April 24, 2017: The announcement of the piloting of a malaria vaccine in Africa by the WHO regional director for Africa Dr Matshido Moeti this week marks a historic but realistic moment towards the effort to ease the malaria disease burden and save lives in Africa.

Dr Moeti presided over the high level malaria event in Nairobi ahead of World Malaria Day, where she announced the selection of three countries, Kenya, Malawi and Ghana, for the vaccine pilot testing.

Abuja, 29 April 2017 - The Vice President, His Excellency Professor Yemi Osinbajo, has urged State Governors to tackle polio with all the seriousness and commitment it deserves to ensure that the crippling disease is eradicated from Nigeria.

Addressing the Presidential Task Force on Polio Eradication (PTFoPE) meeting in Abuja, Professor Osinbajo who represented President Muhammadu Buhari, emphasized the urgency, and strong commitment needed to complete the goal of polio eradication as rapidly as possible bearing in mind that it is major priority of the government.

The Minister of State for Health in Charge of General Duties, Hon. Sarah Opendi, has urged leaders to educate communities on the proper use of Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLINs) in order to intensify the fight against malaria in Uganda. This was at the just concluded 12th World Malaria Day Commemorations.

The 12th World Malaria Day was commemorated under the theme "End Malaria for Good "and a slogan of "Children up against Malaria", at Boma Grounds in Kabarole District.

An isolated case of monkeypox has been confirmed in Pujehun district, Sierra Leone. This is the third known occurrence of monkeypox in the country, with the first reported case in 1970 and the second in 2014. 

The patient, a 35-year-old male, was admitted to Pujehun District Hospital on 25th March 2017 where he is currently undergoing supportive treatment. Biological samples were shipped to Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo for laboratory testing and were confirmed positive for the monkeypox virus on 17th April 2017. 

Juba, South Sudan 28 April 2017 – To improve vaccination coverage and reduce the risk of vaccine preventable diseases, the World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and partners accelerated  outreach vaccination to strengthen and ensure the continuation of  immunization activities across the country.

Sokoto, 28 April 2017 - The release of 823,000  doses of meningitis vaccine to combat an outbreak of Cerebro Spinal Meningitis (CSM) in Sokoto will protect  more than 800,000 people  across nine Local Government Areas (LGAs), the state’s Commissioner for Health, Dr. Kakale Shehu, says.  Sokoto is one of six states in Nigeria where the number of meningitis cases has passed the epidemic threshold during the ongoing outbreak.

In Zambia, spreadsheets, paper registries and phone calls were once the only way for staff in the Ministry of Health, based in the capital Lusaka, to know if district and provincial health facilities and warehouses had adequate supply of vaccines. Since none of the supply registries were connected to the national warehouse, reporting was never timely.

Jigjiga, April 27, 2017 - The World Health Organization delegation conducted a four day field visit to Dollo and Korahey zones from 22-26 April, 2017, as part of WHO’s interventions in the Acute Watery Diarrhea (AWD) outbreak emergency response, in the Ethiopia Somali Region. The aims of the visit are, among others, to effectuate a rapid assessment of the situation and to identify the needs and gaps so as to strengthen the response to the outbreak.

Lusaka, 26 April 2017 – On 25 April 2017, which is the World Malaria Day, the government of the Republic of Zambia launched the National Malaria Elimination Strategy 2017-2021 and rebranded the National Malaria Control Centre to be the National Malaria Elimination Centre. The Minister of Health, Honourable Chitalu Chilufya who represented the President of the Republic of Zambia, His Excellency, Mr.

Abuja, 25 April 2017 - In response to the theme of the 2017 World Malaria Day (WMD), ‘End Malaria For Good’ and slogan ‘’What’s your role’, Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole is calling for increased resources from government and private sector for the rapid elimination of the deadly disease.

“We have made modest progress but still far from our dream of a Malaria-free Nigeria. I have no doubt we can do it together”, the minister stated at the commemoration of this year’s event in Abuja on 25 April 2017.