Africa

UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric reminded journalists in New York at the regular noon briefing that famine conditions have already been confirmed in the Zamzam camp for the displaced, just outside the city, “and we think that other camps in the area are likely to have famine conditions.” El Fasher is the last city in Darfur held by the national army which has been battling its powerful rival, the Rapid Support Forces militia for control of the country since April last year. Atrocities...

Hearing loss already costs the continent $27 million annually, exacting profound impact on lives and economies, according to the report, which was launched at the African Summit on Hearing Impairment in Nairobi, Kenya. Widespread hearing loss disproportionately affects poor and vulnerable populations. WHO warned that without urgent interventions it will continue to escalate, amplifying existing inequalities in access to health services. Children at a loss The UN agency said hearing loss...

The warning on Thursday comes as the SAF launched a major offensive last month to regain control of key areas currently held by the RSF. The two armies led by rival generals have been locked in a brutal power struggle since April 2023. The fighting has driven more than 11 million people from their homes in Sudan, including around 2.9 million forced into neighbouring countries as refugees. Together with climate shocks and devastating disasters, the fighting has destroyed countless...

20 September 2024 Health The UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, issued an urgent appeal on Friday for nearly $59 million to support efforts to halt the rapid spread of mpox in six African countries including Burundi, where youngsters have been impacted the most. “Children in Burundi are bearing the brunt of the mpox outbreak with alarming rates of infection and health impacts,” said Dr Paul Ngwakum, UNICEF Regional Health Advisor for Eastern and Southern Africa. “Of the nearly 600 reported...

Under shelling and gunfire, Esraa cradled her newborn son. As the war in Sudan broke out in April 2023, she was trying to reach a health clinic for treatment for her baby, who had been struggling with infections and breathing difficulties. But with the roads blocked by fighting, the young mother never made it to the clinic; her son died in her arms. When she became pregnant again in August last year, she was haunted by the fear of losing another child. “There’s only one functioning maternal...

13 September 2024 Health The World Health Organization (WHO) has approved the use of an mpox vaccine for the first time, which it says should facilitate “timely and increased access” for millions at risk in Africa where the latest outbreak has infected more than 20,000 so far this year. The MVA-BN vaccine from the Danish pharmaceutical company Bavarian Nordic was prequalified by the WHO on Friday and has already been approved in Europe and the United States, for use by adults. WHO...

The funding will support critical response and prevention efforts for 9.9 million refugees and host communities in 35 countries across the continent. Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is a viral disease that can be transmitted through physical contact with an infected person, animal or contaminated objects. Read our explainer here. New virus strain The disease has been endemic in parts of Africa for decades, but the rising number of cases of the new strain of the mpox virus, clade 1b...

8 September 2024 Health Sudan’s health system is “near collapse” after 16 months of war have left the country and its people facing what the UN’s top health official described on Sunday as the “perfect storm of crises”, which the world is largely ignoring. “The scale of the emergency is shocking, as is the insufficient action being taken to curtail the conflict,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the UN World Health Organization (WHO). Speaking to reporters from the...

The call for access to all in need by Special Rapporteur Tlaleng Mofokeng, coincided with the arrival of vaccine shipments and the start of planned rollouts by health authorities in some of the African nations most impacted. Nigeria received some 10,000 doses of the mpox vaccine last week, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo – ground zero for the current outbreak of an infectious strain known as Clade 1b – received its first batch on Thursday. “Equitable vaccine access for all...

“Since mid-April 2023, the conflict in Sudan has spread to 14 out of the 18 states impacting the entire country and the region, leaving eight million Sudanese internally displaced as a result of the conflict, with two million – over two million – forced to flee to neighbouring countries,” said Mohamed Chande Othman, Chair of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan. Disturbing first findings In its first report on the crisis after being created by the UN Human...