Harare, 26 February 2003 -- Significant progress is being made in the control of vaccine-preventable diseases in the Eastern and Southern African epidemiological blocks, the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (AFRO) reports. 

The first consultative meeting of the African representatives on the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership Board got underway Tuesday 25 February 2003 in Harare, Zimbabwe, with a call on participants to ensure the strengthening of national capacity, country ownership and sustainability of malaria control programmes in the Region.

Key Personnel from the World Health Organization have crystallized public health challenges facing the six Southern African countries considered most vulnerable to prevailing health hazards in the region.

The first African Traditional Medicine Day is to be commemorated in the 46 countries of the African Region of the World Health Organization on 31 August 2003 under the theme "Traditional Medicine: Our Culture, Our Future."

This indication was given Friday in Brazzaville, Congo, by the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Ebrahim Malik Samba.

The World Health Organization Regional Director for Africa, Dr Ebrahim M. Samba, has been selected for this year's Distinguished Service Award of the New York-based International Health Medical Education Consortium (IHMEC).

The award is bestowed on individuals recognized for their outstanding and dedicated leadership in international health.

The Organization calls for immediate donor support to respond to the unfolding human catastrophe

7 February 2003 | ACCRA -- The World Health Organization today issued a joint Action Plan to alleviate human suffering in crisis shaken West Africa. During a three-day meeting in Accra with officials from Ministries of Health of the region, WHO staff examined the challenges of the health sector and finalized a co-ordinated response strategy.

Abuja, 5 December 2002 -- The 10th meeting of the Task Force on Immunization (TFI) in Africa and the 9th meeting of the Africa Regional Inter-Agency Coordination Committee (ARICC) ended Thursday in Abuja, Nigeria, with the adoption of a number of recommendations aimed at scaling up action for routine immunization, accelerated diseases surveillance and control, as well as the interruption of the wild poliovirus in the African Region by 2003.

Abuja, 3 December 2002 -- Countries in the World Health Organization (WHO) Africa Region made reasonable progress in the areas of accelerated disease control, disease surveillance and routine immunization during 2002, the Regional Adviser for Vaccine Preventable Diseases at the WHO Regional Office for Africa, Dr Deo Nshimirimana has reported.

Abuja, 3 December 2002 -- The African Region of the World Health Organization (WHO) made "excellent progress" in the global polio eradication drive between 1999 and 2002, according to a report released Tuesday by the WHO Regional Office for Africa (AFRO) in Abuja, Nigeria. 

Abuja, 2 December -- President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria has stressed the need for African countries to focus their collective attention on the task of implementing full immunization of children throughout the Region as a step towards achieving the global goal of polio eradication.