A serious epidemiological wave of malaria and diphtheria has gripped several southern regions of Algeria. Calls for help from citizens affected by these infectious diseases, faced with the neglect of the Algerian authorities, are increasing on social networks, while neighboring countries such as Mali and Tunisia should prepare for the resurgence of these infectious diseases. long fought by the World Health Organization (WHO) in Africa.
Over the past two months, the southern regions of Algeria have suffered an increase in cases of malaria and diphtheria, two diseases “officially” eradicated from this country according to data from the World Health Organization.
But the return of these infectious diseases which are wreaking havoc in sub-Saharan Africa has shaken the Algerian health system, already failing in the southern regions, left behind by the Algerian authorities.
Cases have increased exponentially since the end of August due to the inability of health authorities to provide the necessary care.
This situation led to the death of at least 40 people out of a total of 536 cases recorded, in the wilaya of In Guezzam, where Tinzaouatine, a border town with Mali, is the most affected, according to Algerian media sources.
According to Professor Kamel Sanhadji, the president of the National Health Security Agency (ANSS), at least 28 cases of deaths recorded in the Great South caused by the diphtheria epidemic (115 cases in total), 27 cases have were recorded in Tinzaouatine and a single case in In Guezzam this Monday.
“This epidemic is concomitant with malaria which spread during this favorable period marked by the last rains having caused stagnant water and the emergence of mosquitoes in the desert, knowing that diphtheria is a contagious disease, while malaria is not a contagious pathology, but transmissible by mosquitoes,” he declared on Algerian radio Channel 3, noting that the cases had been recorded in the border areas with Mali.
Faced with the lack of intervention from the Algerian authorities and the media blackout, the inhabitants of southern Algeria took turns to alert about the situation on social networks and emerge from their oblivion. Calls for help are increasing every day, so much so that the Minister of Health, Abdelhak Saihi, has been forced to break his silence.
On Monday, he chaired a coordination meeting at the ministry’s headquarters, devoted to examining the health situation in the wilayas having recorded cases of diphtheria and malaria and finally “ordered a generalized vaccination campaign in the wilayas affected in addition medical care,” indicate the Algerian media.
However, no action seems to follow, forcing nine local associations to launch an appeal to the Walid of the affected regions to intervene urgently.
The signatories explain that the malaria epidemic is due to the marshes which formed after the heavy rains which fell on the region during the month of September. Stagnant water has favored the proliferation of mosquitoes and other insects that transmit the disease.
In the commune of Timiaouine, the situation is “catastrophic in every sense of the word”, deplore representatives of civil society, indicating that the rooms and zaouïas of the locality are overwhelmed with sick people and the “deaths number in the dozens” , according to the Algerian information site TSA.
This situation could push neighboring countries such as Tunisia and Mali, in the coming days, to examine the option of closing borders to avoid the importation of cases and the outbreak of an epidemic.
Tunisian media began by raising the alert so that Tunisian authorities, particularly health authorities, could prepare for the scenario of importing cases of malaria and diphtheria into southern Tunisia.
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