Yaoundé, 1 September 2008 -- The fifty-eighth session of the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for Africa opened on Monday in Yaoundé, with a call by Cameroonian Prime Minister, Mr. Ephraim Inoni, for concerted action by African countries to enable them achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Opening the meeting, Mr. Inoni said that the complexity of the health challenge facing the Region called for “a real synergy of actions that cut across our respective borders.”

He urged ministers of health attending the meeting to pay particular attention to developing strong health systems and strengthening human and institutional capacity for health development.

In a wide-ranging address, WHO Director-General, Dr Margaret Chan reiterated her commitment to improving the health situation in Africa and called for good health leadership by countries so as to attract the support of the international community.

Dr Chan stressed the need for Member States to improve the efficiency of health services by integrating programmes, improve the quality of immunization campaigns, raise the profile of health and revitalize primary health care.

The Director-General also spoke of the re-emerging threat of polio and called on African governments to provide the leadership required to prevent a setback in the gains so far made in the global polio eradication effort.

In his speech, the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Luis Sambo, provided an overview of the activities and achievements of the Regional Office including the decentralization WHO operations in the Region and the strengthening of Country Offices.

He illustrated the successes achieved with measles: mortality due to the disease declined by 91 % between 2000 and 2006.

Dr Sambo informed the Ministers that in 2008, Member States adopted three declarations: the Ouagadougou Declaration on Primary Health Care, the Algiers Declaration on research for health and the Libreville Declaration on the health and the environment.

The representative of the African Union, Adv. Bience Gawanas, underlined the need for countries to step up their efforts in the fight particularly against HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, noncommunicable diseases well as emerging and re-emerging diseases including polio.

She said that it was imperative for countries to continue to use the primary health care approach, strengthen their health systems and prioritize traditional medicine which is used by more than 80 per cent of Africans.

In his remarks, the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General for malaria, Mr. Ray Chambers, said that the world now had the financial resources and the technology to stop deaths due to malaria.

He therefore called for the unwavering commitment of governments in the Region to help “bring morbidity and mortality from malaria down to zero”.

For further information, please contact:

Mr. Samuel T. Ajibola, ajibolas [at] afro.who.int tel: (+237) 74788877

Ms Flavienne Issembe issembef [at] afro.who.int tel: (+237) 74848362

Ms Joana Teixeira teixeiram [at] afro.who.int tel: (+237) 97445905

Ms Barbara Etoa, etoab [at] cm.afro.who.int tel: (+237) 74 72 18 09