Africa Continues To Strengthen Capacity To Deal With A/ H1N1

African countries, with the support of WHO and other development partners, are continuously strengthening their general capacity to deal with cases of Influenza A/ H1N1 virus if an outbreak occurs in the region.

A press release issued by the World Health Organization stated that all countries in the region now have in place revised or updated contingency and emergency preparedness and response plans. All have also set up A/H1N1 emergency or crisis Management committees or commissions or task forces, and all are enhancing surveillance to enable early detection, laboratory confirmation of cases and rapid response.

The reports from member States, indicate that as at 14 May, all countries in the region had taken delivery of personal protective equipment (PPE), also more than one Million doses of Tamiflu  had been delivered to 42 out of the 46 Member States.

The remaining four countries are expected to  take delivery of 14,000 doses of Tamiflu.

Shipments of the PPE and Tamiflu to countries were made by both the Africa Regional office of WHO and WHO headquarters.

The release added that some quantities of both items were also delivered to the WHO Inter Country support team's base in Harare, Libreville and Ouagadougou which have set up crisis Management committees to support countries in their areas of coverage.