1. WHO Africa

News Releases

Deaths from noncommunicable diseases on the rise in Africa

Accra/Brazzaville – Noncommunicable diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes are increasingly becoming the main cause of mortality in sub-Saharan Africa, where the diseases were responsible for 37% of deaths in 2019, rising from 24% in 2000 largely due to weaknesses in the implementation of critical control measures including prevention, diagnosis and care. This comes on the eve of a high-level heads of state and health leaders meeting in Ghana to find ways of accelerating progress against noncommunicable diseases.

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Africa faces rising climate-linked health emergencies

Brazzaville – Climate-related health emergencies are on the rise in Africa, accounting for more than half of public health events recorded in the region over the past two decades, a new analysis by World Health Organization (WHO) shows.

The analysis found that of the 2121 public health events recorded in the African region between 2001 and 2021, 56% were climate-related. The region is witnessing an increase in climate-linked emergencies, with 25% more climate-related events recorded between 2011 and 2021 compared with the previous decade.

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Implications of social media misinformation on COVID-19 vaccine confidence among pre...

It has been over a year since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of COVID-19 as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern and subsequently a global pandemic. The world has experienced a lot of uncertainty since then as we all get used to this new ‘normal’ with social distancing measures, lockdowns, the emergence of new variants, and an array of hope with the development of vaccines.
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Low funding, COVID-19 curtail tuberculosis fight in Africa

Inadequate investment and funding for tuberculosis (TB) control in Africa is jeopardizing the efforts to meet the global target of ending the disease by 2030, while the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to roll back progress made so far in the continent, an assessment by World Health Organization (WHO) finds.
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African countries scale back on COVID-19 measures

With new COVID-19 cases significantly dropping, many countries are increasingly curtailing COVID-19 surveillance and quarantine measures. While the need to reopen economies and resume social life is important, the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling for caution and consideration of the risks involved. 
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Launch of tobacco-free farms in Kenya

Hundreds of farmers in Migori County, Kenya will break free from risky tobacco farming and transition to producing more sustainable crops, through the Tobacco-Free Farms Project being launched today. 
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More than 80 million doses to be administered to southern African children targeted ...

Malawi will on Sunday launch the first round of vaccination campaigns against wild poliovirus type 1. More than 80 million doses will be administered to more than 23 million children under 5 years in the four-round vaccination drive in five southern African countries after Malawi declared an outbreak on 17 February—the first such case in the country in 30 years, and the first in Africa since the region was certified free of indigenous wild poliovirus in 2020. 
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