Arboviral diseases: the emergence of a major yet ignored public health threat in Africa

The Emergence of Rift Valley Fever in Gedaref State Urges the Need for a Cross-Border One Health Strategy and Enforcement of the International Health Regulations

“…However, it is very likely that our study only identified the severe cases with haemorrhagic disease and missed the mild and/or asymptomatic infections, particularly because many cases are mild or asymptomatic and previous studies suggest that the actual prevalence of RVF is higher than that reported during epidemics [ 8 , 15 , 16 ]. There are many risk factors that might influence the emergence of arboviral diseases in Sudan, including climate change [ 1 , 7 ], conflicts [ 8 , 9 ], increased local and international human movements [ 10 ], as well as trade, unplanned urbanization, and socioeconomic status of the individuals and communities in general [ 17 , 18 , 19 ].…”

“…In 2019, Sudan witnessed two major unusual events related to arboviral diseases. The first was the massive outbreak of CHIKV infection with more than 47,000 cases largely reported from the two states, Red Sea and Kassala, and the neighbouring Gedaref state [ 3 , 7 ]. The second event was the occurrence of a unique outbreak of RVF north of the country, River Nile state, which unusually occurred before the rainy and typical transmission season of vector-borne diseases in the country [ 1 ].…”

“…In particular, the lack of proper documentation and reporting of health information, mainly during health emergencies and epidemics, is greatly compromising decision and policy making as well as misguiding healthcare providers [ 11 ]. This results in delays in the recognition and response to arboviral disease epidemics [ 1 , 3 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ].…”

“…Several parasitic diseases are endemic to Sudan such as malaria, leishmaniasis, and onchocerciasis [ 4 , 5 , 6 ]. More importantly, many major human and zoonotic arboviral diseases are also endemic to the country, with increasingly serious outbreaks, including chikungunya [ 7 ], dengue [ 8 ], West Nile (WN), Crimean–Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) [ 9 ], yellow fever and RVF [ 1 , 3 ]. Recent studies have highlighted the geographical expansion, increased rate and intensity of these outbreaks, and the overall change in the burden and epidemiologic features of these arboviral diseases in the country.…”

“…Recent studies have highlighted the geographical expansion, increased rate and intensity of these outbreaks, and the overall change in the burden and epidemiologic features of these arboviral diseases in the country. Furthermore, some of these changes were attributed to risk factors such as conflicts and high population dynamics between endemic disease areas and areas without endemic disease [ 1 , 8 , 9 , 10 ], climate change [ 1 , 7 ], globalization and unplanned urbanization [ 8 , 10 ], and the extremely limited diagnostic capacity and lack of practicable health policy for the prevention and control of arboviruses in the country [ 3 , 11 , 12 ].…”