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Health Emergencies Newsletter
Issue No.17: 22.12.2022
TOP STORY
Joint statement by Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides, WHO Regional Director for Europe Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge and Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control Dr Andrea Ammon
The 2022-2023 influenza (flu) season epidemic is off to an early start in the European region as concerns over Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) rise and COVID-19 is still being a threat.
The region is currently experiencing increasing circulation of influenza and RSV. Together with COVID-19, these viruses are expected to have a high impact on our health services and populations this winter. This highlights how important it is for vulnerable groups to get vaccinated against influenza and COVID-19 as well as for everyone to protect themselves and others from infections
MPOX (MONKEYPOX)
As the mpox (monkeypox) outbreak continues to unfold, the importance of effective strategies to guard against and respond to stigma and discrimination is increasingly clear. It is against this backdrop that the WHO recently released its latest public health document, which provides information on the potential impact of stigma and recommends language and actions to counter stigmatizing attitudes and discriminatory behaviours and policies.
Health services and facilities in Ukraine have been severely disrupted and damaged due to attacks following the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine 9 months ago.
WHO-supported emergency medical teams (EMTs), working under the auspices of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and the Center for Disaster Medicine, have been deployed to provide acute trauma care and primary health care to populations in newly regained regions including Kharkiv, Kherson and Mykolaiv. The EMTs include a doctor, 2 nurses, a traumatologist and a driver, and have been fully trained and equipped with medications, consumables and armoured vehicles to respond to health needs.
A WHO supported roadmap on mental health and psychosocial support of populations in Ukraine during and beyond the war has been presented and endorsed at a high-level meeting chaired by the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Denys Shmyhal, and attended by the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska.
The operational roadmap entitled “Ukrainian Prioritized Multisectoral Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Actions During and After the War” sets out priority actions and principles in the field of mental health and psychosocial support in different sectors – including health, social work and education. It presents priority actions aimed at various population groups including veterans and their families, internally displaced people, people with disabilities, people who have experienced gender-based violence, people who have suffered from landmines and other groups.
As winter begins in earnest, people in many parts of Ukraine are facing the prospect of a bitter season without heating, power or running water. With temperatures in some parts of the country due to plummet to -20 ˚C, and thousands of homes and buildings badly damaged by shelling, leaving is the only option for millions of people if they are to survive the coming months.
On a recent visit to Ukraine, Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, warned of the challenges to public health: “We expect 2–3 million more people to leave their homes in search of warmth and safety. They will face unique health challenges, including respiratory infections such as COVID-19, pneumonia and influenza, and the serious risk of diphtheria and measles in under-vaccinated populations”.
The WHO Country Office in Ukraine has trained more than 300 health-care workers from over 60 health facilities on infection prevention and control (IPC) measures aimed at reducing the number of health-care associated infections, following the Russian Federation invasion of Ukraine.
Participants included IPC specialists, epidemiologists, anaesthesiologists and surgeons from 10 regions of Ukraine. The training aimed to equip them with tools to reduce infections including ventilator-associated pneumonia, catheter-associated bloodstream and urinary tract infections, and surgical site infections.
As we enter the 4th year of the Pandemic, what do we know about Omicron so far? Are there settings where you are more at risk? What does it mean to live with COVID-19?
Dr Maria Van Kerkhove explains in Science in 5.
Health authorities in Denmark started rolling out the 2022/2023 seasonal influenza vaccine programme in October 2022. Many centres, like the Baldersgade Vaccination Centre in Copenhagen, are offering 2 or 3 vaccines to eligible people at the same time – influenza, COVID-19 and pneumococcal vaccines – this autumn and winter. An mpox (monkeypox) vaccine is also available at the Centre for people who need it.
Nearly 3000 people get vaccinated in Copenhagen every day. These testimonies and photos from the Centre show some of the city’s health workers getting ready for a busy winter season amid concerns of a surge in COVID-19 and influenza.
The European Union’s Health Emergency Preparedness Authority (HERA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) initiated a new partnership with a € 15 million allocation under the EU4Health programme to boost capacities at national, regional, and global levels for better preparedness for and response to health emergencies.
In October 2022, Albania launched its annual influenza vaccination campaign, prioritizing the most at-risk groups. So far, 270 000 doses of influenza vaccine have arrived in Albania and are being distributed to health centres across the country. The vaccine is being provided free of charge to all who are eligible to receive it, and those most at risk are also being offered a COVID-19 booster at the same time. Albania is expecting to administer around 700 000 doses of the new bivalent COVID-19 vaccines, adapted to boost protection against severe disease caused by the latest variants of the virus.
Roy lives in the town of Rosmalen, near the city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands. Two years ago, he was a fit and healthy 26-year-old, with everything going right for him. Happily living with his girlfriend, he had just completed his nursing degree and was doing a job he loved, working as an ambulance paramedic. But everything changed in March 2020 when he caught COVID-19.
Invasive Group A Streptococcal (iGAS) disease
A number of European countries (including France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom) have indicated an increase in 2022, particularly since September, in the number of cases of invasive Group A streptococcal (iGAS) disease among children under 10 years of age.
During the same period, several deaths associated with iGAS disease in children under 10 have also been reported, including from France, Ireland, Spain and the United Kingdom. In France and the United Kingdom, the number of iGAS cases observed in children has been several-fold higher than pre-pandemic levels for the equivalent period of time.
WHO PUBLICATIONS
MONKEYPOX
Joint ECDC-WHO Regional Office for Europe Monkeypox Surveillance Bulletin -
7 December 2022
Multi-country outbreak of mpox, External situation report - 14 December 2022
WHO Emergency Appeal: Monkeypox - July 2022 - June 2023
UKRAINE EMERGENCY
War in Ukraine: situation report from WHO Ukraine country office - 30 November 2022
COVID-19
Weekly epidemiological update on COVID-19: 14 December 2022
COVID-19 vaccine tracker and landscape - 13 December 2022
COVID-19 Vaccine Implementation Analysis & Insights - 9 December 2022
