In the face of consistent opposition from the tobacco industry, Uganda is standing firm on its successful eight-year long ban on the sale of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), says World Health Organization (WHO) Country Representative Dr Yonas Tegegn Woldemariam.

^{By Tatenda Chimbwanda}

Kampala - Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the world's deadliest infectious killers and a growing challenge in Uganda with each day close to 240 people falling ill with TB and approximately 30 losing their lives.  More than half of TB-related deaths are among people living with HIV, yet it is preventable and curable.

Abuja, 6 June, 2023 - Before 2021, the cautionary advice on cigarette packs in Nigeria was “The Federal Ministry of Health warns that smokers are liable to die young.”  
Yet, this did not deter Useni Musa, a resident of the Federal Captial Territory (Abuja),  in Northcentral Nigeria, from trying out his first cigarette stick at  13. 
By the age of 19, he had become addicted, smoking an average of two packs a day.

Owerri, 6 June, 2023 - In 2020, approximately 50,000 children below age one in Imo State, South East Nigeria, missed the uptake of the Pentavalent Vaccine due to COVID-19 disruption. 
A single dose of the Pentavalent vaccine is expected to have been taken at the sixth week of age. The Pentavalent vaccine protects a child from 5 life-threatening diseases – Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Hepatitis B, and Haemophilus influenzae type b). 

The World Health Organization welcomes a new funding commitment made by the United Kingdom’s Department of Health and Social Care to support Nigeria in strengthening her health workforce in the vision of achieving Universal Health Coverage

The grant amounting to £2 will cover two years period to support the government of Nigeria to optimize the performance, quality, and impact of the health workforce through evidence-informed policies and strategies.

Kigoma Region - In rural areas of Kigoma region in Tanzania, access to quality health services for pregnant women are constrained by distance, cost, unreliable diagnostic equipment, and inadequate transportation to referral hospitals. This has led to high numbers of maternal and perinatal deaths during pregnancy. 

Mbanza-Congo, 3 June 2023: Over the past two years, Angola has seen significant improvements in the Health Information System, an essential mechanism for responding to public health emergencies and protecting the population.  However, several challenges still need to be addressed in the epidemiological surveillance and epidemic response system, particularly regarding the capacity for case detection, notification, and investigation.