Kinshasa/Brazzaville 23 June 2009 - - The World Health Organization's Regional Director for Africa Dr Luis Gomes Sambo has concluded a five-day official visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the invitation of the Congolese government.

The visit began on Thursday 18th June 2009, in the capital city of Kinshasa where Dr Sambo paid a courtesy call on His Excellency Mr Alexis Thambwe Mwamba, Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Speakers of the Senate and National Assembly to discuss issues of mutual interest.

The Minister of State for Health (General Duties) Honourable Richard Nduhura has called for solidarity in blood donation so that people who need blood in emergencies can easily access it. The Minister was speaking during the commemoration of World Blood Donor’s Day 2009, and opening of the Regional Blood Bank in Mbarara town South-western Uganda.

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Gambia, 4 June 2009 -- The WHO Representative, Dr Thomas Sukwa, this afternoon briefed staff of the United Nations System in the Gambia on the current Influenza A H1N1 epidemic. The second in a series organized by the WHO Country Office for UN staff since the outbreak of the Influenza A H1N1 was reported in April this year, the objective of the exercise was to provide regular updates on the epidemic to UN Staff and to arm them with the necessary information needed for the prevention and control of the disease.

Kasane, 31 May 2009 -- In the long standing tradition of taking the commemoration to people, this year the commemoration was in the tourist town of Kasane in the extreme North west part of the country.

The theme was Tobacco: Health Warnings! It is a theme that resonates well with a lot of initiatives of various government institutions including the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Local Government, the Botswana Police service who all made presentations and exhibited at the event.

Tanzania joined hands with the rest of the world to commemorate the World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) for the 23rd time on 31st May 2009. This is done to create people’s awareness and to curb the use of tobacco products in the country, which has been on the increase in the 21st century. The activity this year WNTD was successfully hosted by Kilimanjaro Region, in the township of Holili, Rombo District.

Planning and implementation of activities

Dakar/Harare, 28 May 2009 - More than 400,000 polio vaccinators in 11 west African countries will immunize more than 74 million children over the next week in response to a spreading polio epidemic which is threatening thousands of children with life-long paralysis.

The World Health Organization (WHO) assists the Ethiopian Federal Democratic Republic Ministry of Health (FMoH) in its emergency preparedness and response to Influenza A H1N1 that is spreading from human to human and was first detected in April 2009 in Mexico. Thus the World Health Organization (WHO) today donated 103,344 doses of Tamiflu Caps that worth USD 1,601, 988.40 (17,862,170 in birr) on Saturday 23 May 2009 as part of the country’s emergency preparedness to the new Influenza A H1N1 virus Upon receiving the drug, Dr.

Brazzaville, 15 May 2009 - African countries, with the support of WHO and other development partners, are continuously strengthening their general capacity to deal with cases of Influenza A/H1N1 virus if an outbreak occurs in the region.

Kinshasa, 11 May 2009 - The WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Luis Gomes Sambo, has reiterated his call for strengthening the capacity for early detection and control of the flu virus in the Region.

He made this call while addressing the opening session of the Extraordinary Meeting of Health Ministers of Central African States in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo on Monday 11 May 2009.

Ndjamena, 5 May 2009 - The WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Luis G. Sambo has visited Chad to provide support for efforts by Chadian authorities to address the country's health problems. Notable among the health problems are the very high infant and maternal mortality rates and the high prevalence of communicable diseases such as malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis and other noncommunicable diseases linked to health determinants, e.g. diabetes and high blood pressure.