Botswana develops first ever multi-sectoral Tobacco Control Strategy

One of the groups drafting a component of the strategy

Gaborone, Botswana - 18-22 March 2019: The Ministry of Health and Wellness convened tobacco control stakeholders in Gaborone to develop a first ever national multi-sectoral tobacco control strategy. The week long workshop brought together stakeholders from both within and outside of government. Some of the key stakeholders included Ministries of trade, local government, basic education, youth and culture, the police, Botswana Unified Revenue Services and NGOs such as Anti-tobacco network, Botswana Substance Abuse Network (BOSAsnet), Humana People to People and Skygirls.

Diseases cost the African Region $2.4 trillion a year, says WHO

Diseases cost the African Region $2.4 trillion a year, says WHO
Nearly 630 million years of healthy life were lost in 2015 due to diseases afflicting people in the African Region, according to a new report by the WHO Regional Office for Africa. This amounts to a yearly loss of over $ 2.4 trillion of the region's gross domestic product.

Zanzibar commemorates World Hearing Day

Zanzibar commemorates World Hearing Day
On World Hearing Day 2019, WHO draws attention to the importance of early identification and intervention for hearing loss. Many people live with unidentified hearing loss, often failing to realize that they are missing out on certain sounds and words. Checking one’s hearing would be the first step towards addressing the issue. This year, the day was marked in Zanzibar under the theme "Check Your Hearing”.

It was frustrating to be diagnosed with Drug Resistance Tuberculosis (DR TB) but I Survived

St Paulos Hospital MDR TB ward case team
“My name is Kitaw Teklemariam. My daughter was only two years old while I was diagnosed as a TB patient at the age of 40. The problem I had been dealing with was not only my health; I was also confronted by the stigma from my family and the community. That touched me very deeply. Thank you I am alive now because of the affordable care I found in the country and the improved management of Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (DR TB) cases that provided me a good quality of care to save my life. I am grateful for doing the sensitization in different regions by sharing my story as a survival and promoting the TB program that benefits TB patients and the communities with little cognizance.