Abidjan/Brazzaville, 8 September 2008 -- The city of Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire can once again be considered safe from a Yellow Fever epidemic after the national Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF nongovernmental organizations and others in the Yellow Fever Partnership combined their forces to vaccinate over 2.2 million people in the Ivorian capital.

Brazzaville, 8 September 2008 -- Ministers of health from the World Health Organization (WHO) African Region ended their fifty-eighth session on Friday in Yaoundé, Cameroon, with the adoption of resolutions aimed at improving the health of women and strengthening laboratory capacity in the Region. The meeting also endorsed the Ouagadougou Declaration on Primary Health adopted by the Region’s health Ministers in April this year.

Yaoundé, 5 September 2008 -- The 58th Session of the World Health Organization Regional Committee for Africa ended in Yaoundé, Cameroon on Friday 5th September 08.

The Committee deliberated on a range of issues such as women’s health, cancer prevention and control, harmful use of alcohol, strengthening public health laboratories, iodine deficiency, patient safety, oral health strategy, programme budget, amendment of the Medium Term Strategic Plan, the Ouagadougou and Algiers declarations.

Yaoundé, 4 September 2008 -- The WHO Regional Director for Africa Dr Luis Gomes Sambo has called for the need to strengthen health systems based on the Primary health Care (PHC) approach.

Speaking at a gathering of academics and students from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Yaoundé One, Cameroon, Dr Sambo highlighted the key principles of primary health care and mentioned some of the factors that slowed down its implementation in the African region.

4 September 2008 | YAOUNDE -- Health ministers from countries of the African meningitis belt today committed themselves to introduce a highly promising candidate meningitis vaccine. The vaccine is designed to prevent periodic epidemics of the deadly disease in these countries.

Meeting at the 58th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa, held in Yaoundé from 1 to 5 September, the ministers adopted the Yaoundé Declaration, committing themselves to several actions.

Yaoundé, 2 September 2008 -- There is an urgent need to interrupt wild poliovirus in Northern Nigeria, sustain optimum involvement of communities in high-risk areas, and conduct independent monitoring and evaluation of immunization activities at all levels.

This key recommendation is contained in a report to be discussed today at the fifty-eighth session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa taking place in Yaounde, Cameroon.

Yaoundé, 2 September 2008 -- Since the 1990s, Africa has made steady progress in controlling iodine deficiency disorders (IDD), but countries need to intensify elimination efforts, advises the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Luis Sambo.

IDD refers to a wide range of health problems associated with inadequate intake of iodine such as goitre, still birth, stunted growth, thyroid deficiency and mental defects. Pregnant women and young children living in iodine-deficient areas are particularly at risk.

Yaoundé, 2 September 2008 -- African countries have been called upon to curb the harmful use of alcohol, a practice which experts say poses a serious threat to the Region’s health and development efforts.

The call was made in Yaoundé, Cameroon, by the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Luis Sambo, in a report to the annual meeting of health ministers from 46 countries which constitute the WHO African Region.

Yaoundé, 2 September 2008 -- Improving Africa’s laboratory services—currently characterized by inadequate staffing, equipment and supplies—is critical to disease control efforts as this will lead to prompt and appropriate responses to epidemics; quicker and better disease detection; and better patient management.

Yaoundé, 2 September 2008 -- African countries have made modest but steady progress in curbing HIV infection since the WHO Regional Office for Africa spearheaded the launch, in 2006, of an initiative to accelerate HIV prevention in the Region.

This assessment is contained in a progress report presented by the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Luis Sambo, to the fifty-eighth session of the Regional Committee for Africa taking place in Yaoundé, Cameroon.