Africa CDC Regional Director Dr. Lul Riek and his team recently paid a courtesy call to the WHO Botswana Country Office to explore areas of collaboration and discuss key priorities in Botswana’s health system. The visit reaffirmed the shared commitment of both institutions to strengthening National Public Health Institutes (NPHIs) and enhancing coordination in public health responses across the continent.

Maseru ‒ One afternoon in May 2025, 48-year-old Lebohang Pitso* from Lesotho’s capital, Maseru, felt her life slipping away. Weakened from a bout of severe bleeding caused by cervical cancer, she sought emergency care at the city’s renowned Senkatana Oncology Clinic. A few hours after being admitted and receiving a blood transfusion, she felt a powerful transformation take place in her body.

“It was like a heavy cover was removed from my face,” she says. “The blood gave me life.”

Freetown, Sierra Leone - In a coordinated effort to curb the spread of mpox, the Government of Sierra Leone, working closely with the World Health Organization (WHO), Africa CDC, WAHO and partners has deployed 36 AVoHC-SURGE responders to the country’s hotspot districts. The responders, drawn from across multiple sectors, represent a powerful show of solidarity in a moment that demands speed, precision, and collaboration.

Kagera Region – Tanzania is stepping up efforts to strengthen healthcare-associated infection (HAI) surveillance following a recent Marburg virus outbreak in the Kagera Region, which claimed two lives earlier this year.

With funding from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), the World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, conducted a four-day training for 41 healthcare workers in Kagera. The initiative focused on improving the detection, prevention, and management of HAIs.

Between June 3 and 5, the Angola Medicines and Health Technologies Regulatory Agency (ARMED), with technical support from World Health Organization (WHO) and funding from the European Union (EU), held a strategic meeting to monitor progress in implementing the recommendations made as part of the assessment of its regulatory maturity.

Freetown, Sierra Leone - Today in Freetown, the World Health Organization (WHO) organized a high-level meeting to share update on the mpox situation in Sierra Leone and address urgent gaps.

Luanda, 10 June 2025 — The World Health Organization (WHO) today donated three mobile water quality testing kits to the Ministry of Health, through the Instituto Nacional de Investigação em Saúde (INIS), to strengthen Angola’s capacity to monitor and respond to waterborne disease risks—especially during health emergencies such as the ongoing cholera outbreak.

Maseru – Lesotho has become the first nation in the WHO African Region to pilot the Afro Influenza (AFFLU) surveillance platform, a cutting-edge initiative aimed at boosting the country's health surveillance system. This platform, developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the African region as an adaptation of the Eastern Mediterranean (EMFLU) Influenza surveillance version, is designed to enhance the collection, management, and analysis of both aggregate and case-based data on influenza and other respiratory viruses (ORVs).

Every step of Ajambo Juliet’s 8-kilometer walk from her village of Nawasonga Idubu to Mayuge Health Center III carries more than just distance; it carries hope. 

Freetown, Sierra Leone - When Yusuf Sesay first noticed a strange itch around his genital area, mpox wasn’t the first thing that came to mind. He figured it might just be a mild infection, something a quick pharmacy run could fix. But within a few days, the discomfort spiraled into something harder to ignore: fever, pounding headaches, and the kind of fatigue that made getting out of bed quite difficult. 

Yet, he kept self-medicating, hoping it would go away.