Brazzaville, 19 September 2011 --The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa, Dr Luis Sambo, today joined world leaders at the first ever high-level meeting of the United Nations on noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) prevention and control which is taking place in New York, from 19-20 September 2011.

Banjul, 08 September 2011 -- The ninth edition of the African Traditional Medicines Day was launched at the Kanifing Municipal Council's Grounds on Wednesday, 7th September 2011.

Sierra Leone launched the fourth round of polio National Immuniza-tion Days (NIDs) 2011 campaign on 2 September. The four days campaign is targeting to administer Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) to over 1.2 million children below the age of 5 years nationwide to protect them from the wild polio virus. The campaign is synchronized with more than ten other countries in the West African Region to ensure all children under the age of 5 years are protected against polio and to break the chain of transmission in the region.

The Ministry of Health and Sanitation with support from the World Health Organization and International Rescue Committee has completed training of medical personnel in the Kenema Gov-ernment Hospital on Maternal Death Review (MDR) process. The Review involves understanding the underlying factors that lead to the deaths. Each death tells a story and can provide practi-cal ways of addressing the problems.

The Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS) with technical assistance from the World Health Organization has initiated the development of standards for Adolescent Health Friendly Ser-vices. The standards will be used as tools to accelerate imple-mentation of the adolescent health strategic plan, particularly provision of quality health services as part of the health sector's response to the needs of adolescent and young people.

Yamoussoukro, 3 September 2011 -- The Sixty-first session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa ended on Friday in Yamoussoukro, Cote d'Ivoire, with the adoption of four resolutions aimed at improving the health situation in the 46 Member States of WHO in the African Region.

A resolution was adopted by the Ministers of Health on the proposed African Public Health Emergency Fund (APHEF) – a major agenda item at this year's meeting. This set the annual recommended contribution of Member States to the Fund at a total of US$50 million.

Abuja 3 September 2011 -- The WHO Regional Director for Africa Dr Sambo arrived in Abuja on Saturday 3 September 2011 to visit victims of the bomb attack on the United Nations house. He was met on arrival at the Abuja International Airport by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health Dr Linus Awute and the WHO Representative in Nigeria Dr David Okello.

Yamoussoukro, (Cote d'Ivoire), 1 September 2011 -- The growing public health movement in Africa got a boost on Wednesday 31 August with the launch of the African Federation of Public Health Associations (AFPHA) at the Felix Houphout-Boigny Foundation in Yamoussoukro, Cote d'Ivoire.

The launch took place in the presence of African and other health leaders gathered in the Ivorian political capital for the Sixty-first session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa which opened at the same venue on Monday 29 August 2011.

Yamoussoukro, (Cote d'Ivoire), 1 September 2011 -- World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa, Dr Luis Sambo, has proposed a framework for public health adaptation to climate change in the African Region.

The framework, based on five guiding principles, is designed to guide the formulation of country-specific action plans that will form the health component of national change adaptation plans aimed at minimizing the adverse public health effects in Africa.

Yamoussoukro, (Cote d'Ivoire), 1 September 2011 -- Countries in the WHO African Region continued to make good progress in polio eradication in spite of outbreaks recorded in some Member States over the last two years.