Eritrea, 7 August 2019 - Asmara, new WHO Representative to Eritrea Dr Martins Ovberedjo presented his credentials to the Honorable Minister of Foreign Affairs, His excellency Mr Osman Saleh and the Minister of Health, Her excellency Mrs Amina Nurhussien.

One of the areas that needs to catch up in the fight against neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) is laboratory services.  A lack of investment, insufficient technical assistance and a shortage of diagnostic tools pose a challenge to the scale-up of interventions, particularly in WHO’s African Region.

Juba, South Sudan, 04 August 2019 – Over 120 health workers in South Sudan have been trained this past week with the aim to keep the country at zero cholera. The country is amid the rainy season, commonly known as cholera season due to frequent flooding contaminating drinking water and infecting people with the cholera bacteria.

Kigali, August 1 2019 --- The Ministry of Health confirms that Rwanda’s border with the Democratic Republic of Congo is open, following traffic slow-down this morning as measures were put in place to reinforce screening procedures and public safety at entry points.
 

Abuja, 30 July, 2019 - The World Health Organization (WHO) has supported the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to map resources for the National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS) in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) using the WHO Resource Mapping Tool (REMAP).

Abuja, 30 July, 2019 - As Nigeria and other countries commemorate the 2019 World Hepatitis Day (28 July) with the theme “Invest in Eliminating Hepatitis”, stakeholders agree that early detection and childhood vaccination will curb the burden of the disease by 2030.

As part of the commemorative events, a Ministerial press briefing held on 30 July 2019 during which the Permanent Secretary (PS), Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) Alhaji Abdullahi Mashi said, “It’s sad to note that Nigeria bears a huge burden of viral hepatitis”.  

The Kingdom of Eswatini is getting closer to ending intestinal worms as a public health problem in line with the World Health Organization’s 2020 Roadmap on Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). The country reached an impressive 98% of eligible school aged children with medicines for intestinal worms in the fourth round of Mass Medicine Administration (MMA) campaign conducted recently. 

MOH and WHO conducted medical devices registration guideline consensus building workshop at National Confederation of Eritrean Workers’ Conference Hall in June 2019. Medical devices including In-Vitro Diagnostics (IVD) constitute a vital component of healthcare products and healthcare technologies that contribute to the attainment of the highest standards of health for all people living in Eritrea.

Infection prevention and control (IPC) is a scientific approach and practical solution designed to prevent harm caused by infection to patients and health workers.  In line to the Universal health coverage (UHC) roadmap, the MOH in collaboration with WHO have conducted a workshop for finalization of the guideline on the 3rd July 2019. This was followed by training on IPC for focal persons in Orotta and Halibet hospitals, at the NCEW Hall from 17 to 21 June 2019.