At a landmark Ministerial Conference on Immunization in Africa held from 24-25 February 2016 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, African ministers of health and other line ministers signed a declaration to promote the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages against vaccine-preventable diseases and to close the immunization gap by 2020.

At a lunch meeting organized by GAVI – the Vaccine Alliance on the Unfinished Business of Immunization during the Ordinary General Assembly of the Organisation of African First Ladies against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA), immunization partners and OAFLA came together to renew their commitment to complete the “unfinished business with child health in Africa”. 

Dr Matshidiso Moeti visited Ethiopia on 22-26 February 2016 to lead the historic first-ever Ministerial Conference on Immunization in Africa organized by the African and Eastern Mediterranean regions of the World Health Organization together with the African Union Commission.

Dr Moeti also spoke at the Meningitis Vaccine Project closure conference held ahead of the First Ministerial Conference on Immunization. 

Juba, 16 March 2016: WHO South Sudan Country Office held a two-day annual retreat from 15 to 16 March 2016 at Juba Regency Hotel.

The objective of the two-day retreat was to foster a strong team spirit among staff and challenge them to contribute to creating a highly successful WHO country office through innovation and hard work.

Pretoria, 15 March 2016 - During the annual ODA Coordinating Forum chaired by the Honorable Minister and attended by a dozen ambassadors, the WHO Representative in her capacity as Acting UN Resident Coordinator, delivered the UN statement of support.  In the statement, the UN recognized National Health Insurance as the embodiment of South Africa’s international commitments that recognize health as a right for all individuals. 

The Government of the United Republic of Tanzania in collaboration with World Health Organization (WHO) and Bloomberg Philanthropies Global Road Safety Programme are implementing a 5-year Road Safety Programme (2015-19) that aims at reducing the risk of road traffic crashes in the country. This aims at ensuring that there are good road safety laws which address drinking and driving, seat belts, child restraints and helmets use.

Kampala, 11 March 2016 -- The Malaria Outbreak in Northern Uganda is of great concern to the health sector. A number of interventions have been implemented to tackle the epidemic but it seems not to abet. Recently a Malaria Expert Review meeting was convened at Protea Hotel Kampala to explore ways to effectively tackle the problem and save lives.

Emergency and WASH teams of WHO and UNICEF hold regular meetings to discuss the best way of coordinating the two UN agencies’ support to the Government of Ethiopia’s response to the ongoing acute watery diarrhea (AWD) outbreak in the country.  The most recent get-together took place on 9 March, where existing gaps, past successes and shortfalls were identified and discussed to best devise the way forward.

Sokoto, 11 March 2016- With low routine immunization coverage survey data at less than 40% and about 94% of deliveries at home; contributing to high infant and maternal mortality rates, Sokoto State which shares international borders with Niger Republic, is a priority state for provision of World Health Organization (WHO) technical support and partnership in implementing targeted health interventions to protect lives and save children from vaccine preventable diseases (VPDs).

Sokoto, 11 March 2016 -- Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole has urged delegates to the 58th session of the National Council on Health (NCH) with the theme, ‘Universal Health Coverage (UCH): An Agenda for Change’ to embrace the country’s obligation towards fruition of UCH as key health sector goal of the sustainable development goals (SDGs).