August 2020, The Africa Joint Continental Strategy for COVID-19 is underpinned by the need to limit transmission, prevent deaths and reduce associated harms. Participation by African nations in clinical trials is an essential step to ensure that sufficient data is generated on the safety and efficac...y of the most promising vaccine candidates among the region’s populations.
While current COVID-19 clinical trial activity on the continent is limited, Africa has substantial experience and capabilities to conduct clinical trials for preventative vaccines across a range of diseases, and many organizations on the continent are working tirelessly to help prepare additional trials on potential COVID-19 vaccines. As the number of candidate vaccines in the development pipeline continues to increase, it will be important for organizations responsible for managing clinical trials in the region to partner with vaccine developers to identify potential and appropriate trial locations, provide support to remove any critical obstacles impeding commencement and progress of trials, and to provide oversight ensuring that trials are conducted safely and ethically.
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The global pandemic has highlighted fragility in international supply chains and the dependency of many African countries on imported personal protective equipment (PPE). Market pressures have also increased prices for imported supplies and put additional pressure on areas with limited resources for... procurement. There is an urgent operational need to develop the domestic capacity to supply PPE from within the African continent. There is huge variation in Member
States industrial manufacturing capacity and the regulatory and testing capacity of government agencies at present. Growing number of companies, including micro- and small-medium enterprises, have responded by repurposing, albeit temporarily, to manufacture an assortment of PPEs. This workshop aims to bring together government representatives, industry, and subject matter experts on material testing and standards to promote the development of domestic production of safe and effective PPE made in Africa.
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AMSP opens COVID-19 vaccines pre-orders for 55 African Union Member States
Limited coverage of laboratory services and long turnaround times from real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) for the detection of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been insufficient to meet the demands in many African countries in response... to the COVID-19 pandemic. Rapid antigen diagnostic tests (AgRDTs) are potentially useful as they can inform healthcare workers and individuals of their infection status at point-of-care testing
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Sub-Saharan Africa faces a major public-health challenge from non-communicable diseases. Although infectious diseases continue to afflict Africa, the proportion of the overall disease burden in sub-Saharan Africa attributable to cancer is rising, and the region is predicted to have a greater than 85...% increase in cancer burden by 2030. This Series of seven papers focuses on cancer control in Africa, outlining the current situation, detailing barriers to care, and presenting ideas to advance cancer care and control in the region.
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In an effort to limit transmission and achieve pandemic control on the continent, Africa CDC is proposing the following measures to be taken by all Member States:
Remain vigilant
Countries should adapt or adopt best practices, strategies, guidelines and recommendations proposed by the Africa CDC... and World Health Organization (WHO), aimed at limiting transmission. Measures taken should strike a balance between saving lives and minimizing the impact of the pandemic on the economy and social wellbeing of citizens.
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This papers argues that climate change is the greatest threat to children's care in the region
Data for Action March 2022, Issue 5
17 February 2021
During the second joint meeting of African ministers responsible for health, ICT and transport on the rollout of the Africa Against COVID-19: Saving Lives, Economies and Livelihoods campaign, a call was made to African countries to work together towards harmonizing travel entry and... exit requirements, and to increase mutual recognition and cross-border information exchange for enhanced surveillance
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Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) remain disproportionately affected by HIV in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA), with 26 per cent of new infections attributed to this population. AGYW face many personal, social and structural barriers to access, uptake and use of traditional HIV prevention me...thods. Oral Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) is proven to be highly effective as an additional prevention choice for reducing the risk of HIV acquisition, including for AGYW. Successful uptake and adherence to PrEP is critical in its effectiveness as an HIV prevention method, however, the current demand for PrEP by AGYW is low with suboptimal adherence.
Within the ESA region, there is currently great impetus to address these challenges and scale up PrEP for AGYW. A critical aspect of this is to leverage the learnings and evidence from implementation of how to improve the demand and quality of PrEP programming for this population. Improving the Quality of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Implementation for Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Eastern and Southern Africa examines the current efforts in the region to accelerate and scale up evidence-based PrEP delivery platforms. The implementation brief provides current knowledge and builds on WHO guidance to provide key considerations for implementation, including driving demand and improving quality, as well as focus on wider combination prevention and integration agendas.
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WHO Progress Brief
Progress Brief
July 2017
Front. Public Health 9:622809
The control and elimination of schistosomiasis have over the last two decades involved several strategies, with the current strategy by the World Health Organization (WHO) focusing mainly on treatment with praziquantel during mass drug administration (MDA). However, th...e disease context is complex with an interplay of social, economic, political, and cultural factors that may affect achieving the goals of the Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) 2021-2030 Roadmap. There is a need to revisit the current top-down and reactive approach to schistosomiasis control among sub-Saharan African countries and advocate for a dynamic and diversified approach.
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The virtual conference, co-organised by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) brought together African leaders, public health professionals and researchers, policymakers, business leaders and civil society and commun...ity leaders.
The objective was to discuss strategies and approaches to remove barriers to widespread delivery and uptake of effective COVID-19 vaccines across Africa, guided by African voices and indigenous values. The goal of the conference was to provide input for a framework for fair, equitable and timely allocation of COVID-19 vaccines in Africa.
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New research explores the stress children in World Vision programmes in the Middle East and Eastern Europe region are under due to COVID-19. In addition to their fear that they themselves or their loved ones will catch the disease, children worry about economic hardships, the loss of their education..., increased violence and social isolation. But in the midst of it all, a clear message comes through – young people are hopeful about the future, they want to make a contribution and they want their voices to be heard.
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This guidance document addresses how physical distancing (referred to in previous guidance documents as ‘social distancing’) can help slow down transmission.
During the year 2022, COVID-19 continued to be a significant challenge in Eritrea as in many other countries across the world. As COVID-19 devastated communities around the world, WHO worked with the MoH to strengthen the National and Sub-National health systems in order to meet community needs and ...mitigate the devastation during the pandemic and beyond.
One of the major achievements in the year 2022 was the beginning of the journey towards validation of
the elimination of mother to child transmission of HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis B. This is the culmination of years
of commitment and determination by the political leadership, national and international partnerships to
reduce the associated indices to levels that qualify for elimination.
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