Moribabougou (Mali), 6 March 2010 – Malian President Ahmadou Toumani Toure and WHO Regional Director for Africa Dr Luis Sambo on Saturday launched a massive vaccina-tion campaign which will see more than 85 million children in 19 West and Central African countries immunized against polio.

The synchronized cross-border campaign flagged off in Moribabougou, a small town and commune situated 15 kilometers south-east of the Malian capital, Bamako.

Dakar/Brazzaville, 4 March 2010 - More than 85 million children under five years old will be immunized against polio in 19 countries across West and Central Africa in a massive example of cross-border cooperation aimed at stopping a year-long polio epidemic.

Nine countries in West and Central Africa – Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal and Sierra Leone – are considered to have active outbreaks of polio (i.e. cases within the last six months).

Accra, 03 March 2010 -- The Government of Ghana on Tuesday launched this year’s National immunization Days against Polio at a grand ceremony in Accra attended by the First Lady of Ghana, Mrs Ernestina Naadu Mills, queen mothers and other opinion leaders, parents, representatives of development partners, politicians, health workers and volunteers.

Freetown, February 26 -- The Vice President of Sierra Leone Honourable Alhaji Chief Sam sumana signed the WHO Country Biennial Plan for 2010-2011 at his office, Tower Hill, Freetown. Present at the signing ceremony were the Minister of Finance, Dr Samura Kamara, Minister of Trade and Industries, Mr David Carew and Minister of State in the Vice President’s office, Dr Komba Kono.

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Harare, 16 February 2010 -- WHO made history today as it became the first UN agency in Zimbabwe to open a fitness centre and tennis/basketball court for staff members. The state of the art facilities were inaugurated at a colourful ceremony in the WHO gardens by the WHO Representative, Dr Custodia Mandlhate, and the Director for Administration and Finance (DAF) in the African Region, Mr S. E. Haarman.

Asmara, 25 February 2009 – In an effort to strengthen the primary health care of the country to effectively manage NCDs, WHO in collaboration with the MOH has conducted a four day training workshop for Health Workers to field test WHO Package of Essential NCDs intervention (WHO PEN).

“Protecting our health facilities to remain functional during emergencies will surely save lives,” said Dr. Luis G. Sambo, WHO Regional Director for Africa.

Asmara, 7 April 2009 - The Ministry of Health in collaboration with WHO Eritrea commemorated World Health Day on the grounds of Halibet Hospital in Asmara on the 7th of April 2009 under the theme “Save lives. Make hospitals safe in emergencies.”

To better harmonize data collection, validation and analysis for the 2009 Global Report on Health Sector Response to HIV/AIDS, Ministry of Health (MOH) in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners has conducted a consensus building workshop on 6th March 2009.

WHO, UNICEF and UNAIDS will jointly publish for 2009 a report on the global progress in scaling up the health sector response to HIV/AIDS towards universal access, including HIV services for women and children.

Asmara, 23 February 2009 - In an effort to strengthen the primary health care and to effectively manage Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs), WHO in collaboration with the MOH has conducted a two day training Workshop for two groups of health Workers from selected health facilities. The purpose of this training is to integrate WHO Package of Essential NCDs (WHO PEN) into the health system at primary level.

Eritrea Takes a Step Forward in Reducing Child Morbidity and Mortality Aimed at saving the lives of more children, a Pentavalent vaccine was officially launched by the Minister of Health, HE Mr Saleh Meky on the 18th of December at the Orota Referal Hospital Conference Hall in Asmara.

The Ministry of Health with the support of WHO and UNICEF is introducing the new vaccine to the routine Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) in the efforts to reach the MDG 4.