Statements

Bamako – World Health Organization (WHO) deplores the abduction of Dr Mahamadou Diawara, who was taken by unidentified assailants from his car on 23 January 2023 in the town of Menaka in northern Mali.

Dr Diawara, deployed by WHO in Menaka since the beginning of 2020, has been leading efforts to provide medical care to communities that are often remote and face insecurity risks and violence. 

The driver of his car was also attacked, but the assailants left him behind and he is recovering from the incident.

The motive for the abduction is unclear.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reiterates that there is not yet a specific antiviral treatment whose safety and effectiveness are proven to treat COVID-19. Corticosteroids and medical oxygen remain essential in saving the lives of patients with severe cases of COVID-19.

After a year of disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with more than 80,700 Ghanaians getting infected with the virus and over 580 lost lives, the path to recovery for the people of Ghana can finally begin.

The World Health Organization (WHO) welcomes innovations around the world including repurposing drugs, traditional medicines and developing new therapies in the search for potential treatments for COVID-19.

The Ministry of Health, Population and Hospital Reform of Algeria has reported the country’s first case of COVID-19. Health authorities report that tests indicate that an Italian adult, who arrived in the country on 17 February 2020 has tested positive for coronavirus disease.

In another historic step for humanity towards a world free of polio, an independent commission of experts today certified – on World Polio Day – that the second of three types of the wild poliovirus had been eradicated globally.

We, the Ministers of Health and senior immigration officials of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the nine neighboring countries to the DRC, met on 21 October 2019 in Goma the DRC;

Today, amid our unrelenting work to end this tenth outbreak of Ebola virus disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we celebrate a bright spot, which is actually 1000 bright spots – each person who has survived an Ebola infection.