WHO Country Office in Sierra Leone conducted orientation for representatives of a coalition of civil society groups as part of ongoing efforts to increase public awareness on the prevention and control of Lassa fever in the country.

The orientation was to equip the coalition members from different parts of the coun-try with the basic facts about Lassa fever which they could use to sensitize communities in which they work.

Brazzaville, 16 August 2011 - The sixty-first session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa is to be held from 29 August to 2 September 2011 in Yamoussoukro, Cote d’Ivoire.

This year’s meeting of the Regional Committee, WHO’s Governing Body in the African Region, will discuss among others, a report on the work of WHO in the African Region, to be presented by the Regional Director, Dr Luis Sambo.

High on the agenda of the meeting is WHO’s Programme Budget for the 2012 – 2013 biennium, and orientations for its implementation in the Region.

The World Health Organization in collaboration with the Mano River Un-ion (MRU) Secretariat and Ministry of Health and Sanitation conducted a four day Regional Conference in Freetown from 9-12 August 2011. The main objective of the meeting was to develop a strategic plan for the pre-vention and control of Lassa fever (LF) and other emerging infectious dis-eases in the West African Region.

On 11th August 2011, the Government of Tanzania expressed its appreciation for WHO support offered to Rabies Elimination Project in 5 South Eastern regions of Tanzania namely Dar Es Salaam, Coast, Lindi, Morogoro and Mtwara and Pemba Island in Zanzibar.

This was acknowledged by the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Development Dr. Charles Nyamrunda during handing over of various vaccination equipment and supplies worth USD 103,517 equivalent to Tshs 165,626,544.

The Executive Representative of the UN Secretary General (ERSG) in Sierra Leone, Mr Michael Voder Schulenburg and the WHO Representative Dr Wondimagegnehu Alemu, visited the National Reference Laboratory at Lakka on 8th August 2011.

The purpose was to acquaint the ERSG on the efforts of the MoHS in establishing a Public Health Reference Laboratory as part of the strengthening of national laboratory network. The site was refurbished with support from WHO, CDC, UNICEF and Global Fund through NAS and technical coordination by APHL.

The Health Education Division of the Ministry of Health and sanitation with support from the World Health Organization is developing a Five year National Health Promotion strategic Plan 2012-2017 that will guide health promotion activities in the country. The plan hopes to address risk factors and determi-nants of health that contribute to ill-health and premature deaths. It also articulates advocacy for sustained health promo-tion practices, documentation and dissemination of evidence based health information.

The Horn of Africa is facing its worst drought in over 50 years; child malnutrition rates are more than double or triple the 15% emergency threshold and are expected to rise.

Luanda, 12 August 2011– An outbreak of an unknown illness has been reported among children and students in schools in Angola. In most cases the illness has occurred suddenly followed by the resolution of symptoms within a few hours. No deaths have been reported.

The typical symptoms reported include: vomiting, headache, sore throat, eye irritation, coughing, breathing difficulties and fainting in some cases. The outbreaks have been reported in schools of the capital, Luanda, and in a number of other provinces.

Brazzaville, 11 August 2016 – As the number of yellow fever cases decline in Angola and Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the World Health Organization calls on Governments and partners to capitalize on the momentum and intensify response measures.