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As outbreaks of infectious diseases continue to challenge health systems across the WHO African region, public health experts from more than a dozen African countries have convened in Brazzaville for an intensive training workshop aimed at strengthening vaccine effectiveness (VE) research in the Region.

WHO supports Mauritius in carrying out its second Joint External Evaluation of the International Health Regulation (IHR) capacities in November 2025. By volunteering for its second JEE, Mauritius has shown its strong commitment, foresight, leadership, and confidence in the process with the aim of safeguarding the population’s health. A wide range of participants, including key programme leads and technical experts from various departments were mobilized to contribute to both the self-assessment and the external evaluation. With its extensive, high-quality human, veterinary, and environmental services, Mauritius has consistently demonstrated its ability to respond rapidly and effectively to multiple public health threats in the past. WHO is supporting the country in ensuring this strength is sustained and further advanced by fully leveraging the IHR (2005) to reinforce core capacities for responding to both known and emerging public health threats in the future. Mauritius as a Small Island Developing State faces unique vulnerabilities such as geographic isolation, limited human and financial resources, high dependence on travel and trade, and heightened exposure to climate-sensitive health threats such as vector-borne diseases and extreme weather events. These factors can rapidly amplify public health emergencies and disrupt essential services, as well as social and economic development, if the country has inadequate preparedness and readiness. The JEE brings together a multidisciplinary team of international experts from WHO, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and the Indian Ocean Commission, with the objective of assessing Mauritius’s core public health capacities under the IHR (2005). It also aims to strengthen the country’s preparedness and response to public health emergencies across 19 technical areas and 56 indicators under the four domains: Prevent, Detect, Respond, and IHR-related hazards and Points of Entry.

African leaders and global partners have agreed on a bold 10-year regional vision to redesign how essential health products are financed, produced, and delivered, marking a major step toward ensuring that everyone in the African Region can access affordable, quality-assured medicines and health technologies.

Mauritius, with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO), completed a three-day national consultative workshop from 17 to 19 November 2025 to develop its first comprehensive National Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) Policy. The workshop was organized by the Ministry of Health and Wellness in collaboration with technical assistance from WHO AFRO, WHO Headquarters, and in-country partners. Infant and young child feeding is central to the survival, growth, and long-term wellbeing of children. Although Mauritius has strong programmes such as the National Action Plan on Breastfeeding (2022–2027) recent analyses have highlighted the absence of a unified national IYCF policy. This gap has led to: •    Fragmented interventions across health, labour, education, and social sectors •    Limited enforcement of breastfeeding protection and maternity entitlements •    Insufficient guidance for supporting preterm and low-birth-weight infants •    Variations in feeding counselling and community support •    Lack of a structured response to IYCF during emergencies and disease outbreaks Given Mauritius’ increasing number of preterm births and the need to strengthen early childhood development, a national policy is essential to provide one coherent, evidence-based framework that protects, promotes, and supports optimal feeding for all infants, including the most vulnerable.