Ministers of Health from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) this week agreed to harmonize and coordinate their efforts to respond to COVID-19 in the region. South Africa – a member of the SADC – confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on 5th March, the first country and so far only country in southern Africa to do so.
Zimbabwe's Director of Epidemiology and Disease Control in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Dr Portia Manangazira has been recognised as one of the women leaders who have taken on the fight against typhoid.
Today, 8 March 2020, the world is celebrating the International Women Day. The theme this year is "I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights”. It is a call to address inequities. The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa committed to achieving gender parity among its staff. Women now account for 33% of WHO workforce, up from 27% in 2015.
Abuja, March 6, 2020- Nigeria has re-committed to eradicating Tuberculosis (TB) and controlling Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) by 2030. This was re-iterated at the just concluded United Nations High-level Joint Programming mission on TB and NCDs.
With confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Algeria, Senegal, Nigeria and South Africa, the World Health Organization (WHO) and key health partners are strengthening cooperation to better coordinate readiness and response efforts across Africa. WHO convened a meeting in Nairobi this week, with representatives from the Kenyan Health Ministry, the African Union and key United Nations partner agencies in attendance. A parallel meeting was also taking place in Dakar with Francophone partners, also led by the WHO Regional Office for Africa.
March 6, 2020, WHO provided technical guidance and facilitation support for the Ministry of Health (MoH) and Ethiopian Public Health Institution (EPHI) COVID-19 Table Top Simulation Exercise (TTX), which was held on March 5, 2020.
A cloud of dust lifted slowly off the forecourt of Sebkha health centre where an ambulance had just rushed a patient. Inside visitors milled about as nurses paced up and down the corridors. When one of the nurses passed by, an elderly woman waiting outside the delivery room sat up and asked how her daughter was doing. “Don’t worry madam,” came the reply, “your daughter will give birth safely. She’s in good hands.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa and the United Nations Volunteers have launched the Africa Young Women Health Champions, an initiative to recruit early to middle career women professionals across 47 countries in the African region.
On entering Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport, visitors are greeted by posters on how to prevent COVID-19 transmission, even before having their temperatures taken by medical staff. Video messages play in the departure and arrival lounges. So far, the number of people in Africa confirmed to have the virus is much smaller than other parts of the world. But as more health ministries in Africa have confirmed the presence of the virus in their countries, what was once a distant threat is now much closer.
