Explosion of deaths from infectious diseases looms in Africa over COVID-19
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By Sola Ogundipe
African countries are at potential risk of suffering an explosion of deaths from malaria, measles, and other infectious diseases as a result of the surging COVID-19 cases
Disclosing this on Wednesday, during a high-level panel discussion on new findings from the latest report by the Partnership for Evidence-Based Response to COVID-19, PERC, the President/CEO, Resolve to Save Lives, an initiative of Vital Strategies, Dr Tom Freiden, warned that Africa was treading on a thin line in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Freiden, a former director of the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, who spoke to the report, entitled: “Responding to COVID-19 in Africa: Finding the Balance (Part III)”, said Africa faced even bigger challenges in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
COVID-19 severity in Africa underestimated, report says By Edith Mutethya in Nairobi, Kenya | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2021-05-13 20:00 Kenyan tour guides and travel operators prepare to receive the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), under the COVAX scheme, in Nairobi, Kenya on April 27, 2021. [Photo/Agencies]
The true severity of coronavirus in Africa is likely to be underestimated, in the light of limitations in testing capacity and surveillance as well as uneven demand for testing, according to a new report by the Partnership for Evidence-Based Response to COVID-19, a consortium of global public health organization and private sector firms.
English News Releases Survey Shows People in Africa Still Experiencing Substantial Economic Harms, Without Vaccine to Combat Increasing Global Threat12 May,
New Report: Responding to COVID-19 in Africa
As the world battles new COVID-19 variants and supply of vaccines remains critically low in Africa, African Union Member States must find the balance between minimizing threats from COVID-19 and the indirect burdens of public health measures, including income loss, food insecurity, and disrupted access to essential medical services.
New findings from a Partnership for Evidence-Based Response to COVID-19 (PERC) report show that these problems remain substantial across the African continent: 81% of respondents reported challenges accessing food, 77% reported experiencing income loss and 42% reported missing medical visits. The report calls for targeted public health measures for high-risk populations, increased surveillance in light of new variants and scaled-up vaccine supply from the global community to control the pandemic in Africa.
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