News Releases

The Ministry of Public Health in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reported the country’s first case of COVID-19. Health authorities said tests found that a Congolese national, who had recently returned to Kinshasa from his residence in France had tested positive for the virus.

Ministers of Health from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) this week agreed to harmonize and coordinate their efforts to respond to COVID-19 in the region.  South Africa – a member of the SADC – confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on 5th March, the first country and so far only country in southern Africa to do so.

Today, 8 March 2020, the world is celebrating the International Women Day. The theme this year is "I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights”. It is a call to address inequities. The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa committed to achieving gender parity among its staff. Women now account for 33% of WHO workforce, up from 27% in 2015. 

With confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Algeria, Senegal, Nigeria and South Africa, the World Health Organization (WHO) and key health partners are strengthening cooperation to better coordinate readiness and response efforts across Africa. WHO convened a meeting in Nairobi this week, with representatives from the Kenyan Health Ministry, the African Union and key United Nations partner agencies in attendance.  A parallel meeting was also taking place in Dakar with Francophone partners, also led by the WHO Regional Office for Africa.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa and the United Nations Volunteers have launched the Africa Young Women Health Champions, an initiative to recruit early to middle career women professionals across 47 countries in the African region.

On entering Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport, visitors are greeted by posters on how to prevent COVID-19 transmission, even before having their temperatures taken by medical staff.  Video messages play in the departure and arrival lounges. So far, the number of people in Africa confirmed to have the virus is much smaller than other parts of the world. But as more health ministries in Africa have confirmed the presence of the virus in their countries, what was once a distant threat is now much closer.  

The last Ebola patient in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was discharged today from a treatment centre in the north-eastern town of Beni. With no more confirmed cases, a 42-day countdown to declaring the end of the world’s second-deadliest Ebola epidemic began on 2 March.

Senegal today reported its first case of COVID-19, becoming the fourth country in Africa to confirm the virus. The patient is a French national and a resident of Senegal who returned to Dakar on 26 February.

As the threat of coronavirus disease looms over the continent, the World Health Organization (WHO) promised to support African Union Member States on a common preparedness and response strategy. WHO joined Health Ministers in an Emergency Meeting on the Coronavirus Disease Outbreak, which was convened on 22 February by the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.