Infographics

Kai Koang, at the crack of dawn on a Tuesday morning, armed with his loud megaphone tightly held to his mouth and moving from house-to-house stormed site D of the highly populated Bentiu internally displaced persons (IDP) camp passing on good news – on the commencement of the oral cholera vaccination campaign. Kai is a well-known social mobilizer in the camp.

A few minutes later the vaccination site was awash with people ready to receive the vaccine.

Abuja, 31 January, 2022 - “The first time I noticed a sore on my left hand, I did not take it seriously because I thought I had injured myself unknowingly. However, when the wound failed to heal, and sores came out, on the other hand, I decided to go to the hospital”, says Mr. Bako Ibrahim, a 25 years old taxi driver resident in Gima village, Konduga Local Government Area (LGA), Borno State.

Mr. Bako was diagnosed with Cutaneous Leishmaniasis, a Neglected Tropical Disease (NTDs).

Abuja, 1 February, 2022 - In commemoration of the 2022 World Leprosy Day, the Government of Nigeria and Partners have decried the continuous stigmatization of people living with the disease.

The Honorable Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, speaking at a ministerial press briefing to mark the day in Abuja on 31st of January 2022, said stigmatization continues to have negative impact to the successful elimination of the disease and re-integration of those cured back into their communities.

On 31 January 2022, ETHIOPIA commemorated World Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) Day in Hawassa, Sidama Regional State in an event led by the Federal Ministry of Health (MoH) and attended by health partners and Sidama and SNNP regional health authorities. The Day was commemorated with the global theme, “Achieving health equity to end the neglect of poverty-related diseases”. This is the third World NTD Day commemoration and the first since the World Health Organization (WHO) endorsed 30 January as World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day.

Juba, 30 January 2022 - South Sudan joined the rest of the world to commemorate the first World Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) Day, a day marked to boost the global fight against NTDs which have affected more than 1.5 billion people globally. Approximately one-third of these live in Africa with South Sudan being among the top countries experiencing huge burdens inflicted by this poverty induced diseases.

Abuja January 25, 2022 - Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is based on principles of equity. As such, in renewed efforts to strengthen equity and gender responsive health systems in Nigeria, the World Health Organization (WHO) is supporting the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) to develop guidelines and policies that will aid in addressing key gender issues in the country.

A Namibian visual artist, Hage Mukwendje, handed over a special painting to the World Health Organization on 21 January 2022 at the UN-House, Windhoek, Namibia.   The painting was done as part of the LEAD Innovation Challenge Grand Finale event held end of last year on the 24th of November 2021 and illustrates the importance of respecting our environment for future generations. 

Ms Teopista is a mother of two little boys and a girl, all eligible for the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV). For her, the launch of the National House-to-House Polio Immunization campaign could not have come at a better time.

“When we were growing up, there weren’t many vaccines to prevent diseases and many children fell sick and died, I, therefore, can’t let the chance to give my children a healthy life through vaccination, pass me by,” she enthused.

Birnin-Kebbi, 21 January, 2022 - I learnt about cervical cancer and people dying from the disease while carrying out my duty as a journalist. I never took time to know my status until October 2021, when an expert reiterated that early detection is key to surviving any form of cancer”, says Adenike Tambe, a health journalist living in Abuja.