Freetown, Sierra Leone – 17 August 2015: Use of rapid response teams and strong community involvement in finding Ebola virus disease cases and contacts is yielding results in Sierra Leone. An epidemiological week has now passed with no new Ebola cases for the first time since the beginning of the outbreak.

“This is very good news but we have to keep doing this intensively-working with communities to identify potentially new cases early and rapidly stop any Ebola virus transmission” said Dr Anders Nordstrom, WHO Representative in Sierra Leone.

Conakry (Guinea), 17 August 2015 (WHO): The President of Guinea, Mr Alpha Condé, called a meeting with Dr Mohamed Belhocine, the WHO Country Representative in Guinea, the coordinator of the Ebola vaccine trial and the CDC/Atlanta coordinator in Guinea. This team of partners was introduced by the national Ebola virus disease coordinator Dr Sakoba Keita.

Hon. Minister of Health, Mrs Amina Nurhussien made official visit to the WHO Country Office for Eritrea. The aim of the visit was to review ongoing collaboration between MOH and WHO;  and explore new ways of strengthening collaboration in order to further improve the health outcomes of the people of Eritrea. The Hon. Minister was accompanied on the visit by Dr Andom O. Director General of policy and planning and Dr Ghirmai Tesfaslasie, advisor on International Relations.

Monrovia, 14 August 2014. - The Liberian Ministry of Health (MOH) with support from WHO and partners has embarked on strengthening the country’s capacity to deliver safe and quality health services. To achieve this, a core team of 60 trainers was engaged in a series of trainings in Monrovia on the newly developed Safe Quality Services.

Monrovia, 13 August 2015 – Liberia has embarked on another 42-day countdown in its fight to end Ebola. This declaration of international importance comes after the Government of Liberia, the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners have been able to contain the re-emergence of the disease that occurred on 29 June 2015.

Surviving Ebola is only part of the story. Many patients experience "post-Ebola" symptoms - joint pain, dizziness, blurred vision, inability to concentrate, headaches. The Ebola Survivors Clinic, opened recently at the Redemption Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia, not only offers treatment, support and training for Ebola survivors, but also helps health-care workers better understand this disease.

11 August 2015 -- Today marks 1 year since the last wild polio case was detected on the entire African continent. A polio-free Africa would leave only two countries where polio transmission has never been interrupted: Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative, spearheaded by WHO and partners, aims for a polio-free world by 2018.

Juba, 11 August 2015 – The World Health Organization (WHO) and partners are battling South Sudan’s on-going cholera outbreak, providing thousands of people with life-saving treatment that is helping bring down the number of cases.

Cholera cases have been declining since 20 July 2015 but continue to be a great threat to young children and other vulnerable groups in South Sudan. As of 10 August 2015, a total of 1519 cholera cases have been reported since June with children under five and 5-9 years of age being most affected in Juba and Bor counties.

Speaking at the side event onChanging the Conversation on Development Finance for Health, WHO Director Genearl Dr Margaret Chan, underscored the need to change the conversation in accordance with the changing global social, demographic and financial landscape. 

Implementation will Improve Access to Medicines 

The week of the third International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD) was an opportune time to launch the ambitious 10-year National Strategy and Plan of Action to Develop Local Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Capacity in order to increase access to locally manufactured, quality-assured, medicines. The FfD brought together high level persona from key health and development partners, most of whom attended and spoke at the launching event.