WHO supported the Ministry of Health to conduct a review meeting on Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) in South Sudan from 27 to 28 January 2015. 
 
Addressing delegates at the meeting, WHO Representative to South Sudan Dr. Tarande Constant Manzila commended the Ministry of Health’s commitment to prioritize the implementation and strengthening of communicable disease surveillance through the adoption and implementation of the IDSR strategy at all levels. 
 

Lusaka, 4 February 2015 -- It has been estimated that 23% of deaths or a population of 2.4 million per year is attributable to environmental risk factors, whose impact is especially felt among the poor and vulnerable (children, women and rural and people with disabilities).

About 60% of the ecosystem services are being degraded or subjected to pressure with consequences on the quality of air and water and an increase in natural disasters. Climate change is expected to affect health, agriculture, food security and water sectors.

“Imagine living with a snake-like worm about a metre long in your body?” It sounds unthinkable, but that is the painful reality that people affected by Guinea Worm Disease (GWD) have to live with. The question was posed by State Minister of Health for Western Equatoria, Dr. John Bona during the ninth annual review meeting of the Guinea Worm Programme in South Sudan, held under the theme: “Together for a final push to eliminate Guinea Worm Disease in South Sudan.”

The African Union First Ladies made a call for action on 31 January 2015 for continent-wide efforts, leadership and political commitment to kick polio out of Africa. The First Ladies agreed to advocate for a polio-free Africa as a top priority for their governments in 2015 at an event jointly organized by the Organization of African First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA), Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (WHO, Rotary, CDC and UNICEF) at the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa.

Every day, approximately 35 women die in Ethiopia from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Although maternal deaths have declined by 70% in Ethiopia between 1990 and 2013, maternal mortality remains unacceptably high and more efforts are needed to meet the Millennium Development Goal 5 target of 267 per 100,000 live births. Access to antenatal care in pregnancy, skilled care during childbirth, and care and support in the weeks after childbirth are what makes the difference between life and death.

WHO’s social mobilization team is using radio to reach communities with information about how to prevent the spread of Ebola in Sierra Leone.
Reaching communities not just physically, but psychologically and emotionally as well.
“My work as a social mobilizer is to pass on key messages to convince people to stop the cultural and traditional practices that are fuelling the spread of Ebola,” says Zainab Akiwumi, who leads the WHO social mobilization team in Sierra Leone.

The evolving Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak highlights the risk of cases being imported into unaffected countries. WHO’s preparedness activities aim to ensure that all countries are ready to effectively and safely detect, investigate and report potential EVD cases, and to mount an effective response. Ethiopia is among the high priority countries for WHO and partners’ support due to the volume of travellers arriving to and transiting in Addis Ababa every day. 

Marondera, 2015  Zimbabwe has mounted an effective response to the HIV epidemic, and HIV prevalence has come down from 27% in 1997 to 15%  to date. In addition to the prevention and treatment interventions that have been deployed, voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC)  is a high impact intervention that has been adopted, which has the potential to to drive further dramatic declines in the trajectory of HIV in Zimbabwe.

Kampala, 2nd February 2015 -- The Ebola virus disease (EVD) continues to ravage Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea in West Africa. Uganda, through WHO, international NGOs and partners continues to support the response efforts sending teams of health workers to help contain the disease.

Abuja, Nigeria 02 February, 2015 - In Kaduna, 43,201 children were vaccinated on highway check points, markets and motor parks during the January 2015 polio supplemental immunization days conducted between 24-27 January across the 23 Local Government Areas (LGAs) to avoid importation and exportation of polio viruses in the state. This activity is in line with the state’s resolve to remain polio free and working in tandem with the most recent Polio Expert Review Committee’s (ERC) recommendation.