WHO Representative mission highlights in Zanzibar

Dr. Tigest in discussion with His Excellency Dr. Hussein Ali Mwinyi

4 June 2021, Zanzibar: The President of Zanzibar and Chairman of the Revolutionary Council, Dr. Hussein Ali Mwinyi received the WHO Representative to United Republic of Tanzania, Dr. Tigest Ketsela in the State House early in June 2021. During the meeting, His Excellency the President acknowledged the continued support of the World Health Organization since the early 1950’s to improve the health status of Tanzanians and the Zanzibar population.

Nigerian youth commit to quit as WHO commemorates world no tobacco day

The Minister of Health (7th right), the WR (4th right) and other dignitaries at the Press Conference to mark 2021 WNTD in Abuja. Photo credit_WHO_Ochemba.jpg

Abuja May 31, 2021 - “It is really high time I stopped smoking tobacco. I have been smoking for over fifteen years, since my early teen age, I do not feel good about it. I have been struggling to quit but end up going back to my habit. This year, I have promised myself and my family that I will do all my best to quit to be heathier” says31-year-old Michael Chukwuka who resides in FCT, Abuja and is committed to quit smoking tobacco.

Health workers in Mekelle continue to provide services amid challenges

For Medical Director of Mekelle Hospital, Dr Kahsay Gebremedhin, staying home was not an option when conflict erupted in Mekelle.  He had a medical team to lead and patients to treat.

For Medical Director of Mekelle Hospital, Dr Kahsay Gebremedhin, staying home was not an option when conflict erupted in Mekelle.  He had a medical team to lead and patients to treat. And he hasn’t stopped coming to work in all the seven months since then even when transportation services were disrupted and he had to walk several kilometers daily – at great personal risk – to get to the hospital from the outskirts of town, where he lived.  However, he rejects any notion that he is a singular hero. Many colleagues did the same.

WHO collaborates with Ministry of Health to tackle maternal and perinatal mortality

Training of FMoH staff on MPD4QED Operations.jpg

Kano, 3 June 2021 - “To achieve accelerated reduction in maternal and perinatal mortality, the quality of care provided to pregnant women and newborns in health facilities must meet quality criteria which include health care that must be safe, effective, timely, efficient, equitable and people-centred” stated Professor  Jamilu Tukur, Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital,.

World No-Tobacco Day 2021: Stronger Tobacco Legislative Framework and extension of the Tobacco Cessation Services to better fight the tobacco epidemic in Mauritius

Mauritius marks the World No-Tobacco Day this year through two important events: the opening of its nineth tobacco cessation clinic at the Dr Yves Cantin Community Hospital, in Black River and the validation of the new set of tobacco regulations. These two tobacco control measures aim at reducing the demand and the supply of tobacco to better protect the population against the dreadful effects of tobacco. Hon. Dr Kailash Kumar Jagutpal, Minister of Health and Wellness, the WHO Representative in Mauritius, Dr Laurent Musango and high-level officials of the Ministry of Health and Wellness attended both events. In line with the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and the MPOWER measures, Mauritius first started a tobacco cessation clinic in 2008 on a pilot basis. Subsequently, capacity building was conducted with the support of WHO in view of decentralizing this service at regional level. Since 2011, the tobacco cessation services have been made available in the five health regions. As at date, a total of seven smoking cessation clinics in the country and one in the Rodrigues outer island are offering free of charge both pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies to smokers who want to quit. With the opening of this additional tobacco cessation clinic in the west of the island, more smokers will benefit from this service. A new set of tobacco regulations was also validated as from 24 May 2021 over three consecutive days with key stakeholders at the Head-quarters of the Ministry of Health and Wellness in Port Louis. This new piece of tobacco legislation is a milestone in the implementation of stronger tobacco control policies in Mauritius as well as strong collaboration between the Ministry of Health and Wellness and WHO. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, this exercise was conducted under strict implementation of sanitary measures and in batches of 10 stakeholders. Representatives from key Ministries including Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Mauritius Revenue Authority, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, WHO and the State Law Office discussed implementation issues and timeframe before validated the new set of tobacco regulations

Second Training of Trainers on Infection Prevention and Control

Port Louis.  Some 27 health care workers, involving specialists, public health superintendents, medical officers and nurses across five health regions have been trained during a three day training workshop on the World Health Organization (WHO) Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) guidelines, standards, early detection, triage, diagnosis, and controls and other IPC measures. The training was organized at Dr D.G. Jeetoo Hospital from 17th to 19th May 2021.  This training of trainers was jointly conducted and facilitated by WHO and officers from Ministry of Health and Wellness (MoHW) who attended the capacity building workshop last year. The second training of trainers’ workshop was conducted in order to further strengthen the capacity of MOHW in terms of trained human capacity.  The fully capacitated Health Care Workers will eventually support the focal points in each region to conduct cascade trainings and implement and monitor respective IPC control measures in their respective field of work. This serves as a turnkey event and will aid towards a huge task of training approximately 10,000 health care workers and thus optimizing participation of doctors, nurses, community workers and support staff on infection prevention and control practices.

Ghana shares success story in COVID-19 vaccine rollout with Cote d’Ivoire

Ghana COVAX Facility on arrival
News on the discovery of COVID-19 vaccine brought with it, a renewed sense of hope and security as had been the expectation. Prior to that, COVID-19 response strategy had mainly been non-pharmaceutical interventions (face masks, physical distancing, hand hygiene) and the vaccines were expected to be an additional preventative measure to the pre-existing protocols.