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Low Vaccination Rates a Concern Amid African COVID Surge

Low vaccination rates are of mounting concern amid a new wave of COVID-19 infections in Africa, where nearly 227,000 deaths have been reported, according to the Africa CDC’s COVID-19 dashboard. Only 20 African countries had vaccinated at least 10% of their populations as of mid-December, according to the United Nations.

Vaccine access is a major stumbling block.

Vaccines have been slow to arrive from wealthier countries; when they do, there may not be sufficient infrastructure to support timely distribution. On December 22, Nigeria’s government destroyed more than 1 million doses of donated AstraZeneca vaccine that authorities said could not be used before the expiration date.

Meanwhile, the African Union and its Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are pushing efforts to develop vaccine manufacturing on the continent.

But, “even in countries where vaccines are being rolled out, there might be administrative and other obstacles that prevent refugees from being vaccinated,” said Aikaterini Kitidi, a spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee Agency, or UNHCR.

Some countries “require identity documents, which refugees often do not have,” she added. “Others have set up online [registration] systems that can deter or prevent people without access to the internet or who are not computer literate.”

Awareness

Another challenge is misinformation.

It’s “heavily impacting the vaccination process and hindering people from coming,” said Dr. Martin Kalibuze, who directs the vaccination program in Uvira refugee camp in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s South Kivu province. “There are a lot of rumors, like ‘people are going to die from vaccination, women are going to turn infertile.'”

Sifa Akimana, a 28-year-old Burundian refugee living in the DRC’s Kavimvira transit center with her two babies, told VOA’s Central Africa service she was opposed to getting inoculated because “I hear from people that if you’re vaccinated, it’s very dangerous. It’s a way to control people’s movements with their detective machines.”

Kalibuze said any vaccination drive first needs a strong awareness campaign to smooth the way.

Priorities

There’s at least one more impediment to COVID vaccination: competing priorities.

Across Africa and elsewhere, especially in zones with displaced people, “ministries of health have so many different crises that they have to tackle that COVID isn’t always on the top of their list,” said Jason Straziuso, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

For instance, he said, they might decide it’s wiser to invest in more mosquito nets to protect against malaria, a historically deadly disease that the WHO estimates killed 627,000 people in 2020 alone, mostly young African children.

The ICRC doesn’t distribute vaccines on its own but instead partners with health ministries and national Red Cross Societies, Straziuso said, noting it depends on those relationships “to move into contested areas and to carry out vaccination campaigns.”

Straziuso said the organization hopes to “do a lot more in 2022” to aid vulnerable people, including refugees and the displaced. “There’s just millions of people who don’t have access to these vaccines,” he said. “So, it’s a slow and long process.”

Source: Voice of America

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Have Refugee Camps Escaped Mass COVID Infections?

Roughly two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, no massive outbreaks have been reported in refugee camps to date. Health experts have some theories about why, but they also urge continued wariness against “the very real and present danger of widespread transmission” in camps, as the World Health Organization has cautioned.

The U.N. refugee agency, or UNHCR, “had been fearing — and preparing for — large outbreaks at refugee camps, which fortunately did not happen,” spokeswoman Aikaterini Kitidi acknowledged in an email exchange with VOA.

“However, this doesn’t mean we are out of the woods yet,” she said. With new variants such as omicron, “which are far more infectious, we may very well see more cases. We must remain vigilant and scale up surveillance and testing, as well as the equitable distribution of vaccines.”

UNHCR estimates that roughly 80 million people worldwide have been forcibly displaced by persecution and conflict, with most living in low-resource countries with frail health systems. Millions of them live in camps — some formal, some informal — with limited water and sanitation facilities. They also face overcrowding, making social distancing a challenge.

Yet comparatively few COVID infections have been reported in the camps: 55 Central African refugees tested positive in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for instance, as UNHCR reported in a global COVID-19 response update of December 20.

FILE – People stand in line to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, at the Narok County Referral Hospital, in Narok, Kenya, Dec. 1, 2021.

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Low Vaccination Rates a Concern Amid African COVID Surge

Because of population density, “early on, we were concerned that [COVID-19] transmission would be very high and so would deaths, even with the younger demographics” of refugee camps, said Paul Spiegel, an epidemiologist who directs Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Humanitarian Health. “That hasn’t been the case that we’re aware of — but then data have been very poor.”

