After getting engaged, many women go to a doctor and get a test that proves they’ve never had sex.

    However, according to the WHO, virginity testing has no scientific merit.

    Maryam’s certificate stated that her hymen type was “elastic”. This means she might not bleed after penetrative sex.

    “It hurt my pride. I didn’t do anything wrong, but my husband kept insulting me,” she said. “I couldn’t take it anymore, so I took some pills and tried to kill myself.”

    Just in time, she was taken to a hospital and survived.

    “I will never forget those dark days. I lost 20kg [3 stone] during that time.”

    Growing calls to end the practice

    Maryam’s story is the reality of many women in Iran. Being a virgin before marriage is still crucial for many girls and their families. It’s a value that is deeply rooted in cultural conservatism.

    But recently, things have started to change. Women and men around the country have been campaigning to put an end to virginity testing.

    Last November, an online petition received almost 25,000 signatures within a single month. This was the first time virginity testing was being openly challenged by so many people in Iran.

     

    Couple praying in Iran

     

    “It’s a violation of privacy, and it’s humiliating,” says Neda.

    When she was a 17-year-old student in Tehran, she lost her virginity to her boyfriend.

    “I panicked. I was terrified about what would happen if my family found out.”

    So, Neda decided to repair her hymen.

    Technically, this procedure is not illegal – but it has dangerous social implications, so no hospital will agree to perform it.

    So Neda found a private clinic that would do it in secret – at a heavy price.

    “I spent all my savings. I sold my laptop, my mobile phone and my gold jewellery,” she says.

    She had to sign a document to take full responsibility in case something went wrong.

    A midwife then proceeded with the procedure. It took about 40 minutes.

    But Neda would need many weeks to recover.

    “I was in a lot of pain. I couldn’t move my legs,” she recalls.

    She hid the whole thing from her parents.

    “I felt very lonely. But I think that the fear of them finding out helped me tolerate the pain.”

    In the end, the ordeal Neda endured was all for nothing.

    A year later, she met someone who wanted to marry her. But when they had sex, she didn’t bleed. The procedure had failed.

    “My boyfriend accused me of trying to trick him into marriage. He said that I was a liar and he left me.”

    Pressure from the family

    Despite the WHO denouncing virginity testing as unethical and lacking scientific merit, the practice is still carried out in several countries, including Indonesia, Iraq and Turkey.

    The Iranian Medical Organisation maintain that they only carry out virginity testing in specific circumstances – such as court cases and rape accusations.

    However, most requests for a virginity certification still come from couples who are planning to get married. So they turn to private clinics – often accompanied by their mothers.

    A gynaecologist or a midwife will carry out a test and issue a certificate. This will include the woman’s full name, her father’s name, her national ID and sometimes her photo. It will describe the status of her hymen, and include the statement: “This girl appears to be a virgin.”

    In more conservative families, the document will be signed by two witnesses – normally the mothers.

    Dr Fariba has been issuing certificates for years. She admits it’s a humiliating practice, but believes she’s actually helping many women.

    “They’re under such pressure from their families. Sometimes I’ll verbally lie for the couple. If they’ve slept together and want to get married, I’ll say in front of their families that the woman is a virgin.”

    But for many men, marrying a virgin is still fundamental.

    “If a girl loses her virginity before marriage, she cannot be trustworthy. She might leave her husband for another man,” says Ali, a 34-year-old electrician from Shiraz.

    He says he’s had sex with 10 women. “I couldn’t resist,” he says.Ali accepts there’s a double standard in Iranian society, but says he sees no reason to break away from tradition.

    “Social norms accept that men have more freedom than women.”

    Ali’s view is shared by many people, especially in more rural, conservative areas of Iran.

    Despite mounting demonstrations against virginity testing, given this notion is so deeply rooted within Iranian culture, many believe a total ban on the practice by the government and lawmakers is unlikely anytime soon.

    Hope in the future

    Four years after attempting to take her own life and living with an abusive husband, Maryam was finally able to get a divorce through the courts.

    She became single just a few weeks ago.

    “It’s going to be very hard to trust a man again,” she says. “I can’t see myself getting married in the near future.”

    Along with tens of thousands of other women, she, too, signed one of the growing number of online petitions to put an end to issuing virginity certificates.

    Although she expects nothing to change soon, perhaps not even within her lifetime, she does believe one day women will gain more equality within her country.

    “I’m sure it will happen one day. I hope in the future no girls will have to go through what I did.”

    Source: BBC

  • New studies agree that animals sold at Wuhan market are most likely what started Covid-19 pandemic

    In June, the World Health Organization recommended that scientists continue to research all possible origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, including a lab leak. Two newly published studies take totally different approaches but arrive at the same conclusion: The Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, China, was most likely the epicenter for the coronavirus.

