Health

Matt Hancock appointed UN special envoy to help Covid recovery in Africa

Matt Hancock has announced he has been appointed a special representative to the United Nations. The former health secretary will focus on helping African countries recover from Covid-19.

Hancock said he was “honoured” to have been given the role, adding on Twitter: “I’ll be working with the UN, the UN Economic Commission for Africa to help African economic recovery from the pandemic and promote sustainable development.”

It comes four months after he resigned from his Cabinet role for breaking social distancing rules by kissing and embracing an aide in his office.

According to the UN, African countries face paying more than £300bn to recover from the pandemic.

The UN under secretary general, Vera Songwe, said Hancock’s “success” in handling the UK’s pandemic response was a testament to the strengths he would bring to the role.

In a letter, which Hancock posted on Twitter, Songwe said: “The acceleration of vaccines that has led the UK move faster towards economic recovery is one testament to the strengths that you will bring to this role, together with your fiscal and monetary experience. The role will support Africa’s cause at the global level and ensure the continent builds forward better, leveraging financial innovations and working with major stakeholders like the G20, UK government and Cop26.”

In his acceptance letter, also posted on Twitter, the Conservative MP wrote: “As we recover from the pandemic so we must take this moment to ensure Africa can prosper.”

However, Global Justice Now, which is campaigning for a worldwide jab rollout and has called for vaccine patent waivers, condemned the appointment. Nick Dearden, its director, said: “Matt Hancock helped to block international efforts to allow low and middle-income countries to produce their own Covid-19 vaccines, leading to millions of deaths in the global south. The audacity of this man claiming to help African nations and promote sustainable development is sickening.”

Hancock’s appointment, which will be unpaid, comes as a damning report from MPs was published on how errors and delays by the UK government and scientific advisers cost lives during the pandemic.

The study, from the cross-party science and technology committee and the health and social care committee, said the UK’s preparation for a pandemic was far too focused on flu, while ministers waited too long to push through lockdown measures in early 2020. In a wide-ranging report, MPs said the UK’s planning was too “narrowly and inflexibly based on a flu model” that failed to learn the lessons from Sars, Mers and Ebola.

The former chief medical officer Prof Dame Sally Davies told MPs there was “groupthink”, with infectious disease experts not believing that “Sars, or another Sars, would get from Asia to us”.

Hancock resigned as health secretary in June after leaked CCTV footage showed him kissing an aide, in breach of social distancing rules. Speaking at the time, he said: “The last thing I would want is for my private life to distract attention from the single-minded focus that is leading us out of this crisis.”

Health

WHO sets targets to end Mpox outbreaks in Africa

The World Health Organisation, WHO, has set a target of halting mpox outbreaks in Africa within the next six months.

This announcement came as the first vaccine shipments are expected to arrive in the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, in the coming days.

Africa, particularly the DRC, with over 18,000 suspected cases and 629 deaths, has received only a fraction of the vaccines to combat the virus.

At a press briefing on Monday, September 2, WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed confidence in ending the outbreaks, citing strong government leadership and collaborative partnerships.

In August, WHO declared mpox outbreaks a global emergency to spur a more robust international response even though a new strain of mpox known as clade1b, has been identified in many countries, including Burundi, Cameroon, Rwanda, and Kenya.

The potentially more contagious variant of the virus was detected in Congo in May, prompting heightened concerns among health officials.

WHO estimates that approximately 230,000 vaccines could soon be sent to Congo and other affected countries. The WHO is also implementing educational campaigns to inform people in outbreak areas about preventing the spread of the disease.

Africa’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said it aims to receive 380,000 vaccine doses from donors, including the US and the EU, which falls short of the quantity required to eradicate the outbreaks.

Health

No recorded case of mpox in Ogun- Govt

The Ogun State Commissioner for Health, Dr Tomo Coker, on Wednesday said the state has not recorded any case of Mpox across the 20 local government areas of the state.

She disclosed this in a statement made available to journalists in Abeokuta, saying that the state has maintained a high level of surveillance since the global outbreak in 2022.

“Mpox is a disease of public health importance and the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared outbreaks of a more virulent strain in some countries. Some states in Nigeria have also reported outbreaks of Mpox,” she said.

“Ogun State Ministry of Health is aware of this public health threat and has instituted appropriate measures to prevent it, detect it early, and respond as appropriate.

“The last case of Mpox in Ogun State was in May 2023 and no confirmed case has been reported in Ogun State to date.

“As of 18th August 2024, the state surveillance system has reported 151 suspected cases of Mpox across the state but none of the suspected cases has been confirmed to be Mpox though 53 returned positive for Chicken Pox.

“We are aware of the Chicken Pox cases in the state and the necessary measures are already in place.

“Sensitization of the public on Mpox, Chickenpox, and other priority diseases is ongoing through established platforms. Therefore, there is no need to panic.”

Health

US donates 10,000 monkeypox vaccine doses to Nigeria

The United States government donated 10,000 doses of the Jynneos vaccine to Nigeria to aid in the fight against monkeypox on Tuesday.

The Jynneos vaccine, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is designed to prevent smallpox and monkeypox in adults aged 18 and older who are at risk of infection.

During the official handover ceremony in Abuja, Prof. Muhammad Pate, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, expressed gratitude to the U.S. government for the generous donation.

Represented by Permanent Secretary Daju Kachollom, Pate emphasised the Federal Government’s commitment to improving public health in Nigeria.

He said, “This is a spirit of cooperation and collaboration through the years, and this vaccine will be of great help to us.

“The Federal Ministry of Health understands the importance of having a healthy nation, so all the policies that we implement and the collaborations are focused on ensuring our citizens’ health.”

Pate also extended thanks to other development partners, including USAID, PEPFAR, WHO, UNICEF, and various UN organisations, for their continued support.

He highlighted the importance of addressing public health concerns, particularly diseases like monkeypox that pose significant risks to the population.

Monkeypox, a rare viral zoonotic disease, primarily affects remote villages in Central and West Africa near tropical rainforests.

It is caused by the monkeypox virus, which belongs to the orthopoxvirus genus, including smallpox and cowpox.

Following the eradication of smallpox, monkeypox has become a prominent concern within the orthopoxvirus family.

On August 13, 2024, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention declared monkeypox a public health emergency of continental security.

As of last Friday, Nigeria’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention reported 40 confirmed cases of monkeypox out of 830 suspected cases nationwide.