Lusaka - Zambia is grappling with a severe drought, declared a national disaster at the end of February. Over 1 million people in 84 of the 116 districts have been affected, and the lack of rainfall is devastating crop and animal production.  

According to the government’s crop assessment data, the drought has destroyed 983 765 hectares of maize crops, the country’s staple food, with production declining by nearly 50%.  

The Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS) with support from World Health Organization (WHO) Namibia, commemorated the World No Tobacco Day on 31 May 2024 in Tsumeb, Oshikoto Region. The event was held under the theme “Protecting children from the tobacco industry interference”, which aimed to advocate against targeting youth with harmful tobacco products and to raise awareness among communities, school children, and businesspersons on the danger of smoking and selling tobacco products to underage children. 
 

Abuja, 3 June, 2024 - Bassey Effiong, 42, started smoking as a teenager thinking “it was cool”. “I thought it showed you were in charge and independent. I was influenced by people who smoked in my neighbourhood, in movies, and in music videos, he says. 

Mutare – The number of cholera cases in Zimbabwe is declining thanks to the expanded and decentralized cholera response activities undertaken by the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC), supported by WHO and other partners. While current figures remain higher compared to the same period last year, this reduction is a welcome development, given the alarming surge between November 2023 and January this year.

Every year, more than 8 million people die worldwide from tobacco use. More than 7 million of these deaths result from direct tobacco consumption, and around 1.2 million are due to exposure of non-smokers to second-hand smoke. Data from the World Health Organization (WHO) show that around 22,000 women in the African region die every year from preventable tobacco-related diseases. 

Juba, 31 May 2024—In a historic step towards safeguarding children's lives and alleviating the high incidence of malaria in the country, the first consignment of the R21 malaria vaccine arrived in Juba today. The Ministry of Health received over 645 000 doses, which will be distributed to 28 counties with the highest malaria burden as plans continue to scale up nationwide.

Brazzaville – Tobacco use among adolescents in the African region declined by nearly 18% between 2020 and 2022, and by 46% among adults during the same period as countries adopt stronger measures to control the use of tobacco.