THE INCIDENT 
An armoury at the Ikeja military cantonment in Lagos, Nigeria, containing "high calibre bombs" went up in flames at about 6.00 pm (local time) on Sunday, 27th January 2002, resulting in a series of explosions in and around the cantonment. The explosions affected areas up to 50 kms. away from the scene of the incident. Lagos is the economic nerve centre of Nigeria. It has an estimated population of between 10 and 12 million people. Two Local Government Areas - Ikeja and Oshodi/Isolo - with a population of about 1.03 million people were mostly affected.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is to spend about =N= 2.7 million this year to support State Epidemiology teams to implement Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) activities in the country. This was disclosed by the WHO Representative for Nigeria, Dr. Abdou Moudi at a recent meeting of State Epidemiologists and WHO Surveillance Officers, held in Kaduna.

22 January 2002  -- Johannesburg - The World Health Organization (WHO) is ready to assist South Africa in efforts to establish health at the centre of sustainable development initiatives, ahead of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) to be held in Johannesburg in August.

This is the view of the Liaison Officer of the WHO's local office in Pretoria, Dr Welile Shasha, who said the Organization will stress the central role of health in the development process, and the linkages between health and poverty reduction in the months leading up to the WSSD.

Epidemiologists from WHO Africa and Eastern Mediterranean regions meet in Accra to discuss surveillance of diseases in the two regions

01 February 2002 -- Epidemiologists and Experts meeting in Accra to assess progress made in the implementation of the UN funded Project on strengthening surveillance and response for vaccine-preventable and epidemic prone diseases, have called for effective documentation to enable national programs and their partners have useful evidence based on field experience in the implementation of the project.

In July 2001, the Countryside Children's Home at Bawjiase in the Central Region of Ghana had 73 children most of them below the age of 10. For their sources of food, the Home had a little garden of vegetables, an acre of food crop farm, a chicken coop with a dozen of chickens, less than 10 goats and sheep in an open pen; and had to rely on handouts from benevolent individuals and organizations.

Harare-- The World Health Organization (WHO) and its 46 Member States in the African Region focused on the broad determinants of health and disease during the 2000-2001 biennium and were thus better able to bring about long-term and sustainable improvements in the status of its people.

This is contained in the Biennial (2000-2001) Report of the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Ebrahim M. Samba, to be released at the 52nd session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa (RC52) scheduled for 8 -12 October Harare, Zimbabwe.

Female Functional Literacy and Inter Sectoral Action In furtherance of its objective of supporting the vulnerable rural poor communities to improve their health status and livelihoods, WHO supported the Department of Community Development in November to organize a joint programme for the commissioning of a corn-mill and a two-day health workshop for women leaders in the Hodzo cluster of villages in the Volta region.

Harare -- Governments in the WHO African Region have been urged to ensure the strengthening of health systems by improving their stewardship role, and the role of development partners and stakeholders, in implementing health sector reforms.

The call is contained in a report to be presented by the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Ebrahim M. Samba, to the 52nd session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa taking place from 8 to 12 October in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Harare , 8 October -- Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has appealed to the 52nd Session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa to step its fight against Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs). 
Opening the session at the Harare International Conference Centre Tuesday, President Mugabe said unless they were prevented NCDs could take an increasingly heavy toll on the Region.

Women's health is recognized as a human rights issue and should be promoted and defended as such. Women in Africa represent slightly over 50% of the continent's human resources and so women's health has huge implications for the Region's development. Focusing in particular on the unacceptably high level of maternal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa, the report calls for a fundamental rethinking of approaches to improving women's health informed by an understanding of the sociocultural determinants that are so important in shaping it.