The new coronavirus could kill 150,000 people in Africa in a year unless urgent action is taken, according to a WHO modelling study that says nearly a quarter of a billion people will be infected.

Authors of the research, published Friday in the journal BMJ Global Health, predicted a lower infection rate than in other parts of the world like Europe and the US, with fewer severe cases and deaths.

But while they said many African nations had been swift to adopt containment measures, they warned that health systems could still quickly become overwhelmed.

“Our model points to the scale of the problem for health systems if containment measures fail,” said the authors.

The study comes amid stark warnings that COVID-19 threatens a health emergency in developing nations where fragile health systems are already struggling with an array of other chronic diseases.

Experts at the World Health Organization’s Africa office modelled likely rates of exposure to the virus and infection in the 47 countries under its regional remit, which excludes Djibouti, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Somalia, Sudan and Tunisia.

Some 231 million people, or 22 percent (with a range of 16 to 26 percent) of the one billion people in the region were expected to be infected in the 12 month period — most of them showing few or no symptoms.

But an estimated 4.6 million people would need to be admitted to hospital, while 140,000 would have severe COVID-19 infection and 89,000 would be critically ill.

That would lead to some 150,000 deaths (between 83,000 and 190,000) the study suggested.

The modelling estimates what would happen for each country over the period of a year from the beginning of widespread and sustained community transmission.

Researchers warned that surging hospital admissions for COVID-19 would divert already limited resources to tackle major health issues in the region, such as HIV, tuberculosis, malaria and malnutrition, worsening the impact of coronavirus.

“The region will have fewer deaths, but occurring more in relatively younger age groups, amongst people previously considered healthy –- due to undiagnosed non-communicable diseases,” the report said, adding that these trends were already emerging.

The researchers said they expect the virus would likely circulate within the region for longer than other countries, possibly for several years.

Transmission was estimated to be greatest in small nations, with Mauritius found to have the highest risk of exposure. Of the region’s large countries, South Africa, Cameroon and Algeria were also in the top ten for exposure risk.

The authors calculated this risk by looking at each country’s “gathering factor” (including family size and population density), people’s likely ease of movement, sanitation and hygiene practices.

 They also included weather. It is not known if warmer temperatures slow down the spread of COVID-19, though some research has suggested it has that effect on other coronaviruses.

Researchers factored in each country’s measures to control the spread of the virus, including physical distancing.

They also looked at health risk factors — proportion of the population over 65, HIV prevalence (as a proxy for chronic communicable conditions) and diabetes (as a proxy for non-communicable chronic illness).

They called for countries to rapidly boost healthcare capacity, particularly in primary hospitals.

This month the United Nations said the number of deaths from AIDS-related illnesses in sub-Saharan Africa could double if the provision of healthcare to HIV sufferers is disrupted during the coronavirus crisis.

(Source: AFP)

Cameroon’s traditional healers say they are being overwhelmed by the number of people seeking herbal medicine for prevention or treatment of the coronavirus.  The rush for traditional healing comes as the central African nation confirms more than 2,500 cases of COVID-19 and 121 deaths.  But medical doctors caution the use of herbal medicine for the coronavirus.

Traditional healer Dewah, who only uses a first name, says his chain of herbal medicine clinics across Cameroon have been flooded with patients since the March outbreak of the coronavirus.

He spoke via a messaging application from the southwestern town of Kumba.

Dewah said in the last two months he has received at least 800 people from Cameroon, the Central African Republic, and Chad who say they are rushing for African herbal medicine because they have been told there is no modern cure for COVID-19.

The demand for herbal medicine is so high, said Dewah, that he could not treat some patients because he ran short of the potions made from plants he harvests from the forest.

Despite a lack of scientific evidence, he claims the potions can treat all the symptoms of COVID-19 and even save the infected from death.

Dianne Sop, a traditional healer in Yaounde, said in the last month she too has received about 200 patients seeking treatment for the coronavirus.

Sop said on Tuesday morning alone she received 10 patients but had to send four away because she is still waiting for more herbal medicines.

Medical researchers, doctors, and the Cameroon government have urged patients not to rely on traditional medicine for COVID-19 and to instead seek treatment at hospitals.

Douala city pharmacist Merilyne Peyou notes many Cameroonians do not live near hospitals but have easy access to traditional medicine. 

She said many drugs sold in hospitals and pharmacies in Africa originate from herbs and tree leaves that were effectively used to treat Africans before the arrival of modern medicine. The only challenges of African herbal medicine, said Peyou, are that it is difficult to preserve, may become toxic, and healers don’t always know what dosage to prescribe.

