DRC has, from early 2016 to September, registered a cumulative total of 18.252 suspected cholera cases, of which 516 deaths (fatality rate of 2.8%) throughout the country, particularly in the Equateur, Kinshasa, Upper-Lomami, Upper-Katanga, Maï-Ndombe, Mongala, North-Kivu, Tshopo and South-Kivu Provinces. WHO and its partners are supporting the efforts of the Ministry of Health (MOH) to quickly bring the epidemic under control.

BRAZZAVILLE, 6 September 2016 – The largest emergency vaccination campaign against yellow fever ever attempted in Africa, came to an end on 5 September 2016 with more than 10.6 million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) vaccinated against the lethal disease.

The World Health Organization (WHO), Global Fund together with partners and in collaboration with Makerere University supported the Ministry of Health National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Program (MOH/NTLP) to conduct the National Tuberculosis (TB) prevalence survey.  The goal of the survey was to enable the NTLP to gain a better understanding of the burden of TB so as to identify ways of improving TB control in the country.

World Breast feeding week was observed in The Gambia, from 1st to 7th August 2015. The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOH&SW), through the National Nutrition Agency (NaNA), in collaboration with WHO, UNICEF and other partners came up with activities to sensitize the public especially so, employers and their women employees on the importance attached to breastfeeding.

This year, WHO is encouraging people to “Support mums to breastfeed anytime, anywhere,” as all of society has a role to play in making our communities more breastfeeding-friendly.

Brazzaville, 2 September, 2016 – A toolkit aimed at helping both health and non-health professionals to better address the root causes of what makes people sick or healthy has been launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the African Region.

The World Health Organization Country Office in Uganda and the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) convened to discuss the proposed CDC-WHO Cooperative Agreement (CoAg) on Health information architecture and interoperable standards for public health surveillance of Ebola and other highly infectious diseases. The meeting took place at the WHO country office in Uganda.

2nd September, 2016 - The Liberia Ministry of Health with support from the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO) dedicated the “Dr Walter T. Gwenigale Electronic Library” at Phebe Regional Hospital. The Library which is a training resource will facilitate easy access to real time information by health workers. Improving access to health information will contribute towards building a fit-for-purpose health workforce which is a key priority of the Liberia Investment Plan to Building a Resilient Health System.

The World Health Organization Regional Office in Africa (WHO AFRO) and United Nations Children’s Education fund (UNICEF) together convened a workshop to orient 14 Anglophone countries on theNew Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in responding to a Poliovirus event or outbreak, at the Common Wealth Resort Hotel in Munyonyo, Kampala.

Makanza (Equateur), 30 August 2016. To halt the spread of epidemic cholera outbreaks in Equateur province, the local authorities are getting support from WHO in their efforts to control the present epidemic in health districts where a large number of cholera cases have been recorded in the last few weeks.

This issue focuses on yellow fever, cholera, the humanitarian crisis in Nigeria and South Sudan and Rift Valley fever in Niger.