Brazzaville, 31 August 2007 -- The fifty-seventh session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa ended on Friday in Brazzaville, Congo, with the adoption of a resolution approving orientations for implementing the WHO 2008-2009 Programme Budget in the African Region. Two of the resolutions adopted endorsed strategy documents on food safety and diabetes prevention and control, while two others addressed river blindness control and the resurgence of cholera in the Region.

In endorsing the orientations for implementing the 2008-2009 Programme Budget, the meeting requested the Regional Director to ensure that operational planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation were undertaken with national authorities. It also urged the Regional Director to continue efforts to mobilize voluntary funds and pursue advocacy with donors and development partners to relax the conditionalities attached to voluntary contributions.

The resolution on food safety, among other things, urged Member States to include food safety in overall national development policies; strengthen foodborne disease surveillance as part of national and regional disease surveillance and response systems; establish mechanisms to enhance consumer awareness in food safety activities, and develop effective links and coordination among food safety agencies.

The strategy on diabetes prevention and control adopted by the meeting aims to ensure better prevention, management and control of diabetes in Member States in order to reduce morbidity and mortality due to the disease, and improve the quality of life of diabetes patients.

In adopting the strategy, the meeting urged Member States to develop or strengthen national policies, plans and programmes targeted at diabetes; develop and implement integrated surveillance and primary prevention activities for noncommunicable diseases, including diabetes, and mobilize and allocate resources for preventing and controlling the disease.

The resolution on cholera urged Member States to give priority to developing integrated multisectoral medium- and long-term plans to resolve the cholera situation in their countries; improve advocacy for cholera prevention and control; advocate for mobilization of resources for strengthening programmes for safe water and food supplies and environmental sanitation; strengthen national capacity for surveillance, early detection, investigation, laboratory confirmation, information sharing, case management and rapid containment of cholera outbreaks, and provide appropriate health promotion material targeting various audiences for promoting personal hygiene and healthy behaviours.

The resolution on river blindness control called on Member States to include river blindness control programmes in government development agendas; allocate financial resources to control the disease and sustain gains already made; and integrate community-directed river blindness treatment into the health delivery system at all levels in order to maintain high treatment coverage a and reduce the prevalence of the disease.

Delegates requested the Regional Director to continue advocating for the control of the disease, and provide technical support to countries for the integration of river blindness control in their national health delivery systems.

It was agreed that the fifty-eighth session of the Regional Committee be held from 1 to 5 September 2008 in Cameroon while the fifty-ninth session will be held in Kigali, Rwanda. The Ministers also adopted a Declaration on Traditional Medicine.

The five-day meeting was attended by Health Ministers (or their representatives) from 46 Members States of the WHO African Region, senior WHO officials including WHO Director General Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Regional Director for Africa Dr Luis Sambo, the Director of Programme Management at the WHO Regional Office for Africa, Dr Paul-Samson Lusamba-Dikassa, WHO Representatives in the African Region; representatives of bilateral and multilateral organizations, including Inter-Governmental Organzations, NGOs, and Funds and Programmes of the United Nations system.

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