31 January 2017, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – Today, Heads of State from across Africa adopted a Declaration on Universal Access to Immunization in Africa, in which they endorsed the Addis Declaration on Immunization, a historic and timely pledge to ensure that everyone in Africa – regardless of who they are or where they live – receives the full benefits of immunization. The endorsement was issued during the 28th African Union (AU) Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The Director General of Health services in Ministry of Health (MoH), Uganda, Prof. Anthony Mbonye recently launched the National HIV Testing services policy and implementation guidelines that would enable Uganda reduce by half the number of HIV infected individuals and at the same time increase those who know their status.

The national measles vaccination campaign commenced on the 13th January targeting all children aged from 6 months to 10 years in accessible areas in Borno State has reached a total of 1,807,490 in 10 LGAs during the first 5 days of the campaign.

The national measles vaccination campaign commenced on the 13th January targeting all children aged from 6 months to 10 years in accessible areas in Borno State has reached a total of 1,807,490 in 10 LGAs during the first 5 days of the campaign.

Dozens of people were killed after a Nigerian military plane mistakenly dropped a bomb inside the Rann IDP camp in Kale/Balge LGA. Several ICRC and MSF colleagues were reported as casualties.

Lusaka, 25 January 2017 - The WHO Country Office in Zambia is conducting the last in the series of workshops aimed at orienting senior managerial, finance and technical staff of the Ministry of Health on WHO’s business rules from 19 - 27 January 2017.

Murewa, 25 January 2017 - WCO/Zimbabwe’s  3rd generation Country Cooperation Strategy (CCS 2016-2020)  was concurrently launched with the National Health Strategy (NHS 2016-2020)  at a huge event held at Murewa District Hospital.  The joint and colorful function,  was attended by many players in health – including senior Government officials, parliamentarians, civil society organizations and members of the local communities in Murewa District; as well as health development partners and donors.

Uganda launched a vaccination campaign against Meningococcal Meningitis type A, under the theme “It’s free, safe, and effective” at Lalogi grounds, Omoro district.  The campaign intended to reduce morbidity, mortality and disability due to meningitis was launched by Uganda’s health minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng in the presence of local and national leaders including the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Right Hon. Mr. Jacob Oulanya.

20 January 2017, Juba, South Sudan – Public health laboratories are a critical component of communicable disease detection, prevention, and control. However, access to reliable laboratory testing remains limited in in sub-Saharan African countries including South Sudan.

For efficient and improved quality of laboratory service delivery, WHO South Sudan supported the Ministry of Health to harmonize and strengthen the capacity of the laboratory personnel on basic and advanced laboratory diagnostic techniques from 16 to 20 January 2017.

Abuja, 19 January 2017 - Experts are calling on government to galvanize partnerships aimed at reaching children in inaccessible areas, having identified that Nigeria’s polio resurgence in August 2016 was largely due to insecurity in northeastern Nigeria and waning political commitment. Their collective agreement hinged on the firm belief that interrupting transmission of polio requires processes focused on reaching children in inaccessible areas, providing timely and adequate resources.

18 January 2017, Juba, South Sudan – WHO South Sudan in partnership with the MoH, UNICEF and other partners including state directors general for health and Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) officers of all states, gathered from 17 to 21 January 2017 at Juba Grand Hotel to plan on how to reach 2.3 million persons with measles vaccines in the face of a difficult operating environment.