    The studies were posted online as preprints in February but have now undergone peer review and were published Tuesday in the journal Science.
    In one, scientists from around the world used mapping tools and social media reports to do spatial and environmental analysis. They suggest that although the “exact circumstances remain obscure,” the virus was probably present in live animals sold at the market in late 2019. The animals were held close together and could easily have exchanged germs. However, the study does not determine which animals may have been sick.
    The researchers determined that the earliest Covid-19 cases were centered at the market among vendors who sold these live animals or people who shopped there. They believe that there were two separate viruses circulating in the animals that spilled over into people.
    “All eight COVID-19 cases detected prior to 20 December were from the western side of the market, where mammal species were also sold,” the study says. The proximity to five stalls that sold life or recently butchered animals were predictive of human cases.
    “The clustering is very, very specific,” study co-author Kristian Andersen, a professor in the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at Scripps Research, said Tuesday.
    The “extraordinary” pattern that emerged from mapping these cases was very clear, said another co-author, Michael Worobey, department head of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona.
    The researchers mapped the earliest cases that had no connection to the market, Worobey noted, and those people lived or worked in close proximity to the market.
    “This is an indication that the virus started spreading in people who worked at the market but then started that spread … into the surrounding local community as vendors went into local shops, infected people who worked in those shops,” Worobey said.
    The other study takes a molecular approach and seems to determine when the first coronavirus infections crossed from animals to humans.
    The earliest version of the coronavirus, this research shows, probably came in different forms that the scientists call A and B. The lineages were the result of at least two cross-species transmission events into humans.
    The researchers suggest that the first animal-to-human transmission probably happened around November 18, 2019, and it came from lineage B. They found the lineage B type only in people who had a direct connection to the Huanan market.
    The authors believe that lineage A was introduced into humans from an animal within weeks or even days of the infection from lineage B. Lineage A was found in samples from humans who lived or stayed close to the market.
    “These findings indicate that it is unlikely that SARS-CoV-2 circulated widely in humans prior to November 2019 and define the narrow window between when SARS-CoV-2 first jumped into humans and when the first cases of COVID-19 were reported,” the study says. “As with other coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 emergence likely resulted from multiple zoonotic events.”
    The likelihood that such a virus would emerge from two different events is low, acknowledged co-author Joel Wertheim, an associate adjunct professor of medicine at the University of California, San Diego.
    “Now, I realize it sounds like I just said that a once-in-a-generation event happened twice in short succession, and pandemics are indeed rare, but once all the conditions are in place — that is a zoonotic virus capable of both human infection and human transmission that is in close proximity to humans — the barriers to spillover have been lowered such that multiple introductions, we believe, should actually be expected,” Wertheim said.
    Andersen said the studies don’t definitively disprove the lab leak theory but are extremely persuasive, so much so that he changed his mind about the virus’ origins.
    “I was quite convinced of the lab leak myself until we dove into this very carefully and looked at it much closer,” Andersen said. “Based on data and analysis I’ve done over the last decade on many other viruses, I’ve convinced myself that actually, the data points to this particular market.”
    Worobey said he too thought the lab leak was possible, but the epidemiological preponderance of cases linked to the market is “not a mirage.”
    “It’s a real thing,” he said. “It’s just not plausible that this virus was introduced any other way than through the wildlife trade.”
    To reduce the chances of future pandemics, the researchers hope they can determine exactly what animal may have first become infected and how.
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    “The raw ingredients for a zoonotic virus with pandemic potential are still lurking in the wild,” Wertheim said.
    He believes the world needs to do a much better job doing surveillance and monitoring animals and other potential threats to human health.
    Andersen said that although we can’t prevent outbreaks, a collaboration between the world’s scientists could be key to the difference between a disease with a small impact and one that kills millions.
    “The big question we need to ask ourselves is — the next time this happens because it will happen — how do we go from detecting that outbreak early and preventing that outbreak so it doesn’t become a pandemic?”

  • Kenya, World Health Organization launch emergency hub

    The Kenyan government and World Health Organization on Saturday launched a medical emergency hub in Nairobi, the first in a network of African centres they say will hasten responses to regional emergencies.

    Source:reuters.com

  • Monkeypox: 80 cases confirmed in 12 countries

    More than 80 cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in at least 12 countries.

    The World Health Organization has said another 50 suspected cases are being investigated – without naming any countries – and warned that more cases are likely to be reported.

    Infections have been confirmed in nine European countries, as well as the US, Canada and Australia.

    Monkeypox is most common in remote parts of Central and West Africa.

    It is a rare viral infection which is usually mild and from which most people recover in a few weeks, according to the UK’s National Health Service.

    The virus does not spread easily between people and the risk to the wider public is said to be very low.

    There is no specific vaccine for monkeypox, but a smallpox jab offers 85% protection since the two viruses are quite similar.

    So far, public health agencies in Europe have confirmed cases in the UK, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Italy and Sweden.

    In a statement on Friday, the WHO said that the recent outbreaks “are atypical, as they are occurring in non-endemic countries”.

    It said it was “working with the affected countries and others to expand disease surveillance to find and support people who may be affected”.

    The WHO also warned against stigmatising groups because of the disease.

    “It can be a barrier to ending an outbreak as it may prevent people from seeking care, and lead to undetected spread,” it said.

    WHO’s Europe regional director Hans Kluge warned that “as we enter the summer season… with mass gatherings, festivals and parties, I am concerned that transmission could accelerate”.

    He added that all but one of the recent cases had no relevant travel history to areas where monkeypox was endemic.

    The first case of the disease in the UK was reported on 7 May. The patient had recently travelled to Nigeria, where they are believed to have caught the virus before travelling to England, the UK Health Security Agency said.

    There are now 20 confirmed cases in the UK, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said on Friday.

    Authorities in the UK said they had bought stocks of the smallpox vaccine and started offering it to those with “higher levels of exposure” to monkeypox.

    Spanish health authorities have also reportedly purchased thousands of smallpox jabs to deal with the outbreak, according to Spanish newspaper El País.

    Australia’s first case was detected in a man who fell ill after travelling to the UK, the Victorian Department of Health said.

    In North America, health authorities in the US state of Massachusettsconfirmed that a man has been infected after recently travelling to Canada. He was in “good condition” and “poses no risk to the public”, officials said.

    Source: BBC

  • WHO chief ‘regrets’ Trump halting funding

    In the past few minutes the World Health Organization’s chief, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has been speaking about US President Donald Trump’s decision to halt funding for the organization.

    He said the WHO regretted the move, but added: “Our commitment to public health, science, and to serving all the people of the world without fear or favor remains absolute.”

    Dr Tedros said the agency was “reviewing” the impact of the withdrawal of US funds to “ensure our work continues uninterpreted”.

    Source: bbc.com