Harare Zimbabwe, 7 June 2014: Members of the WHO East and Southern Africa Staff Association (ESASA) in Harare donated to the needy as a way of giving back to the community. Donations of clothes, blankets, shoes, and winter wear were made to Bumhudzo Old People’s Home in Chitungwiza and Chinyaradzo Children’s Home in Highfield.

WHO AFRO and WHO Rotavirus Regional Reference Laboratory for Africa at Medunsa Campus, Pretoria, partnered to carry out the 14th African Rotavirus Network Training Workshop at the University of Limpopo, Medunsa campus, just completed on 6 June.

Shamva, Zimbabwe: 06 June 2014 - The World Health Organization Country Office in Zimbabwe joined the Ministry of Health and Child Care during the belated 2014 World Health Day commemoration. Over 400 people including community members and school children from Shamva district, traditional and political leaders, health workers at Primary health care, district, provincial and national levels, other government officials and the media participated.

Freetown 6th June 2014 - The Minister of Health and Sanitation launched another Maternal Child Health Week (MCHW) on the 5th of June 2014 at the Bo Stadium. Speaking at the launch Madam Miata Kargbo said that the week is an opportunity to improve health she encouraged all household to fully participate and thanked partners for their contribution. Furthermore she alerted the audience about the current Ebola outbreak and admonished all to play active role in preventing and controlling the outbreak.

“Great progress has been made in clearing landmines across Mozambique,” says Luis Wamusse, a campaigner for the rights of landmine survivors, “but today, the focus needs to move to help persons living with disabilities as a result of mines.”

With more than 2.5 million children unregistered and the causes of over 300,000 deaths unknown in the country, Mozambique has embarked on an ambitious plan to address the civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) needs of its population.

The Minister of Public Health, Mr. André Mama GM, CENAME presenting the new stock of ARV to the Minister of Health, Fouda presided over the ceremony of the presentation of new stock of Antiretroviral (ARV) at the Central Medical supplies stores (CENAME) May 28th, 2014. The Minister was accompanied by the Secretary of state of the Ministry of Health in charge of Epidemics and Pandemics Mr Alim Hayatou, the Secretary General at the Ministry of Public Health, Pr Sinata Koulla- Shiro.

Highlights in Ghana

There is no confirmed EVD case reported in Ghana to date.
Ongoing surveillance for EVD as part of surveillance for viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHF)
Highlights in neighbouring countries as of 31 May, 2014

The Health Accounts Teams Members from 12 countries that are in the process of undertaking a health accounts exercise and taking steps to institutionalize the process have completed a WHO training on System of Health Accounts (SHA) that took place from 26 – 30 May 2014, Johannesburg, South Africa. The participating countries were Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Namibia, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.

The Peer Learning District Initiative

The Peer Learning District Initiative was born following concerns raised by stakeholders about the level of performance of district health systems in Tanzania. The idea is for districts that are lagging behind to learn from districts that have made progress in improving health service provision.