Cases surpass 1 million mark

The first members of a surge team of health experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) have arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa to bolster the country’s response to COVID-19. As the continent surge past one million cases, WHO is expanding support to countries experiencing a significant uptick in cases.
South Africa is among the five countries in the world most affected by COVID-19. After their arrival, the WHO surge team went into quarantine in line with the national regulations. A second group of experts will deploy next week. Altogether more than 40 public health experts are expected to provide surge support, working with national and provincial counterparts on key areas of the response.
“As the impact of the virus intensifies in a number of hotspots in Africa, so too are WHO’s efforts,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. “At the request of the South African government, our experts will be embedded with the national response teams, working closely with local public health officials to address some of the urgent challenges the country is currently facing.”
Across the continent, the COVID-19 pandemic has taken varied trends: 10 countries accounted for 89% of new cases over the past two weeks. New cases have increased by more than 20% in 16 countries in the African region in the past two weeks compared with the previous fortnight.
WHO is increasing support to 11 countries which have requested assistance as they experience a surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths. The Organization is mobilizing more technical experts on the ground, scaling up trainings to build up local capacity, particularly at the provincial and district level. With community transmission occurring in more than half of countries in Africa, WHO is beefing up community engagement and health education and providing direct material support to strengthen testing capacity.
“Lack of testing is leading to some under-reporting of COVID-19 cases and preventing us from understanding the full picture of the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa,” said Dr Moeti. “We need to turn this around so countries can calibrate their response, ensuring it is most effective, and as cases move into the hinterlands, testing must be decentralized from the capital cities.”
To help meet demand for essential medical equipment across Africa, WHO and other United Nations agencies have formed a global procurement consortium which leverages their networks, expertise and product knowledge to support countries that have limited access to markets. The WHO-led consortium has secured critical volumes of testing kits and other key diagnostic supplies from major manufacturers.
So far, the consortium has shipped 1.8 million testing kits to 47 countries in Africa over the past month. Another 1.1 million testing kits are expected to be dispatched in the coming weeks.
Testing for COVID-19 in Africa remains low by global benchmarks, but capacity has expanded significantly since the outbreak began. In sub-Saharan Africa, over 6.4 million polymerase chain reaction tests have now been performed. Eleven countries are now performing more than 100 tests per 10,000 population, compared with just six a month ago. July saw a 40% increase in the total number of tests performed compared with the previous month.
In related development coronavirus cases in Africa exceeded the 1 million mark, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday, as the continent recorded 14,656 new cases over the last 24 hours. The death toll from the virus in Africa reached 22,066, while recoveries rose to 690,436.
Southern Africa has confirmed a total of 565,100 cases, of which South Africa alone took by far the greater proportion that stood at 538,200.
North Africa has 170,200 cases, West Africa 136,800, East Africa 85,600 and Central Africa 49,600.
At least 10,200 people lost their lives to the virus in Southern Africa, 7,000 in North Africa, 2,000 in West Africa, 1,900 in East Africa and 945 in Central Africa.
Ten countries account for 89% (735,482) of all reported COVID-19 cases in the African Region: South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Algeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Madagascar & Senegal. South Africa accounts for more than half, according to WHO Africa office.

Mosquito net distribution could help halve the number of deaths from Malaria during the coronavirus outbreak in Africa, researchers say.
There are concerns that malaria control activities – such as distributing insecticidal nets – could be severely disrupted as a result of the pandemic.
Writing in Nature Medicine, Imperial’s COVID-19 Response Team estimate that malaria deaths could more than double in 2020 compared to 2019.
But swift action could substantially reduce the burden of malaria and prevent joint malaria and COVID-19 epidemics simultaneously overwhelming vulnerable health systems.
In the article the researchers estimate the impact of disruption of malaria prevention activities and other core health services under four different COVID-19 epidemic scenarios.
An estimated 228 million long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) were due to be delivered across Sub-Saharan Africa this year, more than ever before. The researchers estimate that if these mosquito nets are not deployed and preventative chemotherapy and case management is reduced by half for six months, there could be 779,000 malaria deaths in sub-Saharan Africa over 12 months.
If prevention activities were to stop during the outbreak, the team estimates that 200,000 deaths could still be prevented over six months if treatment of malaria is maintained.
The researchers recommend that routine distributions of LLINs should be prioritised alongside maintaining access to antimalarial treatment and the use of chemoprevention to prevent substantial malaria epidemics.
When it comes to treating children with fever, the researchers said that fever is a symptom of both COVID-19 and Malaria, which can potentially confuse diagnosis in settings with limited testing for both diseases.
The researchers say that simple age-based guidelines could substantially help reduce malaria burden if malaria tests are unavailable.
They estimate that presumptive malaria treatment of 70% of children under the age of 15, who present with a fever, could save 178,000 lives in the next year.
Dr Thomas Churcher, from Imperial’s School of Public Health, said “it is vitally important to get malaria prevention measures out now to reduce the pressure on health systems as COVID-19 cases increase.”
Okefu Oyale Okoko, Deputy Director/Head Integrated Vector Management Branch National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) Public Health Department Federal Ministry of Health Abuja, said “in the face of COVID-19 it will still be important to ensure vector control interventions continue to be deployed as much as possible in order to not only sustain the gains already made in malaria elimination but ensure we do not have a resurgence in malaria.”

