Abuja, 30 April 2015 - This year, Nigeria commemorated the World Malaria Day (WMD) in a week-long celebration which included a Town Hall meeting with communities on malaria best practices, rallies, advocacy to churches and mosques as well as wide range of media activities to create awareness on the malaria elimination programme; centered around the theme for the 2015 WMD ‘’Invest in the future; Defeat Malaria’’.

Following the start of the Ebola outbreak in 2014, the intensely-affected countries suspended all large-scale national mass immunization campaigns for diseases like measles and polio. This decision was made as a safety precaution because typically immunization campaigns involve large gatherings of people as parents bring their children to the vaccination place. During the time Ebola was spreading widely, health authorities warned large group gatherings put more people at risk of contracting Ebola.

Kampala 4th May, 2015:- The Inter-district Elimination of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV/AIDS (eMTCT) Peer Learning Meeting was held at Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala. The meeting which was organized by  African Mayors’ initiative for Community action on AIDS  (AMICAALL)  was to address the problems and find solutions to improving the performance of the 25 slow-progressing districts in achieving eMTCT in Uganda.

April 30 2015, Nairobi - The World Immunization Week (WIW) in Kenya kicked off with strong calls for commitment, responsibility for the protection of children’s life and the need to decisively address resistance to immunization programmes.

Johannesburg, 30 April 2015 - The World Health Organization is stepping up efforts to accelerate the elimination of neglected tropical diseases (NTD) in the African Region. Health experts, donors, development partners and affected countries have reached a consensus on the main components of the framework for establishing a new NTD entity.

Abuja, 30 April 2015 - The Government of Japan has  extended a USD 620,000 grant to the World Health Organization in March 2015 to support a project for Ebola virus disease (EVD) preparedness and response in 10 high risk states in Nigeria.

In November 2014, the Government of Japan pledged to provide an additional package of USD 100 million with a view to rebuilding the health system of the affected countries and stabilizing the societies of those countries being ravaged by the Ebola disease. 

Under the theme ‘Vaccination: A gift for life’, Seychelles joined the rest of the African region to celebrate African Vac-cination Week from the 24th to 30th April 2015. This year’s commemoration in the Seychelles focused more on raising awareness and reinforcing immunisation health messages to various target groups, with the objective of further strengthening immunization programmes and coverage in the country.

Monrovia, 28 April, 2015 - The Ministry of Health (MOH) / National Malaria Control Program in collaboration with its partners on Saturday, 25th April, 2015 commemorated World Malaria Day 2015 and launched the distribution of 2.8 Million Insecticide Treated Mosquito Nets. The commemorative event was held in Monrovia at the City Hall.

It is estimated that about three million children under five years of age die each year in the African Region and a significant number of these deaths could be prevented by vaccines. Yet one in five children does not receive them. Lack of service delivery in remote areas or lack of information about the effectiveness of vaccines is a major reason many do not receive them.