‘Be cautious, COVID has not gone away’ – WHO warns.

World Health Organization (WHO) has sent a warning to the globe, saying that ‘COVID-19 has not gone away’.

According to WHO Europe Regional Director Hans Kluge, ‘close to 1000 new Covid-19 deaths continue to occur across the region every week.’He added that the figure is an underestimate, adding that the inaccuracy is a result of a decline in the countries reporting Covid-19 cases to WHO.Kluge said that ‘nearly 36 million people across the WHO European region may have experienced Covid in the first three years of the pandemic.

“Whilst it may not be a global public health emergency, however, Covid-19 has not gone away,” Kluge said.

However, Kluge’s words seem contrary to the opinion of Dr Jérôme Salomon, WHO Assistant Director-General for Universal Health Coverage, Communicable and Noncommunicable Diseases.

According to Salomon, the World emerged out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As the world emerged out of the COVID-19 pandemic, which significantly impacted our lives and public health priorities, the importance of strong international collaboration to address substance use and addictive behaviours as important determinants of mental health and well-being has become even more evident,” Salomon said.

WHO is also carrying out campaigns to support vaccination and strengthen health systems in Africa.

In conjunction with East African Union (EU), WHO is implementing a project aimed at helping health systems become more resilient and better prepared to tackle future epidemics of vaccine-preventable diseases.

According to a report by WHO, COVID-19 vaccination coverage is on the rise in Africa’s most fragile humanitarian settings as the two-year project comes to a close.

The report also revealed that at the start of 2022, the COVID-19 vaccination rate was less than 5% on average in the participating countries: Burundi, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, the South Sudan Republic, Sudan, and Tanzania.

According to WHO, the COVID-19 vaccination rate is now closing in on 30% – the continent’s average.WHO also states that ’34 million people have received the two-dose vaccinations – more than 1 in 4 people across the population of all countries, adding that the objective of the project has been to prioritize the most vulnerable people and communities.

WHO attributes the success of the vaccination project to health workers trained by the World Health Body.The organization states that it decided to train health workers so that the world is better prepared in case of future epidemics.

In conjunction with European Union, WHO implemented the project aiming to help health systems become more resilient and better prepared to tackle future epidemics of vaccine-preventable diseases. WHO also stated that ‘COVID-19 vaccination coverage is on the rise in Africa’s most fragile humanitarian settings as the two-year project comes to a close’.

“At the start of 2022, the COVID-19 vaccination rate was less than 5% on average in the participating countries: Burundi, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, the South Sudan Republic, Sudan, and Tanzania.

“That rate is now closing in on 30% – the continent’s average. 34 million people have received the two-dose vaccinations – more than 1 in 4 people across the population of all countries.

“Crucially important for achieving this success were national health workers trained by WHO that have been administering vaccines in urban hubs, remote villages, refugee and displacement camps, workplaces, public spaces and elsewhere.

“The number of WHO-trained health workers rose from about 130 000 in 2022, to almost 2 million by May 2023.

“Trained health workers are a precious and resilient asset for national governments and communities, as they are prepared and ready to provide an effective response to any future epidemics,” WHO reports.

Article By Suzy Nyongesa.