Seychelles News

African Ministers of Health of Small Island Developing States meet to tackle health development issues.

Victoria, Mahe , 23 October 2006 -- Five African Small Island Developing States (SIDS) began a meeting Monday in Mahe , Seychelles, to take stock of their health status and find ways of improving the health of their populations.

The theme for this year’s World Blood Donation Day was “Safe blood for saving mothers”, placing emphasis on increasing awareness about the importance of timely access to safe blood and blood products to prevent maternal deaths. For this occasion, the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the WHO Country office organised a ceremony and reception to thank all blood donors in the country. The highlight of the ceremony was the handing over of a blood donation van by WHO Liaison Officer Dr. Cornelia Atsyor, to the Chief Executive Officer of the Health Care Agency, Dr Suresh Menon.

In response to the call in the Rio Political Declaration on Social Determinants of Health (2011) and the Strategy for addressing the key determinants of Health in the African Region (2010) for Member States to produce evidence-based research on health inequalities, the Government of Seychelles with financial assistance from the World Health commissioned the study to identify social and economic factors which disadvantage certain population groups from realizing their potential life years.

Seychelles commemorated World Health Day under the theme, “How safe is your food? From farm to plate – make food safe!” in various events across the country.

Victoria, Seychelles, 15th April 2015 - “The outcome of the effective vaccine management assessment has indicated marked improvement in the performance of Seychelles’ vaccine management systems and procedures currently in place”.

Victoria, Seychelles, 15th April 2015 - The Seychelles has embarked on a national mapping survey for Soil Transmitted Helminthes (STH) or otherwise known as intestinal worm infections. Funded by the World Health Organisation (WHO), this initiative is part of the global 2020 Neglected Tropical Disease Goals aimed at accelerating work in all countries to overcome the global impact of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

Victoria, Seychelles, 15th April 2015 - Seychelles has a concentrated epidemic of HIV. This means that though the prevalence is less than 1% in the general population, some special population have high incidence rates.

So much is therefore being done to try to prevent and even reduce the cases of HIV and AIDS amongst the whole population as well as targeting high risk groups such as men who have sex with men, sex workers, intravenous drug users, migrant workers and adolescents.

Under the theme ‘Vaccination: A gift for life’, Seychelles joined the rest of the African region to celebrate African Vac-cination Week from the 24th to 30th April 2015. This year’s commemoration in the Seychelles focused more on raising awareness and reinforcing immunisation health messages to various target groups, with the objective of further strengthening immunization programmes and coverage in the country.

The Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative, aims to ensure that maternity facilities become centres to protect, promote & support breastfeeding. The initiative has measurable and proven impact, increasing the likelihood of babies being exclusively breastfed for the first six months.

Victoria, Seychelles, 20 January 2016 -- The Minister of Health (MOH) signed the biennial plan of work for the period 2016 – 2017 at a media event held on Friday 16th January 2017. The plan was formally approved by Minister Mitcy Larue in the presence of senior Ministry of Health officials and the media, following the endorsement of the plan by the Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti. The signed plan was handed over by the Minister of Health on behalf of the Government of Seychelles to the World Health Organization acting WHO Liaison Officer for Seychelles Dr.