A new resolve to eliminate cholera in DRC

Health workers put up a poster on preventing cholera during an outbreak in Kinshasa in 2016.
The complex health crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has worsened since the beginning of 2023. In the east of the country, entire villages have been burned to the ground as intercommunal clashes and armed conflict rage, forcing people to leave their homes for their safety and survival. The area has also seen floods and landslides, further increasing the risk of outbreaks of deadly diseases. One of these diseases is cholera. Cholera is an acute intestinal infection that spreads through food and water contaminated with faeces containing the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. While the disease has been eliminated from many parts of the world, it continues to affect eastern DRC, marred by years of underdevelopment, conflict and extreme climate events. In October 2023, the government of DRC launched a plan to eliminate the disease by 2030.

Joint statement by WHO-UNICEF-ROTARY on World Polio Day 2023

Joint statement by WHO-UNICEF-ROTARY on World Polio Day 2023

Today, we commemorate the 2023 World Polio Day (WPD) by joining the global community to create awareness about polio eradication and urge parents to vaccinate their children. We,– the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, and ROTARY – reaffirm our commitment to continue delivering on our promise until polio is eliminated in Ethiopia.

AFRO builds capacity of 12 member states to improve antimicrobial resistance surveillance

Mr Ben Nangombe, Executive Director of the Ministry of Health and Social Services with Dr Mary Brantuo, WHO Namibia OIC colleagues from AFRO, Geneva and participants from 12 member states f

The Regional Office for Africa (AFRO), WHO Geneva in collaboration with WHO Namibia and the Ministry of Health and Social Services conducted a training on Global Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) and Use surveillance system (GLASS) and WHONET tool in Windhoek, for 12 selected member states. The training aimed to build capacity of Member States to establish and/or enhance national surveillance systems for AMR and generate, collect, report, and use quality data to inform decisions at the country, regional and global levels.  

Angola's Health Preparedness Assessed by International Body

WHO collaborates in the JEE, involving 13 assessors and a team of over 60 specialists

In a bid to strengthen global health security, the World Health Organization (WHO) has concluded a comprehensive assessment of Angola's readiness and response to health threats. This initiative, the Joint External Evaluation (JEE), took place between 25th and 29th September 2023.

Students support vaccination to save lives

Catarino working in the community

Catarino Estêvão Fernandes Francisco, 21, is in his third year of medicine at the Private University of Angola (UPRA). He always dreamed of becoming a neurosurgeon. 

But the experience of working in Luanda on the national polio vaccination campaign, which ran from 8 to 11 September 2023, has given him another dream. "I want to do field work, observe patients and help the most vulnerable people. I don't want to sit in a doctor's surgery. I want to work in public health."

WHO and partners support Angola in the fight against polio

Child being vaccinated

Luanda, 24th of October, 2023 ‒ In the neighborhood of Caope Velha, in the municipality of Cacuaco in Luanda, Elisa António de Melo, 70, is carrying a baby girl in her arms. She is waiting with her two granddaughters and four great-grandchildren for the polio vaccine to be administered to the children. De Melo does not know the details of the vaccine's effects, but she can tell you it's a lifesaver.