Brazzaville, 7 June 2005 -- Former WHO Director-General, Dr Halfdan Mahler, today in Brazzaville joined two former WHO Regional Directors for Africa, Dr Ebrahim Samba and Prof Gottlieb Monekosso, and two former Directors of Programme Management, Prof. Ayite M. d’Almeida and Dr A. Kone-Diabi, among others, to discuss the strategic orientations to guide WHO action in the African Region.

The two-day consultation will conduct a situation analysis of the health situation in the region and propose new ideas to guide future cooperation between WHO and its 46 Member States in the Region during the period 2005 to 2009.

Other participants in the consultation meeting are the WHO Assistant Director-General for Communicable Diseases, Dr A. Asamoa-Baah; the WHO Assistant Director-General for Family and Community Health, Mrs Joy Phumaphi; the Director-General of Health Services of Uganda, Dr Francis Omaswa, and representative of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development secretariat in South Africa, Prof. Eric Buch.

These health personalities will be joined in the discussion by the current WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Luis G. Sambo; Director of Programme Management, Dr Paul-Samson Lusamba-Dikassa; Director of Family and Reproductive Health, Dr Doyin Oluwole; Director of Communicable Disease Prevention and Control, Dr James Mwanzia; and Director of AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Dr Antoine Kabore. 

Others are Director of Healthy Environments and Sustainable Development, Dr Chris Mwikisa; Director of Noncommunicable Diseases, Dr Rufaro Chatora; Director of Finance and Administration, Mr Garry Bromson; Director of Health Systems and Services Development, Dr A.J. Diarra-Nama; and Dr Oladapo Walker who is responsible for WHO Technical Cooperation with Countries in the African Region.

The meeting is the first organized in the Region to bring together former WHO directors at regional and global levels to help chart the path of future cooperation between WHO and its Member States. 

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