Via ReliefWeb, OCHA has published Latin America & the Caribbean: Weekly Situation Update (29 July-5 August 2019) - As of 5 August 2019. Excerpt:
CENTRAL AMERICA: DENGUE OUTBREAKS
KEY FIGURES
42.3K CASES OF DENGUE IN HONDURAS THROUGH EPIDEMIOLOGICAL WEEK 30
608 NEW CASES OF DENGUE IN GUATEMALA EACH WEEK
2.2K HOSPITALIZATIONS OVER DENGUE IN EL SALVADOR
441 CASES OF DENGUE FOR EVERY 100,000 INHABITANTS IN NICARAGUA, THE HIGHEST RATE IN CENTRAL AMERICA
HONDURAS
On orders of the Ministry of Health, all 1,606 health centers in Honduras are to stay open until 7:00pm, which should allow them to take the burden off public hospitals, nearly all of which are currently overrun with dengue cases.
The Ministry also reports that they will open 15 Dengue Attention Clinics (CAD) within existing facilities, with two in the national capital of Tegucigalpa and two more in San Pedro Sula in northern Honduras. The CAD facilities will hire additional personnel to provide 24 hour service.
Through epidemiological week (EW) 30, Honduras has accumulated 42,346 cases, with 9,793 cases of severe dengue and 156 total deaths.
GUATEMALA
Guatemala’s Ministry of Health formally declared a red epidemiological alert for dengue, allowing public health services to maintain permanent services for registration, notification, surveillance, weekly trend analysis and prevention campaigns until further notice.
Health officials in Guatemala are concerned that water collection in drought-affected areas may become mosquito breeding sites
According to the Ministry’s bulletin for epidemiological week 27, Guatemala is witnessing as many as 608 new cases each week. The Ministry’s head of epidemiology warns that the total number of cases may soon surpass 9,000, especially with Guatemala’s ongoing rainy season potentially leading to more disease-carrying mosquitos.
EL SALVADOR
Through 27 July, El Salvador has seen 10,316 suspected cases of dengue, 2,241 hospitalizations and 10 deaths. Although El Salvador’s health system has yet to declare any alert, they are coordinating with Civil Protection.
PAHO/WHO is providing technical support for the Ministry of Health and supporting with virology diagnostic supplies for dengue, chikungunya and Zika, patient management guidelines and epidemiological analysis. Oxfam is supporting municipal authorities with fumigation campaigns and WASH supplies in schools. Save the Children is supporting 11 municipalities with existing Zika programs.
NICARAGUA
According to the Ministry of Health, there are 55,289 suspected cases of dengue in Nicaragua through epidemiological week (EW) 30, a 138 per cent increase from EW 30 2018. The Ministry declared an alert on 30 July that will scale up prevention and attention actions until November.
According to PAHO/WHO, Nicaragua trails only Brazil in incidence of dengue cases, with 441 cases for every 100,000 inhabitants. Despite the high frequency of cases, Nicaragua has the lowest mortality rate in the region, with only eight deaths.