Brazzaville, 3 February 2014 – The 2nd All Africa Workshop on Rheumatic Fever and Rheumatic Heart Disease was held from 1 to 2 February in Victoria Falls, Zambia.

WHO, at the request of South Africa's Department of Health, has been providing technical assistance with the development of the National Strategy on Community Mobilization for PMTCT to address late booking.

The World Health Organisation is currently working with the National Department of Health and key stakeholders in planning the following:

The World Health Organization, together with South Africa's National Department of Health have trained 110 Facilitators on the new WHO cost effective Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses (IMCI) facilitation methodologies covering the IMCI computerized adaptation training tool (ICATT) and distance learning IMCI (dIMCI).

Addis Ababa, 31 January 2014 –- After over ten years without a single indigenous case of wild poliovirus (WPV), in 2013 importation of the virus was witnessed in Ethiopia. The country is now one of three countries with imported polio cases since the current outbreak affecting the Horn of Africa began in Somalia in May 2013. 

31 October 2013 -- Vectors are small organisms such as mosquitoes, bugs, ticks and freshwater snails, that can carry disease from person to person and place to place. They can put our health at risk, at home and when we travel. The World Health Day 2014 campaign focuses on some of the main vectors and the diseases they cause and what we can all do to protect ourselves. Check the site regularly for tools and materials that will help you prepare for your World Health Day activities.

The WHO Nigeria organized a one-day stakeholders’ meeting on 30th January 2013 as part of the process to review WHO Country Cooperation Strategy CCSII (2008-2013) and development the 3rd generation of CCS (2014-2019). There was high level and wide participation of Stakeholders including key officials from the Federal Ministry of Health and its Agencies, Commissioners of health or their representatives from the 36 states and federal Capital Territory (FCT), development partners, the UN country team, civil society and the media. There were total of 119 participants.

Kampala, 29th January, 2014:- The WHO Country Representative for Uganda Dr Wondimagegnehu Alemu visited the Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI) and the Uganda Heart Institute (UHI) to acquaint himself with their operations. It was his first official visit to the two centres since his arrival in the country eight months ago.

Preliminary report of Sierra Leone’s 2013 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) was launched on 28 January 2014 by Dr Keifala Mara, Minister of Finance and Economic Development in Freetown. The report was launched in a gathering of a cross section of the public and government officials, development partner including the UN, the donor community, civil society and other strategic partners.

Addis Ababa, 27 January -- Ethiopian House of Peoples’ Representatives ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) on 21 January 2014. The main objective of the Convention is to decrease the demand and supply of tobacco and tobacco products. It is the first international treaty negotiated in response to the globalization of the tobacco epidemic. The Convention represents a milestone for the promotion of public health and provides new legal dimensions for international health cooperation.