The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP) on Thursday, August 6, hosted a webinar in which participants discussed ways through which member States and institutions can strengthen the engagement of women in climate information and services (CIS) which they can utilize to support the CIS value chain for the benefit of their countries and communities.
Held under the theme Strengthening the Engagement of Women in CIS Generation, Packaging, Dissemination, Uptake and Use, the webinar sought to strengthen the engagement of women in CIS at regional level and to build their capacity and awareness of climate information tools and resources.
Participants identified and discussed the potential contribution of women in mitigating environmental damage and embedding climate justice in governance mechanisms as the world emerges from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic; enumerated tools, resources and networking opportunities to support women engagement in CIS; and identified bottlenecks and impediments in facilitating women involvement in CIS at national and sub-national levels.
In his remark, Jean-Paul Adam, Director of the ECA’s Technology, Climate Change and Natural Resource Management Division, said investing in women as part of the climate change response was crucial as this would lead to environmental gains and greater returns across the sustainable development goals (SDGs), Africa’s Agenda 2063 and broader development objectives.
“Women have significant knowledge and understanding of the changing environmental conditions, which could play a crucial role in identifying viable and practical community adaptation,” said Adam, adding that involving women in the switch to cleaner, modern energy, ensures that their concerns, and those of the community, are addressed.
He said post COVID-19 it was important for Africa to build back better with a gender lens.
For her part, Keiso Matashane-Marite, ECA’s Gender, Poverty and Social Policy Division, said African governments and institutions should provide incentives for women and girls to engage in CIS and in the process help contribute towards poverty eradication and the attainment of the sustainable development goals.
She emphasized that there were close links between gender and climate, adding gender inequalities exacerbated climate change vulnerabilities in communities.
“We need to demystify climate change and call for aggressive policy interventions or even affirmative action in some instances to ensure we address the issue of limited participation of women and girls in climate issues and science,” said Matashane-Marite, adding understanding gender complexities was of uttermost importance before delving into initiatives to increase women’s engagement with CIS.
Jennifer Mohamed-Katerere, an independent expert on human rights and environmental governance, for her part, said “policy interventions are needed to promote meaningful participation of women in the climate information and services value chain to improve access to climate data and services.”
Katerere said critical policy interventions were needed in engaging women in decision-making; participatory planning; communication and information technology and education.
Participants emphasized the need for innovative solutions to ensure capabilities are built for women in relation to access to CIS.
James Murombedzi, ECA’s African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC), said the webinar had helped participants scattered across the continent to have a better understanding of the social conditions and impediments to women’s engagement in CIS. He hoped the webinar would go a long way towards increasing the capacity for women to participate in CIS generation, packaging, dissemination, uptake and use.
“There was convergence towards certain steps that need to be taken to ensure impediments to women’s engagement in CIS are removed. There is awareness and readiness to utilize available resources and tools in developing climate informed plans and policies, and in using climate information in practice,” said Murombedzi.
“We need to think creatively and should not be risk averse if we are to successfully address these challenges. We need to begin to operationalize some of the interventions we are proposing.”

Corona virus, locust, flooding contribute to the disaster

Approximately 50.6 million people or 20 percent of the total population in east Africa region are at risk of being food insecure and require food assistance by the end of 2020 according to the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).
The compounding impacts of COVID-19 global pandemic, desert locust invasion, ongoing climatic shocks, conflict and insecurity, adverse macroeconomic shocks, together with protracted food insecurity from past shocks, could lead to a food security crisis in the region states the analysis by IGAD.
Before the current triple crisis, Eastern Africa was already considered one of the most food insecure regions of the world, with nearly 28 million people in need of food assistance in the region frequently requiring urgent humanitarian assistance.
The region hosts over 8 million internally displaced people (IDPs) and 4 million refugees and asylum seekers, all these require food and non-food assistance.
The desert locust invasion is also estimated to affect approximately 2 million people across the region, depriving them of their primary sources of food, and rendering them food insecurity. Over 2.5 million people have been affected by floods across the region during the March to May season. More rains are forecasted in the northern parts of the region between July and September 2020, which could result in more flooding.
An estimated 21.4 million people in the region are anticipated to become acutely food insecure due to the economic impacts of COVID-19 pandemic throughout this year. This has impacted mostly the urban poor, rural poor, and households dependent on informal sectors for their food and income sources.
Following the assessment the IGAD Food Security and Nutrition Response Strategy which was launched on Tuesday August 4, calls upon member states and partners to provide technical and financial support to IGAD to implement a series of short-term interventions to deal with the unfolding crisis.
“Nearly 50.6 million people are projected to be food insecure by the end of 2020 in the IGAD region. With millions of vulnerable populations at risk, IGAD has taken a stance to curb the casualties. This strategy puts in place guidelines for a coherent approach to supporting our citizens and the region. We call on Member States and partners to work together to provide political, technical and financial support to IGAD in the implementation of this comprehensive regional strategy,” said Workneh Gebeyehu, IGAD executive secretary.