Undercounting is a real possibility, Spiegel said. “There could be scenarios where it [COVID] actually has gone through the refugee camps at a high level” but symptoms weren’t severe enough for the infected people to seek care. He added that there hasn’t been enough blood testing “to know the extent that COVID has actually been transmitted in these settings. … It takes a lot of time and money to be able to do this.”

Individual circumstances

Transmission rates ultimately may vary depending on the individual camp or other setting, said Spiegel, a former UNHCR senior official who has responded to crises in the Middle East, parts of Africa and Asia. He was on a team that, early in the pandemic, advised the United Nations, governments and humanitarian groups on best responses.

In early December, Spiegel completed five weeks of touring and assessing health conditions in Afghanistan for the World Health Organization. In that country, he said, only three of 39 facilities intended for treating COVID were functioning; the rest were devoid of supplies or paid staff following the Taliban takeover in August and subsequent sanctions by the United States and other Western allies. Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department said it would lift restrictions on some humanitarian aid.

On behalf of UNHCR, Spiegel also is looking at COVID’s impact on two Syrian refugee camps in Jordan: Za’atari, a northern site with nearly 80,000 residents, and Azraq, a northeastern site hosting 38,000. Preliminary data indicate lower rates of infection and death in those two camps than among residents of surrounding areas, he said.

“So why would that be? We have some hypotheses,” Spiegel said, noting that those camps went into lockdown early, restricting refugees to the camp, limiting outsiders’ access, and promoting more handwashing and social distancing. Local and international NGOs sustained their support for the camps, he said, so residents could continue to access health care and food, “even if it’s not enough” to meet their caloric needs. He also noted that people in camps spend a lot of time outside.

Spiegel said he’s involved in additional studies of refugees and host communities in Bangladesh and in three African countries: Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. He said he anticipated their findings to be published in 2022.

Source: Voice of America

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ERITREA: Incredible Tourism Treasure

“This country is really underrated,” a German tourist told my tour guide friend upon seeing the fogy atmosphere around Arbe-Robue, a roadside village about 10 kilometers from Asmara on the way to Massawa. Around the months between November and March, it is a usual scenery while descending to the port city. This is just before finding out about the immensity of the content of the Red Sea and the history it bears.

The Red Sea being the first sea to be discovered by humans, according to archaeological findings, the Eritrean part of the sea, around the Abdur area in particular, is said to be where the first seafaring humans had dwelt. It is also home to several marine species, seaweeds and around 1100 varieties of fish including whales, dolphins, sharks, sea turtles and others. Out of these abundant species, almost 550 are exclusively found in the Eritrean part of the Red Sea.

Eritrea is endowed with over 1000 kilometers of coastline, which include a variety of seagrass, mangrove trees and coral reefs. The existence of mangrove trees along the coastal area provides a breeding habitat for many bird species such as flamingos and other migratory birds.

The coastline is also home to ecologically and historically significant peninsulas, such as the Buri peninsula, which is one of the most important storehouses of biodiversity and the Dahlak islands, which is very significant home to the spread of the first Arabic cuffic scriptures.

The Eritrean Green Belt found about an hour drive northeast of the capital, contains different kinds of vegetation like huge sycamore trees and animals such as antelopes, gazelles, leopards, panthers, hyenas, baboons and hundreds of spices of birds.

Although farming, drought and war are the main causes for deforestation and the migration of wild animals; with the concerted efforts of the Eritrean wildlife and forestry authority and the government, several species have been returning after Eritrea achieved its independence three decades ago. The reservation of the Green Belt as a national park has played a big part in this particular sector.

The mountainous landscape of most of the southern highland area of the country makes you enjoy cool breeze, with temperate climate in the settlements perched upon descending to the lowlands, which are mainly characterized by warm climate. Seeing is believing, and if you come and experience it first hand, you won’t be wandering why the tourism motto of the Eritrean Tourism Ministry is, “Three seasons in two hours”.

Speaking of the mountains, apart from being a habitat to the growing fauna of the country, they have played a significant role in the armed struggle for the independence of Eritrea. The hundreds of kilometers of trenches that spread from Nakfa served as a stronghold for the EPLF.

