Yaoundé, 28 August 2008 -- The fifty-eighth session of the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for Africa is scheduled to take place from 1 to 5 September in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

This year’s meeting of the Regional Committee, WHO’s Governing Body in the African Region, will take place in the context of change and reform, initiated by Dr Luis Sambo, since he was elected to the post of Regional Director four years ago.

At the meeting, Dr Sambo will present his biennial report for 2006-2007, highlighting successes achieved and challenges faced in the pursuit of the Organization’s mandate of helping to improve the health situation in the 46 Member States of the Region.

High on the agenda of this year’s meeting are proposed actions to improve the health of women and curb the harmful use of alcohol in the Region; a strategy for cancer prevention and control; a progress report on accelerating HIV prevention and polio eradication, and proposals for eliminating iodine deficiency disorder.

Other agenda items are proposals for strengthening laboratories which are key to disease detection, and suggestions for implementing an Oral Health strategy adopted by Member States in 1998.

During the meeting, panel discussions will be organized at which delegates will share best-practices in reducing maternal mortality; scaling up HIV prevention, treatment and care; improving immunization coverage, and scaling up interventions for malaria prevention and control in the Region.

For further information, please contact:

Mr. Gopaul Devendre, gopauld [at] afro.who.int tel: +47 241 39416

Mr. Samuel T. Ajibola, ajibolas [at] afro.who.int tel: +47 231 39378

Mrs Barbara Etoa, etoab [at] cm.afro.who.int tel: + 47 241 33638;

(237) 22 21 02 58 / 22 21 02 58/ 22 21 20 80/ 22 21 20 81

Mobile: + 237 99 97 53 72 and +237 74 72 18 09