Namibia News

A United Nations delegation consisting of partners from the World Health Organization (WHO), UNESCO, UNICEF, UNFPA and UNAIDS under the flagship of the United Nations Partnership Framework (UNPAF) visited various UN supported projects in underserved communities in Windhoek.

The Ministry of Health and Social Service (MoHSS), with support from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Centre for Disease Control (CDC), and other partners has developed and launched the Hospital Quality Standards (HQS) in 2021 and will conclude in 2024 with accreditation of the selected hospitals.

Dr Kalumbi Shangula, The Minister of Health and Social Services (MoHSS), declared the end of the CCHF outbreak on 19 June 2023. The CCHF outbreak was reported in Gobabis District, Omaheke Region.  MoHSS notified WHO about the confirmed CCHF outbreak in Gobabis district on 21 May 2023. The confirmed case died on 18 May 2023. The outbreak was declared on 22 May 2023. Only one confirmed case was reported during the CCHF outbreak.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Representative and the Japanese Ambassador to Namibia visited the Ohangwena region on 30 March 2023 for a field trip to observe the progress made in addressing malnutrition. The delegation was led by the Deputy Minister of Health and Social Services, Dr Esther Muinjangue. 

The Japanese government through the office of the Ambassador injected approximately N$ 2,6 million into the Ministry of Health and Social Services to address malnutrition while the WHO provided the technical support to successfully implement the project.

In a special note on 7 April 2023, His Excellency, Dr Hage Geingob, President of the Republic of Namibia hailed global and national public health achievements of over the past 75 years, attributing this to effective partnership between governments and the World Health Organization. He referred to the groundbreaking work on COVID-19 vaccine development which aided governments in the COVID-19 pandemic control and drastically reduced the number of deaths and new infections globally.

As we commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the World Health Organization (WHO) on 7 April 2023 under the theme of The 2023 World Health Day  "Health for all" , we pause to take stock of public health milestones. We also pause to take stock of current and future challenges, and the need to collectively ensure that the most vulnerable and furthest behind have access to quality, essential health care services.   

WHO Namibia supported the Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN) seminar on mental health to raise awareness on mental health promotion and suicide prevention amongst the church and community leaders and mobilize efforts in support of mental health care at community level.  The seminar with church leaders, lay counselors and youth leaders was held on 15 and 16 November as part of the World Mental Health Day commemoration.   

WHO Namibia with support from the Regional Office in Africa trained 45 school staff, nurses, and school board members from schools in the Oshana region as part of the SURGE flagship programme. The aim of the training was to increase capacity of schools to implement the health promoting school initiative and prepare better to minimize impact of health outbreaks and other public health events on schools.

Namibia joined the rest of the world in commemorating World Diabetes Day on 14 November under the theme “Access to diabetes care” which highlight the importance of prevention and response efforts.

The Ministry of Health and Social Services with support from WHO, trained national and regional risk communication and community engagement pillar members on Infodemic management. The spread of the COVD-19 pandemic has been followed by unprecedented and repeated waves of misinformation and disinformation generating what has been defined as an Infodemic. This overabundance of misleading information has been amplified by social media and affected the deployment of public health responses, generating fear and anxiety in local populations about preventive measures and vaccination campaigns.