Nairobi, April 17, 2018 – Under nutrition, obesity and diet-related noncommunicable diseases are leading to catastrophic costs to individuals, to communities and to national healthcare systems in Africa.  Every year, it is estimated that 11 million Africans fall into poverty due to high out-of-pocket payments for healthcare.

Gaborone, Botswana – 13 April 2018: The Deputy Permanent Secretary and Director of Clinical Services, in the Ministry of Health and Wellness (MoHW), Ms Thandie Kgosiesele, today, hosted a team from WHO, led by Dr Charles Byabamazima from the WHO Regional Office for Africa, which was in the country to brief the Ministry Management on the results of the review for accreditation of the country’s National Measles Laboratory. Botswana’s National Health Laboratory hosts the National Measles Laboratory.

Brazzaville 18 April 2018 - An evaluation carried out by the World Health Organization (WHO), US Centre for Disease Control (CDC), and country partners shows that administering monovalent rotavirus vaccine to African infants does not increase the risk of intussusception above base line levels. Intussusception is a form of bowel obstruction in which a part of the intestine folds into the section next to it.

Lagos, 18th April, 2018 - A Regional Workshop with participants from 38 African countries and supported by World Health Organization (WHO) on the Global Surveillance and Monitoring System (GSMS) for substandard and falsified (SF) medical products opens in Lagos on 17 April 2018.

Sub-Saharan Africa contributes to over one third of all reports of suspected SF products received by WHO. Antimalarial and antibiotics are the most commonly reported products from Sub-Saharan Africa.

"Health Journalism Award Launched and Media Institutions Honoured"

FREETOWN, April 16, 2018 - Sister Hannah B. Palmer pulls on her boots, getting ready to set out on the latest field-level investigation of 2018. Her job is not easy.  She is a Midwife Investigator in Koinadugu, one of the most remote and geographically dispersed districts of Sierra Leone. Much of the landscape here is steep and mountainous, and the district has one of the lowest densities of health workers and clinics, both relative to its population numbers, and the size of its geographical terrain.

Abuja, 13 April 2018 - The Director-General of the World Health Organization congratulated Nigeria on its commitment to universal healthcare coverage (UHC) and the country’s focus on strengthening primary healthcare centres.

Dar es Salaam, 10 April 2018: Today, Tanzania achieved a historical milestone to roll out a Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine against cancer of the cervix, the second most common cancer in women worldwide. Globally, the East African region is the leading burden carrier of cervical cancer. Tanzania is among the five countries with the highest rates in Africa.