Abuja, 11 May 2017- Wary of the threats of increased incidence of malaria cases in the northeast region of Nigeria, the World Health Organization (WHO) is leaving no stone unturned in scaling up interventions in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states as the rainy season sets in. The three states are those mostly affected by insurgency, which has led to significant displacement of people and left the affected states’ health system and social infrastructure weakened. 

12 May - Mbabane: The Kingdom of Swaziland joined the rest of Africa in commemorating the 7th Africa Vaccination Week (AVW) under the theme “Vaccines Protect Everyone, Get Vaccinated”. The week long commemoration was launched by the Honourable Minister of Health, Senator Sibongile Ndlela-Simelane represented by the Deputy Director of Health Services, Ms Rejoice Nkambule. The launch was held in Hosea Inkhundla, a “hard to reach” area in the Shiselweni Region.

Calabar, 10 May 2017- The World Health Organization (WHO) and other development partners are calling for the reinforcement  of global best practices in the training and recruitment of midwives across Nigeria to fast-track efforts aimed at reducing maternal and newborn mortality.

Uganda is hosting a five-day Outbreak Response Simulation Exercise Management Training with support from the World Health Organization (WHO). The course, designed for staff of the Ministries of Health and WHO country offices is aimed at building their capacity to prepare for and effectively respond to public health emergencies. 

The Minister of Public Health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Dr Oly Ilunga Kalenga, has informed the World Health Organization (WHO) of “an outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD)” in Likati health district (Aketi, Bas-Uélé province), more than 1300 kilometres from Kinshasa in the northern DRC, following confirmation of the disease by the National Biomedical Research Institute (INRB), the national reference laboratory.

The Ministry of Health and Sanitation is in the process of migrating disease surveillance reporting from a cumbersome paper-based system to a web-based electronic platform (e-IDSR) for real-time information flows. The process is part of the revitalisation of disease surveillance and response in Sierra Leone supported by WHO in partnership with the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and e-Health Africa.

Eritrea joined the world celebrating World Health Day 2017. It was commemorated with lots of enthusiasm at national level at St. Mary Psychiatric Hospital under the theme “Depression, let’s talk” The highly participated event was observed for the 22nd times at national level and for the 68th at international level.

The Government of Seychelles has welcomed the arrival of the new World Health Organisation Liaison Officer (WLO), Dr. Bhupinder Aulakh into office.  On her arrival into office, accompanied by the outgoing acting WLO Dr Humphrey Karamagi, Dr Aulakh paid a courtesy call to the Minister of Health and Senior Management on April 18th.

It was the Minister of Health Honorable Jean-Paul Adam who officially welcomed Dr Aulakh into office, expressing the gratitude of the Government of Seychelles to the continuous technical and financial support provided by the organisation. 

Four World Health Organisation (WHO) Consultants from the WHO Inter-country Support Team for East and Southern Africa (IST-ESA), Headquarters and Kenya and Zimbabwe Country offices were in the country recently to assist with the conduct of the country’s Comprehensive Immunization program integrated with in-depth Surveillance review.

In adherence to WHO standards, all countries are expected to carry out such a review every 5 years as a way to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the EPI programme.

Today the Government of Sierra Leone and its partners launched a new five-year Strategy for Human Resources for Health (2017-2021). By guiding investments in the health workforce, the Strategy will support the country to improve the quality of health services and ensure it is better placed to respond to current and emerging health needs.