News Releases

Cotonou/Freetown/Monrovia — In a significant step forward for malaria prevention in Africa, three countries—Benin, Liberia and Sierra Leone—today launched a large-scale rollout of the life-saving malaria vaccine targeting millions of children across the three West African nations. The vaccine rollout, announced on World Malaria Day, seeks to further scale up vaccine deployment in the African region.

Brazzaville – A pioneering health investment charter, a first for the African region, is set to be launched at the African Health Workforce Investment Forum which will take place in Windhoek, Namibia from 6 – 8 May 2024. Key stakeholders will gather to consolidate efforts to drive up investment to counter critical health worker shortages.

Brazzaville—An estimated 51.2 million lives have been saved through vaccines in the African region over the past 50 years. For every infant life saved over that period, close to 60 years of life are lived, a new report by World Health Organization (WHO) finds.

Victoria ‒ In a further move towards pooled procurement of essential medicines and medical products, Ministers of Health from small African islands states established a secretariat and elected Mauritius as the host, taking critical steps to launch joint operations for increased access to affordable, quality-assured and safe medicines and medical supplies.

Yaoundé – Cameroon today launched the RTS,S malaria vaccine into its routine national immunization services, becoming the first country to do so outside the malaria vaccine pilot programme that was carried out in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi. The introduction comes as efforts gather pace to scale up vaccination against the disease in high risk areas in Africa.

Brazzaville - The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) have committed to strengthening collaboration towards the use of data analytics in the fight against diseases in the African region.

The commitment was made during a technical visit to the WHO Africa office in Brazzaville, Congo by a delegation from BMGF led by Jennifer Gardy, Deputy Director, Surveillance, Data, and Epidemiology from 8 to 10 January 2024.