On April 30th, Ambassador Wang Xuekun attended the Donation Ceremony of medical supplies and equipment to Rwanda by Beijing Genomics Institution (BGI). Other attendees includes Hon. Mr. Pudence Rubingisa, the Governor of Rwanda Eastern Province, Ms. Nathalie Niyonagira, the Mayor of Ngoma District, Dr. Albert Tuyishime, the Director of the Institute of HIV, Disease Prevention and Control of Rwanda Biological Center (RBC), Dr. Theoneste Maniragaba, the Director of Cancer Diseases Unit of RBC, Ms. Du Yutao, the COO of BGI, Mr.Gao Zhiqiang,  the Economic Counselor of the Embassy.

Ambassador Wang said, since China and Rwanda established diplomatic relations in 1971, Our friendship has blossomed and born fruits in areas ranging from high-level exchanges, trade and investment, infrastructure, education to people-people exchange. The cooperation in health sector epitomes our friendship. China aided to build Kibungo Hospital and Masaka Hospital, offered to expand Masaka Hospital, and has sent 24 batches of medical teams to Rwanda, boosting the health sector of Rwanda. China is ready to take the Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation as a starting point, to work closely with Rwanda, to write a brand-new chapter of bilateral cooperation in health sector, and elevate bilateral relations to a new level.

Hon. Mr. Pudence Rubingisa expressed his gratitude for China’s support, and is willing to join hands with China to work for the health and well-being of the people of Rwanda.

Ms. Du Yutao said, the donation aims to fulfill BGI’s social responsibility. BGI will endeavor to make greater contribution to China-Rwanda health cooperation.

BGI donated medical equipment and supplies worth 1.6 million US dollars to RBC, to support the cervical cancer screening in Rwanda.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Republic of Rwanda.

In this month of May, we commemorate the Twentieth Anniversary of the official launch of the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union (AU) that took place on 25 May 2004. Throughout the month, we will reflect on the significant strides made by the Council for the past 20 years in promoting peace, security, and stability across Africa.

The commemoration will run throughout the whole year of 2024, but the month of May, being the month in which the PSC was officially launched, will have the grand activities with the active participation of all AU Member States, AU Organs, Regional Economic Communities/Regional Mechanisms for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution (RECs/RMs), Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), think tanks, academic institutions, as well as bilateral and multilateral partners.

The celebration presents a unique opportunity for the Council to assess its accomplishments and the challenges faced over the past two decades in discharging its mandate of promoting peace, security and stability in Africa. Our goal remains steadfast: to silence the guns, realizing a conflict-free Africa, aligning with the principles outlined in the Solemn Declaration adopted by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government on 26 May 2013.

The activities for May 2024, will include an Open Session on May 15th to review the implementation of the Protocol establishing the AU PSC, and a High-Level Colloquium as the main commemorative event coinciding with African Day, on May 25th. The theme of the Colloquium will be “20 Years of the AU PSC as a Standing Decision -Making Organ Peace and Security: The Next Two Decades”. On the same day, there will also be an E-photo Gallery exhibition and the unveiling of the PSC Visual Identity.  

Each week of May 2024, the PSC will focus on thematic issues which have been featuring in the activities of the PSC for the past two decades. These includes Mediation and Dialogue; Humanitarian Peace and Security; Women&Youth, Peace and Security; Child Protection; and Peace Support Operations.  

While reflecting on the achievements recorded, challenges faced and lessons learned in the past twenty years, the PSC looks forward to exploring innovative ideas on how to enhance its efficiency and effectiveness in discharging its mandate in the next two decades.  

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Union (AU).

Located in the African meningitis belt, Niger is one of the 26 ‘hyperendemic’ African countries for meningitis. The country is currently facing a rapid increase in the number of cases, with a 50% rise on the previous year.

In week 16 of 2024, Niger reported a total of 2012 cases of meningitis with 123 deaths, representing a case-fatality rate of 6.1%. This is a worrying increase compared with the same period last year, when 1,389 cases were recorded, with 72 deaths (case-fatality rate: 5.2%).

The Niamey region is the epicentre of the epidemic, with a cumulative attack rate of 52.2 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by the regions of Agadez (11.5 cases per 100,000 inhabitants), Zinder (6.4 cases per 100,000 inhabitants) and Dosso (6.4 cases per 100,000 inhabitants). Niamey I health district remains in an epidemic situation for the sixth week running, with an attack rate of 12.8 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Eight other health districts also crossed the alert threshold of 3 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in week 16.

Faced with this critical situation, the World Health Organisation, in collaboration with other technical and financial partners, is working hard to respond to the epidemic. Several interventions are underway, including case management and the mobilisation of resources to organise a vaccination campaign.

Vaccination against meningitis will be launched on 2 May 2024 in Niamey, as part of efforts to contain the spread of the disease. This new vaccine has the advantage of protecting targets against five strains (A, C, W, X and Y), which are the main causes of meningitis in Niger. Unlike previous vaccines, this one is a single dose.

The WHO is providing substantial support for case management by making medicines and inputs available. It is also supporting the mobilisation of vaccines and bearing the operational costs through a request submitted to the International Coordinating Group on Immunisation (ICG). Finally, the WHO is coordinating the efforts of partners to support the country in the fight against this epidemic. As a prelude to the vaccination campaign, the WHO has supported the Epidemic Surveillance and Response Department in organising practical training in pharmacovigilance for national supervisors of the campaign and pharmacovigilance supervisors.

