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With only a few Sehatmandi health facilities remaining fully functional and cuts in donor support is leaving many health facilities low on funding and supplies, WHO and partners are scaling up support, including a polio vaccination for 3.3 million children in November. Since August, WHO has provided a total of 186 metric tonnes of health supplies to benefit 2.5 million people in Afghanistan.
After polio was detected in Malaysia in December 2019 for the first time in 27 years, the Ministry of Health launched a mass immunisation campaign. Now, over a year and a half later and after a successful vaccination campaign, the Government has declared the polio outbreak in the country to be over. Malaysia received 2.5 million doses of monovalent oral polio vaccines from WHO to deliver to over 1 million children.
While WHO welcomes the addition of another therapeutic to fight COVID-19, the UN health agency urged producing companies and governments to address the high price and limited production of the Regeneron antibody combination and ensure safe and appropriate handling of the medicine.
COVID-19 stories
The Pan-American Health Organization announced two regional hubs to develop and produce mRNA-based vaccines in Latin America, in a bid to tackle COVID-19 and future infectious-disease challenges. The Bio-Manguinhos Institute of Technology on Immunobiologicals at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ) was selected as the centre in Brazil; while Sinergium Biotech, a private sector biopharmaceutical company, was selected as the centre in Argentina.
Bangladesh
Vaccinating Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar camps
Bangladesh has launched COVID-19 vaccination for Rohingya refugees, housed in one of the world’s largest and most densely populated camps in Cox’s Bazar. “I commend Bangladesh’s leadership for this initiative and ongoing efforts to scale up vaccination across the country. Equitable access to vaccines is key to protecting vulnerable populations,” Regional Director Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh said.
Moldova
Pharmacies as a reliable source of information on COVID-19 vaccination
Over 300 pharmacists raise awareness on COVID-19 vaccination in the Republic of Moldova, as about 150,000 people visit pharmacies in the country every day, making them the most visited medical point and a trusted and visible source of medical information for their customers. WHO and the EU support the campaign led by the Ministry of Health and the Association of Pharmacists.
Lao PDR
Mobile teams deliver vaccines to frontline workers
To optimise the reach in the community, vaccination of priority groups has been conducted in both fixed vaccination sites through district hospitals and clinics, and through mobile teams. Several of these temporary sites are now supporting the roll-out of vaccine delivery in far-flung rural communities.
Cabo Verde
Training youth volunteers to communicate on vaccination
Technical experts from WHO and the National Institute of Public Health provided young volunteers a training session on risk communication and community engagement around vaccination against COVID-19. It focused on the role of community involvement in any public health emergency response as a critical element to strengthen understanding of the health risks and reaffirmed the safety of the vaccines.
Other health emergencies
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Start of Ebola vaccination
Ebola vaccination began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s North Kivu Province where a case was confirmed on 8 October. People at high risk, including contacts of the confirmed case and first responders received the doses as health authorities move to curb the spread of the virus.
Iran
Boosting national diagnostic capacity of the National Influenza Centre
WHO contributed supplies and equipment to strengthen the diagnostic capacity of Iran’s National Influenza Centre in Tehran. The devices will be used along with the genome sequencing machines in analysing next generation sequencing data and interpreting the results for better understanding of the circulating microbe variants in the country.
Paraguay
PAHO delivers equipment and supplies to fight vector-borne diseases| ES
Through technical support from WHO, supplies were provided to strengthen the fight against vector-borne diseases such as dengue fever, zika and chikungunya; and eliminate diseases such as Chagas disease and leishmaniasis.
Yemen
Community volunteers making a difference in the fight against malaria
“I am passionate at what I do – going to hard-to-reach areas where there is little awareness about health, and limited access to health services. It gives me great joy to serve my community in this way,” says Zahra’a Mohammed, 25, who has been a community health volunteer in the Lahj Governorate since 2019. With many other volunteers, they walk from house to house under a scorching sun, to provide malaria testing, treatment and prevention awareness to adults and children who would otherwise be unreached.
WHO is hosting the fifth partners’ meeting this year, virtually on 25-27 October 2021. It gathers partners including UNICEF, GAVI, US-CDC, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to assess global initiatives to address yellow fever, take stock of achievements and challenges at country- and global-level, share experiences and learnings, and identify priorities for the coming years. Click here to register; and for those who already registered, please download the conference app through Google or Apple.
Highlights: donors, partners, and critical support
Video | Continuing WHO’s response to health emergencies, including COVID-19
The mid-year report of the Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan (SPRP) gives an overview of the global scale of WHO's work and highlighting some of the impact in countries; including its leadership role in ending the acute phase of the pandemic. Still, WHO faces a funding gap of almost US$900 million to cover the period till March 2022. As WHO thanks donors for their contributions, an urgent appeal was launched to fully fund the gap so WHO can continue its role in tackling the pandemic.
The WHO Hub: Better readiness for global disease threats
Germany is supporting the WHO Hub in Berlin, which will enhance data access for generating signals and insights on disease emergence, evolution and impact; develop tools to process, analyse and model data to detect, assess and response to epidemics; provide WHO, countries, and partners with the tools to reinforce better, faster decisions in addressing outbreaks and signals; and connect institutions and partners to develop disease outbreak solutions for the present and future.
WFP and WHO launch innovative project on Emergency Health Facilities
WHO and the World Food Programme launched INITIATE2 to bring together emergency actors, research, and international and national partners to promote, share, and transfer skills for improved emergency response in health crises. It will standardise solutions such as disease-specific field facilities and kits, and test them in real-life scenarios; train logistics and health responders; and will be replicated in countries for local staff, building on past experiences in emergency response.
