Sierra Leone commemorated World AIDS Day on 1 December 2012 on the theme Getting to zero new HIV Infection, Zero Discrimination and Zero AIDS Related Death by 2015.

Lusaka 07 December 2012 -- The World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO/AFRO) and WHO Global Capacities, Alert and Response stakeholders regional meeting for mapping of unmet country needs to accelerate the implementation of the International Health Regulations (2005) in the African Region came to a conclusion on 6th December 2012. The WHO Country Representative, Dr. Olusegun Babaniyi officially closed the meeting.

Pretoria, 07 December 2012 -- Print, radio and television Journalists from seven priority Anglophone countries attended the WHO African Region’s media training on Neglected Tropical Diseases held in Johannesburg, South Africa, 4 to 6 December. The training focussed on:

1. Explaining NTDs’ importance in health and broader socio-economic development to help journalists identify news stories for more frequent coverage.

2. Improving journalists’ knowledge on NTDs concepts and terminology for accurate NTDs reporting.

Two staff members from WHO Sierra Leone that participated in a Personal Effectiveness Training Workshop in Brazzaville shared their experiences with their colleagues at the Country Office by replicating the training. Ms Hannah Yankson and Mrs Edith Gray together with staff from other Country Offices attended the workshops from 4 to 7 December 2012 organized by the Staff Devel-opment and Learning Unit at the Regional Office in Brazzaville, Congo.

On 6th December, 2012, Tanzania historically became the second country, in sub-Saharan Africa to launch the introduction of two new vaccines simultaneously in the routine immunization schedule. The national launch took place in Dar es Salaam and was officiated by the First Lady of the United Republic of Tanzania, Mama Salma Kikwete. Others also present to witness the launch were the Regional Commissioner for Dar es Salaam, Hon. Said Meck Saddick; the Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Hon. Dr. Hussein Mwinyi; the Chairman of the GAVI Alliance, Mr.

Brazzaville, 6 December 2012 - The World Health Organization (WHO) has called upon countries of the WHO African Region to use research to promote knowledge and strengthen health action in order to improve human health.

Lusaka, 04 December 2012 -- The World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO/AFRO) in collaboration with WHO Global Capacities, Alert and Response has organized a regional meeting for mapping of unmet country needs to accelerate the implementation of the International Health Regulations (2005) in the African Region. Since the IHR (2005) came into force in 2007, many countries in the WHO African Region have developed IHR implementation plans and improved their surveillance and response capacities.

Luanda, 22 November 2012 -- A report on the work of  the World Health Organization (WHO)  in the African Region  has been presented by its  Regional Director for Africa, Dr Luis Sambo,  to the 62nd session of the WHO  Regional Committee for Africa taking place in Luanda, Angola.

Luanda, 21 November  2012 -- The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa, Dr Luis Sambo, has proposed a set of actions which African countries  should prioritize to strengthen their national health systems, drawing resources from the large number of existing global health initiatives (GHIs) operating in the Region. Global Health Initiatives are programmes targeted at specific diseases and are intended to bring additional resources to the health efforts of countries.

Luanda, 21 November 2012 -- On 15 June 2007, the new International Health Regulations (IHR) came into force. These regulations, agreed by all African countries, were designed to help countries and WHO to work together to detect and control the international spread of serious public health threats, like infectious disease.

The IHR aim to quickly identify an outbreak or any other public health threat, including chemical and radiological hazards that could have an international impact, so that a fast and effective response can be organized.