3 October 2016 - Polio transition planning simulation exercise was conducted in Abuja on 27-28 September, 2016. The exercise reviewed output of polio asset mapping, especially personnel across ten polio programme main functional areas.

1 October 2016 - Take a Stand Against Ageism

The International Day of Older Persons is an opportunity to highlight the important contributions that older people make to society and raise awareness of the issues and challenges of ageing in today’s world.

30 September 2016 - The 22nd Annual Health Sector Joint Review Mission (JRM) under the theme “Embracing new health reforms and innovation to improve Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH) services in Uganda took place at the  Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala.

The objectives of the 22nd JRM were:

September 2016 – Health Sector partners are urgently scaling-up the emergency health response to the humanitarian crisis in north east Nigeria where some 3.7 million people are in need of health assistance. A Health Sector Coordination team was deployed to Maiduguri to support the Ministry of Health in the coordination of the health sector response. 17 partners are actively engaged with government authorities to strengthen coordination of resources and emergency response.

Maiduguri, 28 September 2016 - In response to the detection of wild polio viruses (WPV) in Borno in August 2016 after more than two years of maintaining a polio-free status, the government of Nigeria declared the outbreak as a national public health emergency. Equally, the governments of Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad and Niger declared a regional public health emergency for the Lake Chad sub-region.

Following the declaration in Nigeria, plans were made to involve the military and civilian Joint Task Force (JTF) in accessing children in very vulnerable areas.

Harare, 26 September 2016 – The World Health Organization has called for renewed efforts to reach every child in the African Region with vaccines and other health services.

Harare, 26 September 2016 - The WHO Representative to Zimbabwe, Dr David Okello handed over to the Ministry of Health and Child Care 24 Land cruisers, and 9 refrigerated trucks for transporting vaccines in a move that will strengthen EPI surveillance and outreach services throughout the country.

23 September 2016 – Six candidates have been proposed by WHO Member States for the post of the Organization’s next Director-General. The Director-General is WHO’s chief technical and administrative officer, overseeing the Organization’s international health work.

23 September 2016 | Geneva | New Delhi | Beijing − The World Health Organization (WHO) is piloting new approaches to overturn the “slow decline” of new leprosy cases almost 16 years after the disease was “eliminated as a global public health problem”. These new approaches, part of WHO’s Global Leprosy Strategy 2016–2020, aim to reinvigorate control efforts and avert disabilities, especially among children affected by the disease in endemic countries.

First AVAREF TCC and SC Meetings, held in Kigali, Rwanda, 20–23 September 2016