Category: Health

NIAMEY, A cholera epidemic has killed 104 people in Niger among 2,874 patients reported in six regions of the country, including the capital Niamey, the Ministry of Health announced Friday.

On Aug 19, the ministry had reported 845 cases and 35 deaths in Niamey and four regions, Maradi (south-east), Zinder (south-central), Dosso (south-west), and Tahoua (south-west), all of which border Nigeria, which is also affected by the disease.

The region of Tillabéri (west), in the “three borders” zone between Niger, Burkina, and Mali, the scene of regular jihadist attacks, is also affected, according to the ministry.

As of Sept 1, the death toll had risen to 104 out of 2,874 patients and “a case-fatality rate of 4%,” according to figures released Friday by the Ministry of Health’s Epidemic Surveillance and Response Directorate.

The age group between 15 and 37 years is the most affected by the epidemic, says the ministry, which announced “the extinction” of ten “outbreaks” out of the 28 “active” throughout the country.

With the support of Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), the UN, and the European Union, Niger is trying to curb the epidemic by multiplying awareness campaigns, distributing products to treat water, and disinfecting public places, public transport, and wells in infected villages.

Stocks of medicines and rapid screening tests have been sent to the affected regions where the sick are being treated free of charge in isolation sites, the Nigerien government says.

The health authorities call on the population “to urgently present themselves in a health center” as soon as “signs” of cholera appear, including “diarrhea and vomiting”.

Due to floods linked to heavy rains that have hit Niger since June, experts fear an outbreak of this highly contagious diarrheal disease caused by the ingestion of contaminated food or water.

In 2018, a previous cholera outbreak resulted in 78 deaths out of 3,824 cases reported in Niger, mainly in areas close to Nigeria, according to the WHO.

Source: NAM News Network

Police in Nigeria’s northwest Zamfara state say they are trying to rescue 73 students kidnapped by gunmen Wednesday. Within the last week, three other groups of kidnapped students in the northwest were freed, but only after large ransoms were paid.

The latest abductees included 53 male and 20 female students, all teenagers at a government secondary school in the remote village of Kaya. Police said a large number of bandits invaded the school and seized the students.

Zamfara state police spokesperson Shehu Mohammed said in a written statement that police and the military are on the trail of the bandits and have reinforced security in the village.

Following the attack, Zamfara state officials ordered closure of all primary and secondary schools in the state. They also imposed travel restrictions as well as a daily dusk to dawn curfew to prevent further attacks.

Zamfara is not the only state taking security measures in northern Nigeria, where kidnapping is rife these days.

Authorities in Kaduna, Niger and Katsina states have also introduced movement restrictions and are limiting sales of jerrycans and gasoline in a bid to stop bandits who often move around on motorcycles.

Sani Shuaib, a VOA Hausa service reporter in Zamfara state, said the movement ban is already having an impact.

“It involves all vehicles except military and security personnel. Immediately Zamfara announced it, Kaduna followed, Niger and then Sokoto too, I understand they’re planning to adopt similar measures and it has started biting hard,” said Shuaib.

But security expert Kabir Adamu said lack of accountability is the reason attacks on schools have lingered.

“The security departments don’t have monitoring and evaluation systems in place and so there’s no form of oversight or pressure on them to meet set targets. Even where there is clear failing, no one is held accountable,” said Adamu.

Armed gangs have kidnapped about 1,100 students from schools in northern Nigeria since December of last year.

The increase in crimes in the region is believed to be crippling economic activities and contributing to the poor standard of living there.

Last Friday, gunmen released 90 pupils from an Islamic seminary in Niger state where children as young as four were abducted and held for nearly three months.

Source: Voice of America

The World Health Organization reports Africa will fail to reach the global target of vaccinating 10% of vulnerable populations against COVID-19 in every country by the end of September.

WHO’s regional director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, blames the situation on what she says is the hoarding of life-saving vaccines by the world’s wealthier countries.

She notes African countries have received more than 143 million doses and inoculated 39 million people, or less than 3% percent of the continent’s population. This, she says, compares to more than 50% in the European Union and United States.

“Equally concerning is the continuing inequity in the distribution of doses. Africa accounts for just 2% of the over five billion doses given globally. This percentage, I’m afraid, has not shifted in months… If current trends hold, 42 of Africa’s 54 countries — nearly 80% — are set to miss the September target, I’m afraid.”

Africa’s third wave of the coronavirus peaked in July; however, WHO reports 24 of Africa’s 54 countries are still reporting high or fast-rising case numbers. The situation is particularly acute in west, central and east Africa.

The latest WHO figures put the number of coronavirus infections at nearly eight million, with more than 214,000 new cases reported this past week. Of the 196,000 Africans who have died from this infection, more than 5,500 lost their lives last week.

Moeti says the pandemic is still raging on the continent, noting every hour, 26 Africans die of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. She warns people must not let down their guard, as they remain at risk of becoming severely ill or dying if vaccination rates remain low.

“With concerns about variants and political pressures driving the introduction of booster shots and countries with high vaccination rates expanding their rollouts to reach to lower-risk groups, our hope for global vaccine equity is once again being challenged,” she said.

Moeti says she is encouraged the pace of vaccine shipments to Africa is picking up but adds dose-sharing arrangements must continue to be improved. She says international solidarity remains key to the global recovery from this pandemic.

Source: Voice of America

Police in Tanzania say the gunman who killed three police officers and a security guard during a shootout August 25 was a terrorist on a suicide mission.

Speaking with reporters Thursday, the director of Criminal Investigations, Camillius Wambura, identified the gunman as Hamza Mohamed, a 33-year-old Dar es Salaam resident.

Mohamed was shot dead by police after he killed four people, including three police officers, a week ago in Dar es Salaam.

Wambura said police investigated what motivated the gunman and found he had been active online.

Wambura said the suspect was consuming a lot of online materials that showed activities of terrorist organizations like al-Shabab and ISIS. He said Mohamed’s behavior also was influenced by communications with people from countries that are known for criminal activities, such as terrorism.

Wambura did not identify the countries.

Dar es Salam resident Eugene Michael says the development raises concerns about how well authorities are tracking possible terrorist suspects in Tanzania.

“The information that we were told earlier was that the man was just a normal person in his community.” Michael said. “The police report creates fear for us citizens since we can’t know how many people like him that we are living with in our society.”

This was the first shooting in Tanzania that authorities described as a terrorist attack. The country has been largely free of terrorism, except for the August 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassy by al-Qaida in Dar es Salaam. That blast killed 11 people.

Source: Voice of America