Abuja, 1 February 2019 - The World Health Organization (WHO) is scaling up response to the Lassa fever outbreaks in states across Nigeria to strengthen rapid containment of the disease.  WHO is mobilizing experts to intervene in investigations, contact-tracing, risk communication and plans are underway to strengthen efforts to further assist Nigeria in controlling the Lassa fever outbreak. 

On 21 January 2019, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) declared an outbreak of Lassa fever following an increase in the number of cases.

The World Health Organization was saddened to hear this morning about the sudden death of a dear colleague in Beni, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The colleague was deployed from a neighbouring country to Beni to work in the Ebola response, where he supported the administrative team. The exact cause of death is still under investigation, but a preliminary medical report has ruled out Ebola and violence. 

Currently, there are 500 WHO staff deployed in the DRC to support the Ebola response.

Kampala, 31st January 2019: - Uganda’s disease surveillance system was recently put to a rigorous test when two people, contacts of confirmed Ebola Virus Disease cases in DRC crossed into the country through Kasindi Point of Entry (PoE) on 20th January 2019.

The Government of Botswana has demonstrated commitment to accelerate malaria and other vector borne disease (VBD) elimination. WHO supported the Ministry of Health and Wellness (MoHW) to develop a draft Integrated Vector Management (IVM) strategic plan 2019-2023. This strategic document is intended to facilitate better planning and implementation of vector control aiming at malaria and other VBDs elimination in the country.

Abuja, 25 January 2019 –  In an historic event held at the Presidential Villa, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, General Muhammad Buhari launched the World Health Organization (WHO) revised third generation Nigeria Country Cooperation Strategy (CCSIII). 

Kampala, 26th January 2019: - The Government of Uganda launched the Health Sector Refugee Response Plan 2019-2024, (HSIRRP 2019-2024). This is a five-year plan that advocates for the provision of integrated services for both refugees and refugee-host communities in all the refugee-hosting districts.

The HSRIIP is intended to address the needs of refugees and the host communities and ensure access to quality health services for both through improvement of staffing of refugee-hosting districts to 95% of the public staffing norms.

Preparing for potential Zika outbreaks and other vector-borne diseases in Cabo Verde means vigilantly hitting the mosquitos where they breed and interrupting their human contact. The small island state experienced Africa’s first Zika outbreak in 2015.