Science in service of health: WHO and CSIR explore collaboration for Africa

Pretoria, South Africa. A visit by WHO Regional Director for Africa Professor Mohamed Janabi to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research highlighted how African science, technology and partnership can help strengthen health security and build more resilient health systems.

Ethiopia conducted a synchronized polio vaccination campaign with South Sudan using the bivalent Oral Polio vaccine (bOPV) and reached over one million children under five years in high-risk border areas and refugee camps, as part of urgent efforts to prevent cross-border transmission of the variant polio virus from neighboring South Sudan. The vaccination campaign, implemented from 7 to 10 May 2026, covered Gambella and Benishangul-Gumuz regions as well as West Wollega and Kelem Wollega zones of Oromia Region.

Kampala:- Uganda’s health system is at a critical juncture as shifting global aid priorities and increasing fiscal constraints threaten to disrupt essential healthcare services. In response to these mounting pressures, the World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with national and academic partners, is supporting the country to strengthen efficiency in health financing while preparing for a future with reduced external aid.

Kampala:- In a country striving to accelerate progress toward Universal Health Coverage, the World Health Organization (WHO) has stepped up efforts to amplify civil society engagement and community voices as central pillars of Uganda’s health system strengthening.

Kampala:- From 6–8 May 2026, ministers, health leaders, development partners and delegates from across the continent gathered in Accra, Ghana, for the Second Health Workforce Investment Forum. The meeting highlighted both the progress and persistent challenges facing Africa’s health workforce.

In Sokode, a peri‑urban community in Ghana’s Volta Region, health care is extending beyond the hospital. Each morning near the local taxi station and trading area, drivers, traders, and passers‑by pause briefly to check their blood pressure at a small wellness kiosk set up in the heart of the community.

Hawassa, Ethiopia | July 2026 – The Ethiopian Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and with support from Irish Aid, has launched a Case management followed by  National Training of Trainers (ToT) on the revised WHO 2025 Training Package for the Inpatient Management of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM), marking an important step towards the revision of the national training package towards improving the quality of  care for children with severe wasting and related medical complications.

Ghana has strengthened its readiness to respond to future public health emergencies through its participation in Exercise Polaris II, a global pandemic simulation exercise involving 26 countries across all six World Health Organization (WHO) regions.

Experts from across Africa have taken a significant step towards shaping how emerging genetic technologies could be safely and responsibly used to tackle some of the continent’s most pressing public health challenges.