Africa should step up Swine flu surveillance
By Pelekelo Liswaniso
REPORTS that swine flu may have spread to Africa are worrying and we urge the nation to become more alert and report any suspicious case to the nearest medical authorities.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), some 12 suspected cases of swine flu were under investigation by Friday last week, though there is no confirmed case on the continent so far.
WHO Regional Director for Africa, Luis Gomez Sambo told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting of African Ministers of Health in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, that results of five cases under close investigation were being expected.
One of the five suspects is from Benin, while the remaining four are from Seychelles. There are also suspected cases in Kenya and Uganda while the suspected cases in South Africa have proved negative to the H1N1 strain of the virus.
We do not wish to alarm the nation but we feel duty bound to caution the public that although no case has been confirmed in Africa so far, the fact of the matter is that the continent “is under siege” and no country should sit on its laurels and think all is well.
As a country, Zambia therefore, needs to step up the surveillance system and ensure that concrete measures are in place to meet the emerging threat of the H1N1 and related epidemics.
Zambia is already a casualty of other pandemics like the HIV/AIDS and if the country is to be hit by the flu virus, the cost to respond to the disease may be too huge to bear or the country may even fail to adequately deal with problem.
It is for this reason that we wish to remind the nation to be more alert and vigilant over any possible outbreak of the H1N1 virus because if it is confirmed in some of these African countries, which are not too far away from Zambia, then the risk of spreading here become even higher.
We commend WHO for the quick response to the disease particularly its understanding that African countries are vulnerable and the response capacities of the individual governments need support.
The organisation is monitoring the outbreak and providing technical guidance to all countries, in addition to dispatching stocks of 1,000 Tamiflu vaccines to each member states in Africa to strengthen their response.
We join WHO’s call that disease surveillance be increased and that appropriate information about the disease.
continues to be provided to the public while relevant medicines should also be stockpiled for any eventuality.
According to the latest update from WHO, 23 countries have officially reported 2099 cases of influenza A (H1N1) infection.
Out of this number, a total of 44 deaths have been reported, including 42 in Mexico and two in the US.
We hope the African health ministers who gathered in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, to discuss public health challenges confronting the continent, as well as efforts to improve maternal, neonatal and child health also came up with joint strategies to face the challenge posed by the new influenza outbreak.
With new the H1N1 influenza virus, now in our midst, the life expectancy on the continent may go down even further, hence the need for African countries to pull their resources together and be counted in taking the lead to protect the people from pandemics such as the swine flu.
REPORTS that swine flu may have spread to Africa are worrying and we urge the nation to become more alert and report any suspicious case to the nearest medical authorities.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), some 12 suspected cases of swine flu were under investigation by Friday last week, though there is no confirmed case on the continent so far.
WHO Regional Director for Africa, Luis Gomez Sambo told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting of African Ministers of Health in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, that results of five cases under close investigation were being expected.
One of the five suspects is from Benin, while the remaining four are from Seychelles. There are also suspected cases in Kenya and Uganda while the suspected cases in South Africa have proved negative to the H1N1 strain of the virus.
We do not wish to alarm the nation but we feel duty bound to caution the public that although no case has been confirmed in Africa so far, the fact of the matter is that the continent “is under siege” and no country should sit on its laurels and think all is well.
As a country, Zambia therefore, needs to step up the surveillance system and ensure that concrete measures are in place to meet the emerging threat of the H1N1 and related epidemics.
Zambia is already a casualty of other pandemics like the HIV/AIDS and if the country is to be hit by the flu virus, the cost to respond to the disease may be too huge to bear or the country may even fail to adequately deal with problem.
It is for this reason that we wish to remind the nation to be more alert and vigilant over any possible outbreak of the H1N1 virus because if it is confirmed in some of these African countries, which are not too far away from Zambia, then the risk of spreading here become even higher.
We commend WHO for the quick response to the disease particularly its understanding that African countries are vulnerable and the response capacities of the individual governments need support.
The organisation is monitoring the outbreak and providing technical guidance to all countries, in addition to dispatching stocks of 1,000 Tamiflu vaccines to each member states in Africa to strengthen their response.
We join WHO’s call that disease surveillance be increased and that appropriate information about the disease.
continues to be provided to the public while relevant medicines should also be stockpiled for any eventuality.
According to the latest update from WHO, 23 countries have officially reported 2099 cases of influenza A (H1N1) infection.
Out of this number, a total of 44 deaths have been reported, including 42 in Mexico and two in the US.
We hope the African health ministers who gathered in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, to discuss public health challenges confronting the continent, as well as efforts to improve maternal, neonatal and child health also came up with joint strategies to face the challenge posed by the new influenza outbreak.
With new the H1N1 influenza virus, now in our midst, the life expectancy on the continent may go down even further, hence the need for African countries to pull their resources together and be counted in taking the lead to protect the people from pandemics such as the swine flu.
posted by aydpels @ 2:20 AM
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