The Eastern and Southern Africa region has been impacted by simultaneous disease outbreaks, including yellow fever, cholera and Acute Watery Diarrhea (AWD), measles, and chikungunya. On top of this, spikes in malaria cases are reported in Burundi, South Sudan and eastern DRC.

Of all the outbreaks, AWD and cholera are of biggest concern, and there are over 60,000 suspected cases in the region to date, with active transmission ongoing in Kenya, Tanzania, DRC, Zambia, Ethiopia and Somalia. And Yellow Fever also continues to be a continental threat, with Angola facing the largest outbreak in recent history with 3,552 suspected cases by May 30. In DRC, the Government declared an epidemic in three provinces with 1,339 suspected cases.

To contain the Yellow Fever outbreak, over 18 million vaccines have been delivered to date in Angola and DRC. A follow-up vaccination campaign targeting 6-7 million people on the border of Angola and DRC with full doses and 10 million people in Kinshasa with 1/5 doses is planned.

‘Although significant gains were made, vaccination campaigns need to be accelerated in places with high density or movement of people. Lack of funding and delays in the deployment of Portuguese speaking staff are hindering the scaling-up of the response. WHO has also warned that the global stockpile of vaccines may not be sufficient if simultaneous outbreaks hit densely populated areas,’ an August 15 release by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA), in East and Southern Africa signed off by Pete Manfield, states in part.

Meanwhile, the Somali cluster is facing concurrent Chikungunya, Dengue Cholera/AWD and Measles outbreaks. The impact of these diseases is compounded by high multi-dimensional poverty, food insecurity and high malnutrition levels, displacement, conflict, lack of clean drinking water and weak social services.

The governments, together with humanitarian partners, have been able to significantly reduce the number of cases of Chikungunya and Cholera in recent weeks, with cases in Mandera decreasing from 70 to two and 129 to zero Chikungunya cases.

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South Sudan’s government has decided to refer the UN Security Council resolution for the deployment of a strong regional protection force in the country to the cabinet and parliament for deliberation, according to the government’s spokesman.

This comes after an expanded consultative meeting chaired by President Salva Kiir in the presence of his two deputies in reaction to the UN decision to send 4,000 regional troops to Juba despite the government’s rejection.

Michael Makuei Lueth, Information Minister, announced that the consultative meeting resolved to refer the UN document to the cabinet and then to the parliament for further discussions.

“After lengthy deliberation on the document, it is clear that this document has some pros and cons” said Makuei. “And as such, it is decided that this process should be taken to the executive and then to the parliament so that it becomes a public and a clear stand and position taken by the whole government, “he added.

Makuei pointed out that the expanded consultative meeting was attended by ministers, deputy ministers, presidential advisers, chairpersons of commissions, and speakers of the two houses, as well as heads of the parliamentary committees.

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The Inter-governmental Authority on Development, IGAD, says the Somalia-based militant group al-Shabab is actively plotting attacks in countries throughout the region including Uganda.

According to IGAD, the militant group has expanded and formed special military wings dedicated to carrying out attacks in Kenya and even in Ethiopia.

In a 53-page report, titled ‘Al-Shabab as a Transnational Security Threat’, IGAD says that although al-Shabab’s main bases remain in Somalia, its ‘identity and aspirations’ have shifted and transformed the group into a ‘transnational organization’ with membership from across East Africa.

IGAD says the death of the group’s leader had ‘little effect’ on the group’s operations and its capability to attack.

IGAD says it was the former leader, Ahmed Abdi Godane, who formed two military wings: Jaysh Ayman, which is tasked to carry out attacks in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania and Jaysh al-Usra, created to carry out attacks in Ethiopia.

The existence of a unit dedicated to planning attacks in Ethiopia is relatively new, but IGAD says it has so far had little success. It says the group planned to attack a football (soccer) stadium during a World Cup qualifying match in Addis Ababa in 2013, but the plotters accidentally blew themselves up. A second plot to attack Ethiopia was also foiled by that country’s security forces.

IGAD urges regional countries to take ‘specific’ measures to counter the threat from al-Shabab inside Somalia and regionally.

The steps include sharing information, forming joint analytical teams and the formation of joint units to investigate al-Shabab-related threats. IGAD says information among governments has been erratic and is generally perceived to be inadequate’.

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