In rural Ethiopia, people who suffer from mental, neurological and substance use disorders have very limited access to care as mental health services are mainly centralized around Amanuel Mental Specialized Hospital in Addis Ababa. However, things are changing slowly but surely.

Harare Zimbabwe, 3 July 2014: WR Zimbabwe, Dr David Okello handed back some Parirenyatwa Annex Offices to Parirenyatwa Hospital. The offices on the ground floor of the Annex building were now vacant since the move of the Zimbabwe Country Office and IST/ESA to the Highlands complex.

Kampala, 3rd July 2014:- Blood transfusion as a part of life saving health intervention cannot be overemphasized. Making quality assured blood available to all hospital at all time of the year is among the objectives of any national blood transfusion programme.

Community leaders in three counties in Liberia – Montserrado, Margibi, and Lofa – are receiving information sessions on Ebola as part of the effort to contain the disease. WHO is supporting the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to conduct these sessions on the basics of the disease, how it is transmitted and what people can do to help authorities contain the disease.

Inside this issue: Welcome Message, World TB Day 2014, Road Safety Easter Campaign, Econet Donation, News in Brief, Farewell Dr. Aceng, Coming Soon!, Meet the Team.

Read the WHO lesotho 2nd Quarter Newsletter, April - June 2014

Accra, 03 July 2014 – The Emergency Ministerial meeting on Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) has ended today with Health Ministers agreeing on a range of priority actions to end the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. The scale of the ongoing outbreak is unprecedented with reports of over 750 cases and 445 deaths in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia since March 2014.

The WHO Country Representative Dr Abdi Aden Mohamed, the Minister of Health, Dr Riek Gai Kok together with a team from WHO and central Ministry of Health on Thursday 03 July 2014, visited State capital Torit in Eastern Equatoria State to assess the cholera situation in the state.

Heads of agencies of the United Nations in Sierra Leone visited Kenema and Kailahun Districts on 30 June and 1 July respectively. The team was led by the UN Resident Coordinator, David McLachlan-Karr. The objective of the visit was to identify gaps in the Ebola response and assess resource needs. Outcome of the visit will guide the UN agencies in their resource mobilisation for a coordinated UN intervention in supporting the government and partners to curb outbreak of the Ebola Hemorrhagic Disease in Sierra Leone.

The Federal Ministry of Health of Ethiopia becomes a smoke-free and physically active environment.

Synchronized polio supplementary immunization activities (SIAs) were conducted in Ethiopia, Somalia, and Djibouti on 14–18 June 2014 to accelerate progress towards ending polio in the Horn of Africa. The synchronized SIAs were an outcome of the Horn of Africa Countries Synchronized Cross-Border Polio Outbreak Preparedness and Response Meeting in Jijgiga, 21–23 May 2014, where Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and Djibouti agreed to strengthen cross-border collaboration to kick polio out of the Horn of Africa.