Animals such as the elephant, African wild ass, and ostrich are recognized among the large animals in the country. Most of us are not aware that our country contains small animals first described scientifically from Eritrea as long ago as the 1830s such as the Eritrea Clawed Frog and Side-necked Turtle. There is also the Asmara Toad, the only toad in the world with a scientific name that includes the capital city Asmara. Some of these are found nowhere except in Eritrea and thus are National treasures that must be studied and preserved.

When it comes to the marine biodiversity as we have mentioned it earlier, the Red Sea marine biodiversity pans from, the unicellular phytoplankton seedlings to the enormous wales. Over 1000 different species of fish, 250 types of corals are found in the Red Sea. Besides, invertebrates, mollusks and gastropods as well as marine plants, such as the three different types of mangrove trees are among the major resources of the Red Sea. According to studies conducted over the past 25 years of independence, it has been confirmed that the depth of the Eritrean Sea is also a haven to 11 types of sea grass, five types of marine turtles, as well as over 72 different marine bird species. Furthermore, 17 different types of sea cucumber with high economic significance are found in the Red Sea.

What Eritrea has got is nothing short of incredible and a lot of times, we, being inside of it, miss the incredibleness of it and fail to tell the rest of the world how beautiful Eritrea is.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea

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Mali’s Military Government: Russia Sends Trainers, Not Mercenaries

BAMAKO, MALI —

Mali’s military government has denied hiring Russian mercenaries from the controversial Wagner Group, which has been sanctioned by the European Union for rights abuses. France and 15 other Western nations last week condemned what they said was Russia’s deployment of Wagner fighters to Mali. Mali’s transitional government says it is only engaged with official Russian military trainers. Analysts weigh in on Russia’s military involvement in Mali as French troops are drawing down.

Mali’s transitional government this month denied what it called “baseless allegations” that it hired the controversial Russian security firm the Wagner Group to help fight Islamist insurgents.

Western governments and U.N. experts have accused Wagner of rights abuses, including killing civilians, in the Central African Republic and Libya.

The response came Friday after Western nations made the accusations, which Mali’s military government dismissed with a demand that they provide independent evidence.

A day earlier, France and 15 other Western nations had condemned what they called the deployment of Wagner mercenaries to Mali.

The joint statement said they deeply regret the transitional authorities’ choice to use already scarce public funds to pay foreign mercenaries instead of supporting its own armed forces and the Malian people.

The statement also called on the Russian government to behave more responsibly, accusing it of providing material support to the Wagner Group’s deployment, which Moscow denies.

The Mali government acknowledged what it called “Russian trainers” were in the country. It said they were present to help strengthen the operational capacities of their defense and security forces.

Aly Tounkara is director of the Center for Security and Strategic Studies in the Sahel, a Bamako-based think tank.

He says it’s hard to tell if the Russian security presence is military or mercenary but, regardless, would likely be supporting rather than front-line fighting.

This could allow the Malian army to have victories over the enemy that will be attributed to them, says Tounkara, which was not the case with the French forces. He says the second advantage is that victories over extremists could allow Mali’s military to legitimize itself. We must remember, says Tounkara, that one of the reasons for the forced departure of President Keita, was that the security situation was so bad.

Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was overthrown in an August 2020 coup led by Colonel Assimi Goita after months of anti-government protests, much of it over worsening security.

Goita launched a second coup in May that removed the interim government leaders, but has promised to hold elections in 2022.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has been pushing Mali’s military government to hold elections.

ECOWAS in November expressed concern over a potential Wagner Group deployment to Mali after unconfirmed reports that the military government was in talks with the mercenary group.

Popular protests in Bamako have called for French forces to leave Mali and last year some protesters were seen calling for Russian ones to intervene.

Since French forces first arrived in Mali in 2013, public opinion on their presence has shifted from favorable to widely negative.

The French military has been gradually drawing down its anti-insurgent Operation Barkhane forces from the Sahel region.

French forces this year withdrew from all but one military base in northern Mali, saying the Malian armed forces were ready to take the lead on their own security.

But analysts say one consequence of the French leaving is that the Malian army is seeking other partners.

Boubacar Salif Traore is director of Afriglob Conseil, a Bamako-based development and security consulting firm.

