Brazzaville, 18 March 2016 - The WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti will begin a 4 day official visit to China from 22 to 25 March 2016 at the invitation of the Chinese government. The visit is aimed at further exploring areas of mutual interest in health with a view to having a more structured collaboration between WHO and the Chinese government.

Ethiopia commemorated World Cancer Day under the global theme “We can. I can.” by inaugurating a comprehensive cancer treatment center in Addis Ababa in Woreda Eight Health Center on 6 February 2016. The center is the first ever at woreda (district) level and second in the country Black Lion Specialized Hospital. 

At a landmark Ministerial Conference on Immunization in Africa held from 24-25 February 2016 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, African ministers of health and other line ministers signed a declaration to promote the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages against vaccine-preventable diseases and to close the immunization gap by 2020.

Guinea, (Nzérékoré), 18 March 2016 - Two cases of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) out of four suspected cases admitted at the Nzérékoré Ebola Treatment Centre have just been confirmed. All the cases are from the same family in Koropara Sous-préfecture in the south of Guinea.
Alert and response

At a lunch meeting organized by GAVI – the Vaccine Alliance on the Unfinished Business of Immunization during the Ordinary General Assembly of the Organisation of African First Ladies against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA), immunization partners and OAFLA came together to renew their commitment to complete the “unfinished business with child health in Africa”. 

Pretoria, 15 March 2016 - During the annual ODA Coordinating Forum chaired by the Honorable Minister and attended by a dozen ambassadors, the WHO Representative in her capacity as Acting UN Resident Coordinator, delivered the UN statement of support.  In the statement, the UN recognized National Health Insurance as the embodiment of South Africa’s international commitments that recognize health as a right for all individuals. 

Juba, 16 March 2016: WHO South Sudan Country Office held a two-day annual retreat from 15 to 16 March 2016 at Juba Regency Hotel.

The objective of the two-day retreat was to foster a strong team spirit among staff and challenge them to contribute to creating a highly successful WHO country office through innovation and hard work.

The Government of the United Republic of Tanzania in collaboration with World Health Organization (WHO) and Bloomberg Philanthropies Global Road Safety Programme are implementing a 5-year Road Safety Programme (2015-19) that aims at reducing the risk of road traffic crashes in the country. This aims at ensuring that there are good road safety laws which address drinking and driving, seat belts, child restraints and helmets use.

Sokoto, 11 March 2016 -- Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole has urged delegates to the 58th session of the National Council on Health (NCH) with the theme, ‘Universal Health Coverage (UCH): An Agenda for Change’ to embrace the country’s obligation towards fruition of UCH as key health sector goal of the sustainable development goals (SDGs).