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As part of the South African Government’s commitment for ensuring Universal Health Coverage (UHC), draft National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill was recently passed by the cabinet; the goal of the bill is to facilitate health systems and financing reforms towards enhanced access to quality health services without financial hardship in the country. As a demonstration of the highest level political leadership for UHC, the President of South Africa hosted the ‘Presidential Health Summit’ on the 19th and 20th October 2018 in Johannesburg. The purpose of the Summit was to engage with stakeholders to deliberate on the challenges in the health sector and to collectively define the roadmap for South Africa’s journey towards UHC with the NHI as entry point.

Ministers, officials and health experts from across Africa, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations met to push forward action to halt the damaging effects of artisanal and small scale gold mining on human health and the environment today (6 November).

He smiled and giggled with glitter. Riziki and Juma had eagerly looked forward to meeting their first baby - so when he was born, everything stopped. At least for a few days.

Aiming to identify emerging environmental threats to people’s health and agree on a strategic action plan for the region, African Ministers of health and environment will meet for the Third Interministerial Conference on Health and Environment from 6 to 9 November in Libreville, Gabon. The conference jointly organized by the government of Gabon, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Environment will discuss how to turn health and environmental policies into action.

The beginning of November in Dakar, Senegal, marks the end of the rainy season and the start of the peak in air pollution levels that the dry season brings. While August and September are the best months for breathing in the city, the pollution levels from December to March are, on average, above recommended safety levels.