Monrovia 10th November, 2016 - The Ministry of Health of Liberia held the 8th Joint Annual Health Sector Review Conference that reviewed the first year of implementation of the Investment Plan for Building a Resilient Health System (2015-2020).  The conference held at Paynesville City Hall in Monrovia from  7th to  9th November, 2016 run under the theme “Reflecting the Gains: Building a Resilient and Sustainable Health System in Liberia Post Ebola”.

South Africa’s Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), as part of the country’s October Transport Month, hosted the National Schools Road Safety Debate and Participatory Education Techniques (PETs) competitions finals from 03-07 October 2016. The competing participants were learners in grades 10 and 11 provincial finalists who are themselves at-risk on roads as pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, novice drivers, and passengers.

WHO has donated lifesaving medical supplies to three health sector partners responding to the emergency health needs of internally displaced people (IDPs) in Borno State, Nigeria.

Thirty-four Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) Managers from fifteen Anglophone countries attended a two weeks (10-21 October, 2016) WHO AFRO Mid-Level Managers Training Course in Pretoria, South Africa. Participants were trained on 16 revised WHO AFRO EPI modules.

The WHO 2016 sponsored CNN Multichoice Best African Health and Medical Journalism award has been won by Ms Veronica Narkwor-Kwabla, of Tv3 Network, Ghana, for her documentary Ebola Orphans.   According to the judging panel, her documentary filed from Liberia and Sierra Leone shone a light on some of the ostracized children who are seeking new families. The question she examined was how the two countries will recover from the crisis that crippled health care systems, families and businesses.

WHO and health partners helped vaccinate more than 10 000 children against measles in 2 days in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in the conflict-affected Borno State.

Since 6 June 2016, health clinics in IDP camps in Borno State have seen increasing numbers of measles cases. From early September until late October, 744 suspected cases of measles, and 2 deaths, were reported from WHO-established EWARS reporting sites. The majority of these children had never been vaccinated against measles and most of them were aged less than 5 years.

Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire), 9 November 2016 – The WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti and the President of the African Development Bank, Dr Akimwumi Adesina, have agreed on priority health programmes for potential future cooperation between the Bank and WHO.

Abuja, 08 November 2016 - The Honourable Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole launched the  National Malaria Indicator Survey (MIS) 2015 report in Abuja on 7 November, 2016. The survey was conducted by National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) in collaboration with National Population Council and National Bureau of Statistics, with technical support from ICF international, US Presidents Malaria Initiative, WHO and UKAid.

Maiduguri, 08 November, 2016 - The World Health Organization (WHO) and Borno state Ministry of Health are scaling-up Hard-to-Reach programme (HTR) with training of 36 health workers as part of teams to serve people in prioritized difficult to access areas in six local government areas (LGAs) in Borno State.

WHO and Borno State Ministry of Health have trained 89 participants including data collectors and rolled out data collection for Health Resources and Services Availability Mapping System (HeRAMS) in Borno targeting 360 health facilities.

As part of its efforts to control malaria in newly liberated areas, WHO has supported Borno State Ministry of Health to train 80 health workers including clinicians on the use of Rapid Diagnostic Kits (RDTs) and case management for malaria.