“Against a global downward trend since the beginning of May, the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated in Africa for the fifth week in a row. Africa Pointabove all. The trajectory of Covid cases in Africa is “very, very worrying”, the WHO estimated on Friday, with the spread of more infectious variants and a dangerously low level of vaccination. According to data collected by the WHO, there were 116,500 new infections in Africa last week, 25,500 more than the previous week. (…) The Democratic Republic of Congo, Namibia and Uganda recorded the highest number of weekly cases since the start of the pandemic, underlines the WHO, which states that this increase is largely explained by seasonal weather conditions. Colder in southern Africa and the spread of more contagious varieties. ”
South Africa is therefore still the country most affected by the virus. “President Cyril Ramaphosa recently announced Le Spec Afrique, a return to tougher measures while hospital admissions have increased by almost 60% in the last two weeks.”
Niger is intensifying its vaccination campaign
West Africa is still less affected but the threat is still present …
Example in Niger, point World Africa: “Last Tuesday, the Minister of Public Health, Idi Illiassou Maïnassara, announced the launch of a second phase of the vaccination campaign, which will be open to all adults and the whole territory. The purpose of the operation is to convince the public of the “need for everyone to be vaccinated.” Vaccination teams will be placed in public health centers but also in private structures and in neighborhoods to reach as many people as possible. The campaign began in the country at the end of March, says Monde Afrique, thanks to a Chinese donation of 400,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine. The government then received 355,000 doses of AstraZeneca through Covax’s international solidarity mechanism. By June 14, only 14,000 people had been fully vaccinated. “
Uganda in trouble
The situation in Uganda is much more problematic, Le Monde Afrique emphasizes: “health care is facing a shortage of oxygen and vaccines. Some hospitals, private and public, can no longer welcome new patients with Covid-19 in intensive care. “Uganda is currently facing a major challenge,” said Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng. More than “8,000 oxygen tanks” would be needed today “to supply the whole country”. As for vaccines, the country’s distribution center, National Medical Stores, has stopped delivering facilities since the beginning of the week. Vaccination centers and hospitals were forced to suspend their work. “
“Vaccine production in Africa is not a utopia”
Asked by Young AfricaSenegalese Health Minister Awa Marie Coll-Seck, a doctor, researcher and specialist in bacteriology, insists on the urgent need to strengthen healthcare systems on the continent.
“No matter how much progress we can make in the fight against disease, if we do not create a solid system of trained staff, quality infrastructure, monitoring and warning systems, a logistics chain., Financing, resources distributed throughout the territory and not just in the big cities will not to be an improvement. ”she warns.
And then, Awa Marie Coll-Seck continues, Africa must be able to produce a vaccine. “Senegal has at least two very advanced sites in the matter, including the Pasteur Institute in Dakar, which already produces yellow fever vaccines. Others are very well placed, such as South Africa or the Maghreb countries, and I hear about initiatives in Nigeria, Rwanda, Ethiopia … I think, the Senegalese Minister of Health concludes, that if we start by trusting countries that already have skills and infrastructure and that we help them strengthen themselves, vaccine production in Africa is not a utopia. ”
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