1. WHO Africa

News Releases

Striving for safer roads in Senegal

The 69-year-old father was travelling from Dakar, Senegal’s capital, to neighbouring Mauritania with four of his children for Eid al-Fitr, his eldest son at the wheel. But about 90 km outside the capital, his son suddenly lost control of the vehicle, crashing into a tree. “I blacked out,” Dieng recalls, “and woke up in the hospital.” When he inquired about his four children, he received tragic news: they had all been killed on impact. “It’s been 10 years,” he says. “But it feels like yesterday.”
Read more »

Stronger governance needed to fight superbugs in Africa: Antimicrobial Resistance th...

17 November 2021, Accra – The leaders of six regional organizations in Africa are calling for stronger governance to fight antimicrobial resistance, or AMR, on the eve of World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (18-24 November).

The emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance in Africa – where micro-organisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites are resistant to antimicrobial treatment – is complicating the management of many infectious diseases, and endangers animal health and welfare, and food production, safety and security.

Read more »

Mobile cash in polio response: three things to know

In 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa pioneered mobile money transfer system under the Polio Eradication Initiative programme essentially to pay vaccination campaign workers. So far eight African countries have adopted the payment system, with others working to deploy mobile-based cash transfers in health programmes beyond polio. Dorcas Karimi, Digital Finance Officer with the WHO Regional Office for Africa, explains the progress achieved so far.
Read more »

Less than 10% of African countries to hit key COVID-19 vaccination goal 

Brazzaville - Just five African countries, less than 10% of Africa’s 54 nations, are projected to hit the year-end target of fully vaccinating 40% of their people, unless efforts to accelerate the pace take off. This comes as the Region grapples to meet rising demand for essential vaccination commodities, such as syringes.

Read more »

Over 80 million reached as Africa trailblazes novel polio vaccine

More than 80 million children have been vaccinated with the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) in six countries in Africa, the world’s first region to rollout of the vaccine just months after the World Health Organization (WHO) gave it Emergency Use Listing status in November 2020.
Read more »