The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday raised the alarm that the continent of Africa is presently facing an explosion of preventable diseases owing to delays in vaccinating children, with the cases of measles for example jumping by over 400 percent.
Africa Daily News. New York reports that no fewer than twenty African countries reported outbreaks of measles in the first quarter of 2022, eight more than in the first three months of 2021.
According to statistics, the Africa region recorded nearly 17,500 cases of the highly contagious virus between January and March.
This scary statistics was made public yesterday in Geneva by the WHO and the UN’s children’s agency UNICEF, they jointly pointed out that measles cases surged by nearly 80 percent worldwide this year, warning that the rise of the ‘canary in a coal mine’ illness indicates that outbreaks of other diseases are likely on the way.
Most of the outbreaks were in Africa and the eastern Mediterranean.
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WHO’s Africa regional bureau disclosed that outbreaks of other vaccine-preventable diseases have also become more common on the continent over the last few years expressing serious concerns.
Meanwhile, about 24 African nations confirmed epidemics due to a variant of polio in 2021 — four more than during the previous year.
Thirteen countries had epidemics of yellow fever last year, up from nine in 2020 and three in 2019.
‘Inequalities in accessing vaccines, disruptions by the Covid-19 pandemic, including a huge strain on health system capacities, impaired routine immunisation services in many African countries and forced the suspension of vaccination drives,’ WHO said.
‘The rise in outbreaks of other vaccine-preventable diseases is a warning sign,’ WHO’s regional director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti told an online briefing.
‘As Africa works hard to defeat Covid-19, we must not forget other health threats,’ she added.
Africa Daily News, New York reports that the measles virus is known to majorly attack children with the most serious complications including blindness, brain swelling, diarrhoea and severe respiratory infections.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
