The WHO Country office in São Tomé and Principe organized a 3-day retreat in April 2022 with all staff. The goal was to contribute to maintain an organizational climate conducive to the achievement of better health outcomes. The retreat aimed to highlight the Organization's values and mission, provide greater integration between the teams and the supervisors, promote internal commitment for achieving better health outcomes, review the previous year's performance, and project the objectifs and results to be achieved in the current year.

Arusha, Tanzania – Five East African countries have held their first simulation exercise since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to improve preparedness and bolster response to health emergencies.

The East Africa region faces recurrent outbreaks and disasters. In the past three years alone the region faced outbreaks of diseases including cholera, Ebola, Marburg, measles and Rift Valley Fever. 

Brazzaville – World Health Organization (WHO) has released US$ 8.3 million from its Contingency Funding for Emergencies to assist the 10.6 million people in need of emergency health services in the Sahel region.

Humanitarian agencies and governments estimate that 33.2 million people are grappling with the devastating impacts of armed conflict, insecurity, food insecurity and displacement in the Sahel. 

Gaborone, 28 April 2022 – Pandemic-related disruptions, increasing inequalities in access to vaccines, and the COVID-19-related diversion of resources from routine immunization are leaving too many children without protection against vaccine-preventable diseases. As Botswana joins the world in celebrating World Immunization Week and the historic achievements through vaccines, the country needs to urgently turn the spotlight to routine immunization against common childhood diseases, such as measles.

Johannesburg, April 29, 2022 – The African Region accounted for 66% of the 303,000 maternal deaths recorded globally in 2017. 

To address this situation, WHO in collaboration with UNFPA, UNICEF and partners supports Member States to ensure that all women and girls have access to quality and timely health services, particularly during pregnancy, childbirth, and after delivery, leaving no one behind.

Abuja, 29 April 2022 - Feeling feverish with body pains, 25 years old Blessing Musa sat patiently in the waiting room of Kuchingoro Primary Health Care Centre, in Abuja Municipal Area Council, anxious for  the result of her blood test from the laboratory. 

Ms Musa had consulted with a doctor, who asked for a malaria test, and the result came out in less than 30 minutes positive for malaria. 

Eritrea in a high-profile event celebrated the launch of four strategic documents: The National Health Sector Strategic Development Plan 2022-26 (HSSDP III) and its Monitoring and Evaluation Plan, the Essential Health Care Package (2021), and the National Action Plan for Health Security 2022-26 (NAPHS) on 28 April 2022.

By Vivian Mugarisi

April 2022 – Dodoma & Zanzibar: Dr. Tigest Mengestu, has bid farewell to the Government and the People of Tanzania after four years of meritorious service as the first female Country Representative for the World Health Organization in the United Republic of Tanzania.

Brazzaville – Africa is witnessing a surge in outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases over the past year.
Almost 17 500 cases of measles were recorded in the African region between January and March 2022, marking a 400% increase compared with the same period in 2021. Twenty African countries reported measles outbreaks in the first quarter of this year, eight more than that in the first three months of 2021.