Sierra Leone commemorated World Malaria Day 2016 with the launched of four strategic national malaria control policy documents during an event that attracted partners, government officials and the general public.

The documents included:

Abuja, 25 April 2016 - Given the dire need for quality and sustainable health care in the IDP camps and hosting communities for children under five years, the Federal and State Ministries of Health, National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (SPHCDA) and partners including the World Health Organization (WHO) agreed to build capacity of community resource persons living in the IDPs camps and host communities, with the support from USAID/Nigeria grant. 

The World Health Organization Country Representative in Tanzania, Dr Rufaro Chatora, has just completed a multi-purpose mission which included observation, assessment and support of the cholera outbreak response in Zanzibar.  WHO has been concerned about the persistence of the outbreak in Zanzibar, and hence Dr Chatora’s mission also to strengthening the on-going interventions through high level advocacy so as to bring the outbreak into immediate control.

01. At the Chumbuni Cholera Treatment Centre, Dr Chatora is briefed on the structure, resources, and functioning of the center

02. The center's staff is observed as it manages a patient in line with the case management protocols

03. Listening to the community on the social mobilisation activities being undertaken to raise the level of cholera awareness, personnal hygiene, treatment seeking practises, etc

04. Walking in the community to see the environmental conditions and their contribution to the persistance transmission and of the outbreak

Banjul, 25 April 2016 - After intensive preparations, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MoHSW) in collaboration with WHO, UNICEF and other partners has officially launched the much awaited seven-day nationwide measles –rubella vaccination, which ends on Monday, 1st May 2016.

The campaign, which is integrated with vitamin A supplementation and de-worming, is the first of its kind conducted in the Gambia as echoed by WHO and MoHSW officials at a recent press briefing held be-fore the official launch.

Monrovia 23rd April - The Ministry of Health Liberia embraced the move to switch from the use of trivalent oral polio vaccine (tOPV) to bivalent oral poliovirus vaccine bOPV in its routine immunization schedule. This initiative to withdraw type 2 component of tOPV is part of the global polio eradication endgame strategy for 2013-2018.

All of Liberia’s 15 counties successfully implemented the national SWITCH day on April, 22nd, 2016. This historical milestone comes three days before the regional launch of the African Vaccination Week in Ganta, Nimba County on 25th April.

Samara, 20 April 2016 – The WHO Ethiopia Country Office (WCO Ethiopia) at the request of the Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health conducted training on Early Warning Alert and Response System (EWARS) for the Public Health Emergency Management (PHEM) focal persons at health center and district level.

Abuja, 22 April 2016 - Nigeria has successfully conducted the ‘switch’ from using trivalent Oral Polio Vaccine (tOPV) to bivalent Oral Polio Vaccine (bOPV) in the routine immunization programme. The switch is pursuant to the end game strategy following the global certification of eradication of Type 2 polio virus in 2015.