Namibia News

 “I was the first person to get vaccinated in this entire village.” These are the words of Hompa (Chief) Alfons Kaundu of the Mbunza Traditional Authority in Kavango West, who met with a team from WHO Namibia in Sigone village to reflect on COVID-19 in the region.

Ever wondered how much will it cost a laboratory to implement routine genomics activities annually? Or how a laboratory can get the best value for money for its genomics activities? Or how a laboratory can budget for a scale-up of its genomics activities?

Public health emergencies (PHEs) arising from epidemic, pandemic prone diseases and other PHEs continue to be major concern in Member States of the WHO African Region which threaten national, regional, and global public health security. A Public Health Emergency Operations Center (PHEOC) serves as a hub for coordinating the preparation for and response to PHEs.

Namibia maintained its polio free status for the past 15 years, however, the country remains at risk given the reported polio cases in its neighboring countries. Surveillance for AFP is a key strategy together with immunization against polio and engaging clinicians with emphasis on AFP in the countries journey to eradicate polio.

The Namibian government’s commitment to improving public health efforts in the last 33 years has yielded positive outcomes resulting in an increase in the country’s life expectancy by 12 years since 2001.

Over 100 million people worldwide have been forced to flee their home countries due to conflict, violence, and persecution.

Mrs Regina Diergaardt, school principal of the Gobabis Primary School, shares the story of how her school has remained a health promoting school through the years despite numerous challenges.  

Unless our public health policy, programmes and systems integrate gender, equity, and human rights, realizing the vision of sustainable development goals will be far-fetched. Gender equality must be addressed in its own right and as a catalyst of progress across the SDGs.

Omaheke Region is known for its agricultural potential especially in cattle raring, but its increasingly becoming popular for its milestone achievement in the Health Promoting School Initiative being the only region that has embraced this initiative in all its 47 schools.

Childhood is meant to be a time of joy, growth, and development, free from violence, abuse, and exploitation. This is however not the case for over 39.6% of Namibian girls and 45.0% of Namibian boys experiencing physical, sexual, or emotional violence in their childhood according to the 2019 Violence against Children and Youth Survey.