African health ministers meeting in Zimbabwe for the 67th Session of the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee have adopted a range of actions intended to strengthen health systems in countries and eventually lead to Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
Read moreThe significant progress in improving people’s health in Africa has been commended by delegates attending the 67th session WHO Regional Committee for Africa, which began today in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. This follows the presentation of the 2016-2017 Biennial Report on the Work of WHO in the African Region by Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO Regional Director for Africa. The report highlights progress achieved during the past biennuim in the Region in emergency preparedness and response, elimination of priority diseases including HIV, TB, malaria; tackling non-communicable diseases, progress in protecting children from illness and deaths, among others.
Read moreThe President of Zimbabwe, H.E Robert Mugabe has called on African governments to prioritise health in their national development agenda. He said the health challenges facing the Region including communicable, maternal and child deaths and non-communicable disease require concerted efforts to tackle them.
Read moreBrazzaville, Congo/Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, 25 August 2017 - Did you know that in the African Region, 23% of premature deaths are attributable to unhealthy environments, at the same time as the Region is facing a double…
Read more2017 marks the 5th anniversary of the World Health Organization's roadmap on NTDs, the World Health Assembly resolution on NTDs (WHA66.12) and the London Declaration.
Read moreFor more than 40 years, the World Health Organization (WHO) has worked to control river blindness (onchocerciasis), the second major infectious cause of blindness in Africa. Today, 30 years after a major donation of medication by Merck & Co, a pharmaceutical company, and after 20 years of the success of the African Program for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC) the reduction of the disease intensity has allowed WHO to shift the goal from control to elimination – a really ambitious achievement.
Read moreThe 4th Acting On The Call (AOTC) conference started on the 24th August 2017 at the African Union, Addis Ababa Ethiopia with a theme “Overcoming Critical Barriers to Maternal and Child Survival”. The AOTC conference which is hosted by the governments of Ethiopia and India gathered more than 500 participants from 24 countries and held in the presence of the President of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia, Ministers and high level policymakers from the public and private sectors, NGOs and UN agencies including UN Women, UNICEF, UNFPA and WHO.
Read moreThe sight of a long queue of patients waiting for their names to be called to see the doctor or nurse at a hospital or health centre is a familiar spectacle that drives home the message that the shortage of skilled health workforce is an issue that warrants urgent attention. There is no doubt that hospitals or health centres are busy places. The shortage of skilled health workforce means that a limited number of doctors and nurses have to attend to hundreds of patients daily and quality health care can’t be rushed.
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