Luanda, - Task Force on Immunisation Chairman Prof Francis Nkrumah called on African governments to make concerted efforts in political and resources commitment towards immunization to rid the continent of vaccine preventable diseases, at the opening of the 11th Meeting of the Task Force on Immunization (TFI) in Africa and the 10th annual African Regional Inter agency Coordination Committee (ARICC) in Luanda, Angola on the December 02, 2003.

Nairobi, 1 December 2003 -- The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa, Dr Ebrahim M. Samba, has expressed optimism that the "3 by 5" strategy launched on Monday to provide antiretroviral treatment (ART) to three million people living with AIDS by 2005 will be a huge success.

Nairobi, 1 December 2003 -- Dr Ebrahim Samba, who retires as World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa after his current tenure expires in 2005, has offered to provide "free, non-remunerative services" to promote public health in Africa, in particular, HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and management.

Nairobi, 1 December 2003 -- United Nations Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, has called on the international community to scale up action to ensure the defeat of HIV/AIDS epidemic which, he says "continues its lethal march around the world, with a few signs of slowing down." 

Nairobi, 1 December 2003 -- Millions of people in Africa and elsewhere around the globe on Monday commemorated World AIDS Day as WHO and UNAIDS unveiled a "3 by 5" strategy aimed at providing antiretroviral treatment (ART) to three million people living with AIDS (PLWA) worldwide by 2005. 

Abuja, 22 November 2003 -- The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Ebrahim Samba has reiterated his personal commitment and that of WHO to the eradication of polio from Africa in 2005. Dr. Samba who said he made the promise to eradicate polio from the Region in 1995, added that it was his belief, that with commitment and hard work on the part of all those involved in the campaign, the global eradication date would be met. Dr.

Dakar, 25 October -- The second meeting of the WHO African Reproductive Health Task Force ended Friday in Dakar, Senegal, with the adoption of recommendations aimed at scaling up interventions designed to improve reproductive health indicators in the African Region.

The five-day meeting recommended that the WHO Regional Office for Africa should, among others:

Dakar, 24 October -- African countries should re-position family planning as a priority health intervention because of its potential for helping to drastically reduce maternal infant and child deaths.

Dakar, 24 October -- Participants in the 2nd African Regional Reproductive Health Task Force meeting which ended Friday in Dakar, Senegal, unanimously condemned female genital mutilation (FGM) and agreed that health workers implicated in the practice should be sanctioned by their professional associations.

Dakar, 23 October -- Reproductive health indicators in Africa can be greatly improved through the adoption of a comprehensive "public health" approach, high political commitment, availability of basic infrastructure (including roads, communication network), the provision of free education and healthcare services, and the steady availability of health workers.