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Africa’s public health agency says countries with deadly cholera outbreaks on the continent have no immediate access to vaccines amid a global supply shortage
Africa’s public health agency says countries with deadly cholera outbreaks on the continent have no immediate access to vaccines amid a global supply shortage.
The acting director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Ahmed Ogwell, said that the agency was working with the World Health Organization and the vaccine alliance GAVI on ways to obtain more doses to contain the outbreak. The African CDC is also working with two local manufacturers to facilitate the manufacture of cholera vaccines.
WHO and its partners recommended in October that countries temporarily switch to using a single dose of the cholera vaccine instead of two because of the supply shortage as outbreaks of the water-borne disease surge globally. They said one dose of vaccine has proven effective in stopping outbreaks even though evidence on the exact duration of protection is limited and appears to be lower in children.
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WHO noted that Haiti and Syria also are trying to contain large outbreaks. WHO and partner agencies manage a stockpile of cholera vaccines that are dispensed free to countries. Malawi in southern Africa is struggling with a cholera outbreak. The country has recorded 3,577 new cases including 111 deaths in the past week. They make up the bulk of the new cholera cases on the continent. Since the beginning of 2023, there have been 27,300 new cases of cholera including 687 deaths in five African countries.
Ethiopia attracted US$ 2 billion foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first half of the current fiscal year, an increase of 22.3% compared to the first six months of the 2021-22 fiscal year. This was announced by the Ministry of Planning and Development during a performance evaluation event that was prepared together with the Office of the Prime Minister.
According to the report, the country’s economy is projected to grow by 7.5% during the current fiscal year, adding 1.5 million jobs nationwide during the past six months.
Experts opine that the growth expectations of Ethiopia for 2023 and 2024 are positive. The truce reached between Tigray rebels and the Federal government can be a new beginning for the Horn of the African country. The administration is rolling out a number of projects keeping in mind the need of the country to move up the value chain in industrial development, employment generation, exports, and above all creating a strong industrial base. The country is increasingly giving importance to the privatisation of its large utilities to induct greater dynamism and efficiency. Major areas that attracted investments in recent days are textiles. telecommunications and services sector.
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Importantly, Ethiopia managed to attract US$ 4.3 billion in FDI in 2021 and was ranked among the top FDI destinations in Africa in 2021 by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Of late, an IMF report has included Ethiopia, the second most populated country in Africa, after Nigeria, as one of the fastest-growing countries in the world.
