The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa hosted its first virtual ‘hackathon’ bringing together 100 leading innovators from across sub-Saharan Africa in a bid to pioneer creative local solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic and address critical gaps in the regional response.
Read moreMaiduguri, 21 March, 2020 - Following concerted partners’ response, led by the World Health Organization, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Salihu Kwayabura has declared an end of Lassa fever outbreak in Borno State. The …
Read moreMore than 600 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in 34 countries in Africa as of 19 March, compared with 147 cases one week ago. Although the region has seen a significant increase in confirmed cases recently, there are still fewer cases than in other parts of the world.
Read moreWhen the Kenyan Government announced the country’s first case of COVID-19, clinician Jackson Njoroge was already hard at work. He and his colleagues from the Kenyan Ministry of Health’s Rapid Response Team had already drawn up a list of people who might have come into contact with the first patient. Now they were rushing to find them. His mission was to find another passenger from the flight that had brought Kenya’s case into the country. The World Health Organization (WHO) has already helped train 1,500 Kenyan health workers in various health facilities to prepare for just this situation. With the announcement, the country’s government and WHO Office shifted from a state of readiness to response mode.
Read moreThe African region completes a critical step towards wild polio eradication as the independent commission to decide on the African Region’s wild poliovirus-free status has concluded its final field visit to Nigeria today, after conducting critical analysis to verify the documentation presented by the Nigerian Government.
Read moreThe World Health Organization (WHO) officially designated COVID-19 a pandemic on 11 March 2020. There are now 147 confirmed cases in Africa in 15 countries, and there have been four COVID-19-related deaths.
Read moreLeaning over desks with hands-free headsets hugging veils or bare heads, a team of doctors answers seemingly endless phone calls. Hundreds of worried callers ring every day to seek advice on how to stay safe, understand the symptoms or find out if the flu they are battling is indeed the new COVID-19.
Read moreThe Ministry of Public Health in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reported the country’s first case of COVID-19. Health authorities said tests found that a Congolese national, who had recently returned to Kinshasa from his residence in France had tested positive for the virus.
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