Today WHO Sierra Leone released its latest Progress Report, which documents achievements and lessons learned across the health sector over the course of 2016. This was a milestone year as the country strove to advance the post-Ebola Presidential Recovery Priorities (PRPs) as well as the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The PRPs entered their second phase in 2016 and include commitments to:

16 March,  Mbabane, Swaziland - AS the country battles with an increasing burden of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), the World Health Organization has donated E650 000 worth of equipment and consumables for the diagnosis and treatment of NCDs.

Monrovia 17th March, 2017 - The Ministry of Health of Liberia, with support from the World Health Organization has endorsed the new version (2nd Edition) of the National Standard Therapeutic Guidelines and Essential Medicines List for the country.

Currently Sierra Leone’s largest every survey of health facilities is underway as part of an extended Service Availability and Readiness Assessment (SARA+), which aims to provide critical data and information on health service quality and availability right across the country. It will also enable comprehensive mapping of current health services.

16 March 2017, Mbabane, Swaziland - Hundreds of residents from Nkwene in the Shiselweni region received free ear screening and treatment during the World Hearing Day on March 3. The event was held at Nkwene Inkhundla and was aimed at raising awareness among communities, community leaders, parents, teachers, health professionals, and policy makers about hearing care and how to prevent debilitating hearing loss. The theme for this year was “Action for hearing loss: Make a sound investment”.

Maiduguri, 15 March 2017 - An estimated 400,000 children in the northeast, Nigeria are currently suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) because of the ongoing humanitarian crisis. Severe acute malnutrition is a life threatening condition requiring urgent treatment. Without proper treatment, one in every five of those children -75, 000 could die.

Lusaka, 14 March 2017 - Zambia acceded to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) on 23rd May 2008. The Public Health Act of 1992 provides the legal framework for tobacco control in the country. It bans sales of tobacco to minors, prohibits smoking in public places, and bans advertisements in the mass media. Subsequent improvements to this law have been made including the Statutory Instrument 39 of 2008 which bans smoking in public places. However, challenges have been faced in the enforcement of tobacco control laws.

Dar es Salaam, 7-9 March 2017 : Climate change has been recognized as a major global health threat of the 21st century. Its effects are already happening and are expected to have complex, long term consequences to the livelihood, environment and the health sector including in Tanzania. In recognizing the devastating impact of climate change, the Government of Tanzania has put in place a number of initiatives to address the challenges of climate change.

Monrovia 9th March 2017: The Ministry of Health of Liberia is making progress in mental health care in the face of considerable challenges. To address the severe shortage of mental health clinicians and social workers, the Ministry of Health with support from the Carter Center, International Rescue Committee (IRC), Partners in Health (PIH), United Nations Agency for International Development (USAID), and the World Health Organization (WHO), undertook training of front-line health workers to care for people with mental illness.

Monrovia, 7th March, 2017 - The Ministry of Health with support from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organization and other partners has concluded a four- day polio immunization campaign from February 24th – 27th targeting a total of 945,464 children 0 – 59 months. The post- campaign independent monitoring data indicates that Liberia has achieved over 95 percent national coverage in each of the last five consecutive polio campaigns.