WHO calls on all partners to take urgent and coordinated action to address this critical situation and protect the population from the devastating effects of meningitis.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of World Health Organization (WHO) – Niger.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has treated over 100 war-wounded patients, many with gunshot wounds, due to escalating violence in El Fasher, North Darfur, Sudan; We call on warring parties to ensure the protection of civilians, healthcare structures and staff, so that vital assistance can be provided; As the malnutrition crisis in Zamzam camp worsens, we urge the UN to do more to prevent the situation falling further into catastrophe.

In response to the escalating fighting in North Darfur, Sudan, MSF has treated over 100 war-wounded patients – including 11 children, many with gunshot wounds – at South Hospital, El Fasher, over the past two weeks.

We are also simultaneously scaling-up our response to the major malnutrition crisis in Zamzam camp, where the situation is becoming even more critical. As we do so, we call on the warring parties to ensure the protection of civilians, healthcare structures and staff, so that vital assistance for the tens of thousands of people whose lives are at-risk can be effectively provided before it is too late.

Following the devastating results of a rapid nutrition and mortality assessment conducted by MSF in early January, a mass screening of more than 63,000 children under-five, as well as pregnant and breastfeeding women, was conducted in March and April. The results confirm that there is a catastrophic and life-threatening malnutrition crisis in Zamzam camp, North Darfur.

Despite having called urgently for support in February when the results of the rapid assessment were published, nearly three months later, MSF remains almost the only international aid agency responding to this enormous crisis – and, as a result, one of the very few able to respond to mass casualty events in El Fasher.

Of the more than 46,000 children who were screened, a staggering 30 per cent were found to be suffering from acute malnutrition – with eight per cent having severe acute malnutrition (SAM). Similar figures were found among the more than 16,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women who were screened: 33 per cent were acutely malnourished, with 10 per cent having SAM. For both groups these figures are double the emergency threshold of 15 per cent, indicating that there is a massive, life-threatening emergency in Zamzam camp.  

“In Zamzam camp, there is an acute disaster on a catastrophic scale,” says Claire Nicolet, head of MSF’s emergency response in Sudan. “The situation is critical, the level of suffering is immense, but despite this being known about for nearly three months, nowhere near enough has been done to help those who are struggling to survive,” she says.

“With the fighting escalating, we are extremely worried that it will make it even more difficult for the much-needed international support we have been calling for to arrive. And, with the lean season approaching, we are also worried that there is going to be a rapid deterioration in this already drastic malnutrition crisis over the coming weeks,” says Nicolet.

“The lives of hundreds of thousands of people were already in jeopardy – and now, with the current fighting, even more are at-risk. There is an urgent need for the humanitarian response to be rapidly scaled-up so that this malnutrition crisis can be pulled back from the brink, and for this to happen, it is vital that the warring parties take action to enable safe humanitarian access and the protection of civilians,” she says.

Our teams have already scaled-up our response by opening a second health clinic, enrolling over 11,000 children in our nutrition programme, and opening a 25-bed field hospital to treat the most critical cases. Currently, there are 23 people receiving inpatient treatment – this includes 12 who are suffering from severe acute malnutrition and four who are being treated for suspected measles.

We are planning to start a vaccination campaign against measles and to expand our activities to provide support for pregnant women. However, this is not enough to meet the needs. Additional healthcare is not being provided in the camp and it is vital that it is restored as a matter of urgency.

“There is no doubt that there are enormous challenges when it comes to providing humanitarian assistance in Sudan, but it is possible to do it,” says Nicolet. “Restrictions on humanitarian access – including deliberate obstructions on the delivery of aid by the warring parties – have significantly hampered the ability of aid agencies to scale-up the response,” she says.

“Insecurity has as well. But the situation is too critical for these issues to continue being used as excuses. The UN and the wider humanitarian community must do more to negotiate access for UN agencies and international NGOs to come and assist with the response in Zamzam.”

The conditions people in Zamzam are living in are deplorable. There have been no official food distributions in the camp since May 2023. Although a handful of UN trucks reached El Fasher two weeks ago, nothing reached Zamzam until Monday 29 April. On this date, community leaders were handed food that they were then expected to distribute among the people.

Even before the start of the war, people in the camp received very little support. Food rations were much lower than international standards, there was insufficient clean water and there were only two other health clinics in the vast camp before MSF opened its first one in 2022, both of which are now barely functional. 

The situation is dire for all residents of the camp and over the past year, it has significantly deteriorated. For the thousands of people who have become newly displaced from Nyala, Tawila and other locations where intense fighting has taken place, the situation is especially bad.

Many arrived in Zamzam with nothing and are living in overcrowded schools with no access to food or water.  Everyone in Zamzam camp needs support, but the recent arrivals are especially vulnerable. With the violence escalating in North Darfur once again, additional people are becoming displaced meaning that there may soon be even more competition for the already very limited resources in the camp.

Reliable distributions of food, that provide people with sufficient rations, are the only thing that will prevent the situation from falling even further into catastrophe. With the rainy season approaching, and no tarmac on the roads, it will become difficult for aid trucks to reach Zamzam, making the swift delivery of aid even more imperative.

Despite being aware of the severity of the situation, and despite famine alerts coming from UN agencies themselves, the UN are doing far too little to prevent the malnutrition crisis in Zamzam from falling further into catastrophe.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Médecins sans frontières (MSF).