Dodoma — Tanzania is strengthening nationwide efforts to improve access to timely, life-saving emergency care at frontline health facilities through the Accelerating Community and Transformative Learning for Basic Emergency Care (ACTxBEC) initiative.

Maiduguri, On a quiet morning in Maiduguri, Musa Bamaiyi Joseph watched laboratory staff move samples into new freezers.
“These machines didn’t survive the flood,” he said softly. “Now, we can work again. Without fear.”

This intervention demonstrates a simple truth: reliable laboratory infrastructure is essential to protecting children from preventable diseases.

Upper Nile State – The Ministry of Health, together with WHO and partners, has officially launched the Minister’s Special Initiative on Maternal and Newborn Health in Maiwut, aimed at ensuring that mothers and newborns in hard-to-reach areas have access to basic emergency obstetric and newborn care services comparable to those available elsewhere in the country.

Banjul—On 22 April 2026, the Ministry of Health (MoH) in collaboration with World Health Organization (WHO) in the Gambia convened Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and national stakeholders in Banjul to reinforce collaboration under the National Cancer Control Plan (NCCP). The meeting brought together key stakeholders to reinforce a shared commitment to a more integrated national response to cancer, spanning prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment, palliative care, surveillance, and research.

On 22 April 2026, the Ministry of Health (MoH) in collaboration with World Health Organization (WHO) in the Gambia convened Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and national stakeholders in Banjul to reinforce collaboration under the National Cancer Control Plan (NCCP). The meeting brought together key stakeholders to reinforce a shared commitment to a more integrated national response to cancer, spanning prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment, palliative care, surveillance, and research.

Maputo – The World Health Organisation, through its Regional Office for Africa (WHO/AFRO), led an external mission to evaluate the National Tuberculosis Control Programme (PNCT) in Mozambique.

Kagera

Bauchi, Data-driven, community-led vaccination is enabling children who have never received any vaccines (zero-dose) in Bauchi State to be reached, demonstrating how targeted action can close immunisation gaps at scale.

In Tumfafi Ward, Shira Local Government Area of Bauchi State, Jamila Muhammad approaches a vaccination post, something she had previously avoided. Her decision reflects a wider shift across underserved communities, where integrated, primary health care–based vaccination is reaching children who have not received any routine vaccines.

Freetown – The World Health Organization Sierra Leone Country Office has concluded a high-level advocacy engagement on 6 May 2026 with the Parliamentary Health Committee, meeting directly with Committee Chair Honourable Wuyatta Bernadette Songa to drive progress on a range of critical health sector reforms ahead of an anticipated legislative push later in 2026.

Praia, Cape Verde. The World Health Organisation (WHO), working in close coordination with the Government of Cape Verde and international partners, supported a rapid and coordinated response to an outbreak of hantavirus identified on board a cruise ship that was anchored off the port of Praia between 3 and 6 May 2026.

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