“Official Russian cooperation would be very advantageous for the Malian army in terms of supplying equipment,” he says. “Mali, and many African countries, notably the Central African Republic, have concluded that France does not play fair in terms of delivering arms. Every time these states ask for weapons, either there’s an embargo or there is a problem in procuring these weapons. Russia can provide these weapons without constraints and it’s precisely that which interests Mali.”

In September, Mali received four military helicopters and other weapons bought from Russia.

The Malian transitional government’s statement Friday did not elaborate on what the Russian trainers would be doing in Mali.

When asked to comment, a government spokesman would not elaborate and referred questions to the ministry of foreign affairs, which does not list any contact numbers on its website.

Source: Voice of America

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Somali Opposition Calls on President to Leave Office

MOGADISHU — Somalia’s opposition presidential candidates have called on President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, popularly known as Farmajo, to leave office after he attempted to force the prime minister from power.

The council of the presidential candidates in Somalia issued the call one day after Farmajo suspended Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble, accusing him of corruption and failure to conduct elections. The prime minister has denied the allegations, accusing the president of orchestrating a coup.

The opposition candidates called for an investigation into what they termed treason, and for the national consultative council, consisting of federal and other leaders from five states, to immediately address grievances about already delayed parliamentary elections.

There has been no comment from Farmajo on the latest developments, which have escalated a dispute between the two politicians over the delayed vote and who will lead the country. Critics say the president is looking to stay in power by any means necessary. Farmajo took office in February 2017. His term formally ended in February.

The international community, including the U.S. Embassy in Mogadishu, has since urged Somali leaders to avoid violent actions and initiate dialogue to resolve their differences in order to expedite the vote.

Parliamentary elections were supposed to conclude before the end of the year but are nowhere near complete with just more than 50 members of parliament out of 275 selected so far by tribal delegates.

Source: Voice of America

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Gambia’s Supreme Court Dismisses Election Result Challenge

BANJUL — Gambia’s Supreme Court dismissed a legal challenge to President Adama Barrow’s recent election victory on Tuesday, ruling that the petition had not followed proper procedure, court documents showed.

Barrow won the Dec. 4 poll with 53% of the vote. Runner-up Ousainou Darboe, who got about 28%, and two other candidates refused to accept the results, citing alleged problems at polling stations without providing evidence.

Darboe’s United Democratic Party (UDP) petitioned the Supreme Court to nullify the results the following week despite election observers having said the poll was conducted fairly.

The court dismissed the petition on the grounds that Darboe’s party had failed to serve Barrow within five days of filing it, which violated the Gambia’s fair trial procedures, judicial sources said.

“The UDP failed to comply with the requirement of Rule 11 of the Election Petition Rule, which required that you file a motion of petition and security,” Chief Justice Hassan B. Jallow wrote in the judgment.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Darboe said that he did not consider the court’s decision a personal loss, since the petition was dismissed on a procedural technicality rather than on the merit of its claims.

“We have not lost anything because the petition was not dismissed based on merit but a mere technicality,” Darboe said. “We should be Proud of ourselves for what we have done and will continue to do for Country.”

Supreme Court decisions are final and cannot be appealed. Darboe did not indicate whether he or his party would continue to challenge the election results.

Source: Voice of America

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New Study Suggests Infection from Omicron Variant Can Enhance Immunity to Delta

Researchers in South Africa have discovered that people who have been infected with the omicron variant of the coronavirus develop enhanced immunity to the older delta variant.

The conclusion is the result of a new study conducted at Durban-based Africa Health Research Institute involving 33 vaccinated and unvaccinated people. The scientists found that immunity against a further exposure to omicron rose 14-fold about two weeks after infection, while also discovering that immunity against delta improved 4.4-fold.

The scientists say the immunity is especially enhanced among those who are inoculated.

Alex Sigal, the study’s co-author, said on Twitter Monday that if omicron is “less pathogenic” as it appears, “then this will help push delta out,” making it possible

“the disruption Covid-19 has caused in our lives may become less.”

The study, which has not been peer reviewed, has been submitted to the medical journal MedRxiv.

An earlier study out of South Africa revealed a reduced risk of hospitalization and severe illness from omicron, compared to delta.

The omicron strain has rapidly spread around the world since it was first detected in southern Africa in November.

Source: Voice of America