In a bid to confirm global and national commitment to the eradication of polio from Ethiopia and the Continent, a high level polio vaccination event was held at Selam Health Centre in Addis Ababa. Minister of Health Dr Kesetebirhan Admasu, World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Dr Margaret Chan, The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) Chief Executive Officer Dr Seth Berkley and UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Ms Yoka Brandt participated in the event, symbolically administering polio drops to children.

Speaking at the side event onChanging the Conversation on Development Finance for Health, WHO Director Genearl Dr Margaret Chan, underscored the need to change the conversation in accordance with the changing global social, demographic and financial landscape. 

The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) member states have signed a call for action to establish a regional medicine regulation collaboration and harmonization mechanism to fight illicit medicine circulation and improve availability of safe, effective and quality-assured medicines. Substandard/spurious/falsely labelled/falsified/counterfeit (SSFFC) medical products cost the lives of many people in the region.

Freetown, Sierra Leone, 7 August 2015 - When people who survive Ebola virus disease leave the Ebola treatment unit (ETU), everybody celebrates. However, emerging from the ETU is just the beginning of their long, hard journey to regain health.

Harare, 7 August 2015 :  This was said during the official launch of World Breastfeeding Week which was held at the Lafarge cement plant in Harare.

Banjul, The Gambia, 1st September 2015 - WorldBreast Feeding Week was observed in The Gambia, from 1st to 7th August 2015.

Eritrea launched the introduction of Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV-13) in to routine immunization program.

The event which took place at Villagio Community Hospital was attended by officials of MOH, UN, Health Workers, Journalists and the General Public.

Pneumococcal disease is one of the leading vaccine-preventable killers of young children world wide. It killed more than 500,000 children younger than five years of age in 2008 alone. Approximately, 90% of these deaths occurred in the developing world.

The Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative, aims to ensure that maternity facilities become centres to protect, promote & support breastfeeding. The initiative has measurable and proven impact, increasing the likelihood of babies being exclusively breastfed for the first six months.

Maseru, Lesotho, 6th August 2015 - Hundreds of factory workers and the community gathered to commemorate the National Breastfeeding Week in Maseru on Thursday the 6th of August 2015, under the theme, “Breastfeeding and Work: let’s Make it Work”. The commemoration took place near Thetsane Industrial Area and was targeting the factory workers who normally face many challenges in relation to breastfeeding their children because of the nature of their work. The main speaker in this event was Her Majesty Queen  ‘Masenate Seeiso.

The Eritrean  Ministry of Health  conducted an assessment of the country capacity on the health Disaster Risk Management (DRM). This is a key step in the implementation of the Regional Health Sector DRM strategy as its findings will help develop DRM Road Map to operationalize Regional Strategy at country level.