Johannesburg, 1 September -- The 53rd session of the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for Africa (RC53) opened Monday in Johannesburg with a call on WHO and its Member States to seriously address the challenges of overburdened health care systems in the Region, the loss of skilled health staff to developed countries, and the prevailing inequity brought about by the wide and growing gap between poor and rich countries. 

Johannesburg, South Africa: HIV/AIDS is a "catastrophe" and people affected need urgent access to treatment said Dr LEE Jong-wook, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) in his speech to health ministers from the WHO African Region (AFRO). Today, Dr Lee made his first address to the WHO African Regional Committee, which meets annually to review and set public health policy directions for the 46 countries in the AFRO Region. 
HIV/AIDS and WHO commitment to the '3 by 5' 

Johannesburg, 1 September -- The World Health Organization (WHO) and its Member States in the African Region have made definite progress towards polio eradication, with the Region attaining certification level surveillance for the first time in 2002, and the number of polio-endemic countries reduced by 67%, from six in 2001 to two in 2002, WHO says in a report released on Monday. 

Johannesburg, 1 September 2003 -- African governments have been urged to increase funding for their health sectors, allocate more funds to hospitals, desist from embarking on 'prestigious' health projects, and focus more on the viability, usefulness, equity and sustainability of health investments. 
These recommendations are contained in a report prepared by the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa for Health Ministers meeting for their 53rd Regional Committee for Africa session from 1 to 5 September in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Johannesburg, 31 August -- The World Health Organization (WHO) has called on African governments to accord formal recognition to traditional medicine, create an enabling environment for its practice, and integrate the time-honoured system of medicine into their national health systems. 
The call was made by the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Ebrahim M. Samba, in a message on the occasion of the first African Traditional Medicine Day to be observed Region-wide on 31 August.

A national survey on the prevalence and social consequences of the substance use among second cycle and out of school youth

Drug abuse has become a global phenomenon affecting almost every country though the extent and characteristics vary depending on the country in question. The most commonly used and abused substances are cigarettes, cannabis, cocaine and alcohol. Alcohol and other related problems are becoming more and more a public health concern and they represent one of the leading causes of preventable death, illness and injury.

Harare, 10 July 2003 -- Seventeen Eastern and Southern African countries (1) have for the developed "road maps " to guide them in scaling up access to care and treatment for HIV/AIDS, which is estimated to have killed 1.5 million people in the two sub regions in 2002. 

Harare, 10 July 2003 -- A workshop on scaling up access to care and treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in 17 East and Southern African countries ended Thursday in Harare, Zimbabwe, with the adoption of recommendations aimed at achieving universal access to antiretroviral treatment (ART) by people who need it. 
Workshop participants agreed that countries should:

Harare, 10 July 2003 -- The World Health Organization Regional Director for Africa, Dr Ebrahim Samba, has challenged East and Southern African countries to aspire to reach 1.4 million people or half of the people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in need of treatment in the two sub regions with antiretroviral treatment (ART) by the end of 2005.

Dr Samba made the call Thursday in an address to a one-day meeting of Permanent Secretaries and other senior officials from Health Ministries from the two sub regions taking place in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Harare, 10 July 2003 -- A number of African countries are instituting measures to improve access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), it emerged at a workshop for health professionals from *17 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa taking place from 7 to 10 July in Harare, Zimbabwe.