The WHO Regional Office for Africa is assessing preparedness for Lassa fever, a viral haemorrhagic illness, in several West African countries in the wake of outbreaks in Nigeria.

In 2018 Nigeria faced the largest ever documented outbreak of Lassa Fever, with 618 confirmed cases and 190 deaths over the year from January to December.

Lassa fever has since been observed in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Togo. Cases and deaths were reported in Benin (15 confirmed cases with 8 deaths), Liberia (28 confirmed cases with 14 deaths) and Sierra Leone (23 confirmed cases with 14 deaths). Since the beginning of January 2019, 947 suspected cases have already been reported in the region, with 324 confirmed positive.

In September 2018, Nigeria developed a contingency plan for Lassa Fever with the support of WHO and this same process is currently taking place in the surrounding at-risk countries. The WHO Regional Office for Africa has assessed the state of readiness for Lassa fever response in the countries neighbouring Nigeria with the aim of identifying the response capacities needing reinforcement in specific countries.

Based on this risk assessment WHO identified two groups of countries to facilitate the implementation of readiness actions, criteria such as presence of Lassa fever cases, either actual or in past, and proximity to the infectious vector and its potential for dispersion. Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone are in the first group, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Niger and Togo in group two.

 The WHO developed a consolidated checklist for the eight countries identified as being at risk, with sections covering WHO Country Office leadership and strategic planning, WHO Country Office and Ministry of Health coordination, Health services delivery and case management, surveillance and laboratories, points of entry, and risk communication, community engagement and logistics and procurement. The use of this checklist will allow to track the implementation of Lassa Fever preparedness activities.