Infographics

By Vivian Mugarisi

Brazzaville - The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) have committed to strengthening collaboration towards the use of data analytics in the fight against diseases in the African region.

The commitment was made during a technical visit to the WHO Africa office in Brazzaville, Congo by a delegation from BMGF led by Jennifer Gardy, Deputy Director, Surveillance, Data, and Epidemiology from 8 to 10 January 2024.

Unless our public health policy, programmes and systems integrate gender, equity, and human rights, realizing the vision of sustainable development goals will be far-fetched. Gender equality must be addressed in its own right and as a catalyst of progress across the SDGs.

Childhood is meant to be a time of joy, growth, and development, free from violence, abuse, and exploitation. This is however not the case for over 39.6% of Namibian girls and 45.0% of Namibian boys experiencing physical, sexual, or emotional violence in their childhood according to the 2019 Violence against Children and Youth Survey.   

The Namibian government’s commitment to improving public health efforts in the last 33 years has yielded positive outcomes resulting in an increase in the country’s life expectancy by 12 years since 2001.

Mrs Regina Diergaardt, school principal of the Gobabis Primary School, shares the story of how her school has remained a health promoting school through the years despite numerous challenges.