Cameroon’s Ministry of Public Health released a statement Thursday warning of quacks claiming they can treat COVID-19 to financially exploit people suffering from or worried about the virus.

Gidiun Peliegho, a researcher on African traditional medicine, said authorities should work to identify which herbs can treat COVID-19 and help to develop a cure.

“We need both financial and moral assistance.  This is not the time for us to keep on doubting what African traditional medicine can do. What interests us now the most is getting to rescue the world population that is suffering.”

The World Health Organization notes the use of products to treat COVID-19 that have not been robustly investigated can put people in danger.

In a May 4 statement, the WHO said untested and unproven medicines give a false sense of security and distract from proven measures such as hand washing and physical distancing.

Source: VOA

Scientists have found evidence for mutations in some strains of the coronavirus that suggest the pathogen may be adapting to humans after spilling over from bats.

The analysis of more than 5,300 coronavirus genomes from 62 countries shows that while the virus is fairly stable, some have gained mutations, including two genetic changes that alter the critical “spike protein” the virus uses to infect human cells.

Researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine stress that it is unclear how the mutations affects the virus, but since the changes arose independently in different countries they may help the virus spread more easily.

The spike mutations are rare at the moment but Martin Hibberd, professor of emerging infectious diseases and a senior author on the study, said their emergence highlights the need for global surveillance of the virus so that more worrying changes are picked up fast.

“This is exactly what we need to look out for,” Hibberd said. “People are making vaccines and other therapies against this spike protein because it seems a very good target. We need to keep an eye on it and make sure that any mutations don’t invalidate any of these approaches.”

Studies of the virus revealed early on that the shape of its spike protein allowed it to bind to human cells more efficiently than Sars, a related virus that sparked an outbreak in 2002. The difference may have helped the latest coronavirus infect more people and spread rapidly around the world.

Scientists will be concerned if more extensive mutations in the spike protein arise, not only because they may alter how the virus behaves. The spike protein is the main target of leading vaccines around the world, and if it changes too much those vaccines may no longer work. Other potential therapies, such as synthetic antibodies that home in on the spike protein, could be less effective, too.

“This is an early warning,” Hibberd said. “Even if these mutations are not important for vaccines, other mutations might be and we need to maintain our surveillance so we are not caught out by deploying a vaccine that only works against some strains.”

The scientists analysed 5,349 coronavirus genomes that have been uploaded to two major genetics databases since the outbreak began. By studying the genetic makeup of the viruses, the scientists worked out how it has diversified into different strains and looked for signs that it was adapting to its human host.

In an unpublished study that has yet to be peer reviewed, the researchers identified two broad groups of coronavirus that have now spread globally. Of the two spike mutations, one was found in 788 viruses around the world, with the other present in only 32.

The study shows that, until January, one group of coronaviruses in China escaped detection because they had a mutation in the genetic region that early tests relied on. More recent tests detect all of the known types of the virus.

Last month, an international team of scientists used genetic analyses to show that the coronavirus likely originated in bats and was not made in a lab as some conspiracy theorists have claimed.

(Source: The Guardian)

The Francophone dominated government in Yaoundé confirmed on Sunday that the nation has now recorded 2579 positive cases of Coronavirus since the outbreak of the pandemic on March 6. According to the health authorities some 1467 people have recovered from the illness and 114 people have died from Covid-19.

Archbishop Samuel Kleda, Archbishop of the Douala metropolis, claimed that 600 patients who contracted the coronavirus have been cured by his herbal treatment.

“No patient has died with our treatment,” Archbishop Samuel Kleda said. The health authorities who only communicate using the French language are asking Cameroonians not to rejoice too soon.

“The virus is still circulating,” said the youthful French Cameroun Minister of Public Health Manaouda Malachie. Elsewhere, 139 Cameroonians stranded in the United Arab Emirates (out of 152 registered) due to border closures because of the Covid-19 pandemic have returned to Cameroon by special flight chartered by the Cameroonian government. They arrived in Yaoundé on Sunday, the Minister of External Relations announced on state radio and television.

By Rita Akana

Coinciding with Friday’s observance of the African Day for the Reduction of Maternal and Newborn Mortality, Cameroon disclosed that tens of thousands of newborn babies continue to die at birth and thousands of women continue to lose their lives while giving birth each year in the central African of 25 million. Health officials say the situation is worse on Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria, where most mothers do not go to hospitals.

 Martina Lukong Baye, Cameroonian Coordinator of the National Multisector Program to Combat Maternal, Newborn and Child Mortality, says it is unfortunate that the number of mothers and babies dying in Cameroon has remained high due to many women neglecting prenatal care and some delivering at home using untrained traditional birth attendants.

