Africa is seeing a wave of preventable diseases as a result of disorders caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization announced on Thursday. The continent recorded a 400 percent increase in measles, to more than 17,000 cases between January and March, compared to the same period last year, WHO’s Africa expert Dr. Benido Ibuma told a news conference. Two years of coronavirus outbreaks have had “a major impact on the delivery of routine health services, with vaccination being severely affected” in many countries, he said. Twenty-four countries confirmed cases of polio last year, four times more than in 2020. Last year, 13 countries reported new cases of yellow fever, rising from nine in 2020 and three in 2019, according to WHO figures. “The rise in outbreaks of other vaccine-preventable diseases is a warning sign,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, in a statement. “As Africa works hard to defeat COVID-19, we must not forget other health threats. “Health systems could be seriously affected not only by COVID-19 but also by other diseases.” The continent of 1.3 billion people has reported 11.4 million cases of COVID-19, including 252,000 deaths, according to data from the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although the virus has been on a downward trend since January, the WHO reported an increase in cases on Thursday due to doubling infection rates in South Africa, the African country most affected by the pandemic. Impouma, a WHO official, said that in the aftermath of the pandemic, the organization seeks to support countries in scaling up COVID-19 vaccinations as well as routine vaccination services. “The same is true of standard immunization as of COVID,” said Helen Rees, executive director of a Reproductive Health and HIV Institute at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa. “There is an immediate health problem … but there is this spinoff in the sense that it negatively affects poor growth and contributes to poverty, which is absolutely crucial for our region.” The Morning and Afternoon Newsletters are compiled by Globe editors, giving you a brief overview of the day’s most important headlines. Register today.
