In Ebola treatment centres, field coordination hubs and emergency operations rooms, Dr Marie-Roseline Darnycka Bélizaire has built a reputation for moving quickly, listening to communities and helping countries strengthen their capacity to protect people.

Her work has now been recognized with a nomination to the 2026 TIME100 Next, which spotlights emerging leaders helping shape the future across different fields.

Angola is strengthening its strategic vaccination plan for the period 2026 to 2030, in a process led by the Ministry of Health, through the National Directorate of Public Health (DNSP), with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO), Gavi, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and other partners in the health sector.

Morogoro – The Government of Tanzania, through the Ministry of Health, has strengthened national preparedness to prevent and respond to Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) and other filovirus outbreaks through the finalization and validation of the updated National Filovirus Disease Case Management Guideline.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has supported the National Institute for Health Research (INIS) in assessing and improving the quality systems of its diagnostic laboratories for yellow fever, measles, and rubella. This is an important step towards achieving international accreditation and strengthening epidemiological surveillance in Angola.

Kampala, Uganda - In 2025, Uganda confirmed 66 separate measles outbreaks across the country, with a cluster of deaths in an underserved region. The outbreaks hit hardest among young children who had never received a single dose of the vaccine.

For health authorities, that gap between effort and outcome deserved a hard look. The recurring outbreaks signaled that the challenge was driven not by parental hesitation, but by systemic gaps in reaching every child.

The second round of the bivalent oral polio vaccination (bOPV) campaign conducted across Gambella and Benishangul-Gumuz regions, as well as in two zones of Oromia Region (Kellem Wollega and West Wollega), targeting 1,029,048children under the age of five years and have reached a total of 1,048,555 target children making the administrative coverage of 102%. 

Brazzaville - The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa is advancing the digital transformation of public health delivery with the launch of the DIGIT Health Campaign Data Digitization Project, a regional initiative designed to modernize how health campaigns are planned, coordinated, implemented and monitored across the continent.

Kampala – Senior United Nations leaders from Uganda and South Sudan have reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening cross-border preparedness and health security, underscoring the importance of coordinated action to protect communities along one of the region’s busiest population and trade corridors.

Maseru —The Ministry of Health has validated the National Health Policy (2025-2035) following a two-day stakeholder consultation meeting in Maseru on 24 September 2026. This significant milestone sets the direction for Lesotho’s health sector over the next decade and reinforces the country’s commitment to advancing Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The policy provides a renewed framework for strengthening health systems, improving service delivery and ensuring better health outcomes for all Basotho.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 22–24 September 2026 A team of experts led by the Regulation and Prequalification Department at the World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters conducted a technical assistance visit to the Ethiopian Food and Drug Authority (EFDA) Medicines Quality Control Laboratory (MQCL) from 22 to 24 September 2026. The visit served as a preliminary assessment of the MQCL's readiness for the WHO Listing of Quality Control Laboratories (WLQCL), following EFDA's expression of interest in being assessed.