 “We are counting about 4,000 women dying every year from causes linked to pregnancy or delivery. It is pathetic. It is about 22,000 newborn babies that we lose every year. It is really, really unacceptable.” Baye said.

 Cameroon’s Ministry of Public Health, however, reports that the number of pregnant women who die has dropped from 8,000 in 2015 to 4,000 in last year, and babies who are dying each year has decreased from 30,000 in 2015 to 22,000 last year. 

 Baye says Cameroon could do more to reduce most of the deaths by paying more attention to reasons why the women and babies die.

 “The first direct cause of women dying in Cameroon is bleeding. We do not have enough blood available in our health facilities to give these women. The other cause too, now, that is quite prominent now is hypertension in pregnancy. The other cause now would be infection after delivery and, of course, home deliveries,” Baye said.

 According to a 2018 Cameroon government-sponsored demographic and health survey, 33% of Cameroonian deliveries are carried out at home or with African traditional birth attendants, without trained health staff members. 

 The situation is critical on Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria, where Boko Haram has chased medical staff away and torched hospitals, and the border with the Central African Republic that has been an epicenter of CAR rebel atrocities. 

 Malachie Manaouda, Cameroon’s health minister, says the government has taken measures to improve health care delivery at hospitals as an urgent measure to reduce the deaths. 

He says the universal health coverage plan Cameroon is developing prioritizes mother and child care. He says President Paul Biya is personally supervising the plan as an indication of a strong political will to stop women from dying while giving birth, and babies from dying before, during or shortly after birth.

Manaouda said Cameroon has, within the past three years, equipped maternities and trained and recruited about a thousand midwives and pediatricians to attend to the needs of mothers and babies. He also said the government two years ago instructed all hospitals on Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria and Cameroon’s border with CAR to offer free prenatal care.

 The African Day for the Reduction of Maternal and Newborn Mortality, observed since 2009, offers an opportunity for African countries, members of the African Union, to intensify actions aimed at reducing maternal and infant mortality, examine challenges faced, and press for greater political commitment among African countries to stop mothers and babies from dying.

Source: VOA

Cameroon is poised to do “robust and large scale” COVID-19 testing, Minister of Public Health Manaouda Malachie said on Friday.

“We will now test more people rapidly,” Manaouda told reporters in the capital Yaounde, “this will significantly accelerate our battle on the field, especially at the airports.”

Manaouda made the remarks after the country’s president Paul Biya recently donated to the government 5,000 rapid test kits.

According to Africa CDC, Cameroon has registered a total of 2,265 confirmed COVID-19 cases from 10,268 tests.

Source: Xinhuanet

With the help of a nurse, Dominique Djomo puts on his personal protective equipment – a cap, coveralls, protective glasses, visor and gloves – and starts another day dealing with an influx of COVID-19 cases.

The anesthesiologist’s work at Douala’s gynaecology, obstetrics and pediatric hospital has changed beyond recognition since the first case of the new coronavirus was detected in Cameroon in early March.

The Central African country now has one of the highest case rates in the region, with over 2,000 people infected and more than 60 dead.

While scenes of overwhelmed hospital wards have been broadcast from across Europe and the United States, most African countries have so far been spared much of the mayhem.

As cases rise, however, doctors are beginning to get a taste of the challenges that lie ahead.

Djomo used to spend his days between the operating theatre and emergency rooms and carrying out consultations. Now, the new coronavirus and the people it affects dictate his time.

“I have … no rest, no weekends, no peaceful nights, it is the patients who run my programme,” said the 39-year-old. “This is not the usual care. There are many more precautions to take.”

Douala paediatric hospital was picked by the government as one of a few centres to receive critically ill COVID-19 patients. It has since received over 200 patients, dozens of whom were hospitalized, Djomo said.

Djomo and his team frequently work 24-hour shifts. Last week, when a Reuters crew visited the hospital, the resuscitation ward was full, its 12 beds occupied by patients.

A lack of space and a shortage of critical supplies such as ventilators has forced Djomo to make some difficult calls.

During the Reuters visit, he had to turn down a request from another clinic that wanted to transfer a patient to the hospital because he only had five ventilators and they were all being used.

Djomo’s family and friends worry that he may get infected.

As in many parts of the world, protective equipment is running short for medical staff in the hospital, including overalls. More than 20 healthcare workers have been infected in Cameroon and at least two doctors have died, said a senior health official.

“I would personally like to make my contribution, that at the end of this epidemic I can be satisfied with myself,” said Djomo. “Family, friends ask me to be careful. But we remind them that it can happen to everyone. Anyone can be sick.”

Source: Whtc.com