Juba, 7 April 2017 - Under the theme “Depression. Let's talk”, South Sudan has joined the rest of the world to celebrate this year’s World Health Day in a series of activities which culminated with public lecture on depression, HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis on 7th April, 2017 at Juba University.

Harare, 7 April 2017 - Zimbabwe joined the rest of the world in commemorating World Health Day at Harare Central Hospital grounds in an event which also saw the official opening of the psychiatric OPD and renovated in-patient departments; as well as the launch of the Mental Health Discharge Guidelines. World Health Day was commemorated under the theme Depression; Let’s talk, which draws attention to the global burden of this common mental disor-der.

FREETOWN, April 7th 2017 --- On World Health Day, the Government of Sierra Leone, the World Health Organization, the Mental Health Coalition and partners are calling for urgent action on depression in Sierra Leone, which affects at least 240,000 people in the country every year. Stigma and lack of accurate information on mental health issues are critical impediments to treatment and recovery, health experts say.

The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MoHSW) in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) Country Office, the Medical Research Council (MRC) and other stakeholders observed the World Tuberculosis Day (WTBD) on the 24th March. The theme for this year is “Unite to End TB”.

The World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa is training national trainers and tutors from Burkina Faso, Cote D’Ivoire, Ethiopia and Uganda on the newly released Family Planning contraception guidelines and their derivative tools. The focus of the training is on unintended pregnancy and closely spaced pregnancies (Postpartum family planning) and use of family planning methods immediately after and within 48 hours of an abortion, before fertility returns (Postabortum contraception).

Dar es Salaam, 20-23 February 2017 - This year, Tanzania made history by being the first country in the WHO African region and globally to develop a Costed National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS). The journey has not been easy, because it has taken over a year after the country completed the Joint External Evaluation (JEE) in February 2016. The processes of developing of the NAPHS, began in June 2016, 3 months after the JEE was completed. The NAPHS development process was started by the country’s IHR technical working group.

4 April  2017 - Mbabane Swaziland:As Swaziland joined the rest of the world in commemorating World TB Day, the Honourable Minister of Health Senator Sibongile Ndlela-Simelane commissioned the national drug resistance survey. “Both the TB and HIV Drug Resistance Surveys that Swaziland is currently conducting will play a critical role in addressing the effectiveness of regimens prescribed for TB and/or HIV patients” noted the United States of America Ambassador to Swaziland Ms Lisa Peterson.

Kaduna, 04 April, 2017 - The polio Outbreak Response Assessment (OBRA) team with representation from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) partnership has congratulated the Nigerian government for the significant progress so far made in response to the 2016 polio outbreak. The commendation was contained in a presentation to government and partners during a debriefing meeting in Kaduna on 03 April 2017.

Juba, 3 April 2017 - The World Health Organization (WHO) is supporting the Republic of South Sudan’s Ministry of Health and partners to roll-out a new approach to community health service delivery called the Boma Health Initiative. Currently, only 40% of people in South Sudan are within reach of health facilities and have consistent access to primary health care services. The Boma Health Initiative seeks to provide sustainable delivery of essential health care and public health programmes at the community level.

Abuja, 31 March 2017 - The Government of Japan recently announced a contribution of USD 903,000 towards World Health Organization’s (WHO) Emergency Programme in the crisis-affected Northeastern region of Nigeria. The contribution will benefit approximately 400,000 women, men and children through the provision of medicines and medical equipment, integrated basic primary health care services, establishment of effective referral mechanism for severally ill patients and strengthening of health sector coordination.