Brazzaville, 19 June 2007 -- A meeting of the Programme Sub-Committee (PSC) , one of the managerial organs of WHO in the African Region, got underway Tuesday in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.

Opening the meeting, WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Luis Sambo, noted that this year’s session of the PSC was taking place after the adoption of WHO’s Medium Term Strategic Plan for 2008-2013 and the 2008-2009 Programme Budget by the World Health Assembly.

“It is therefore important that this meeting emphasizes new strategies which are aligned with the WHA deliberations and respond to the expectations of African peoples and governments,” Dr Sambo told the participants in the four-day meeting. Participants will, among other things, review the agenda of the fifty-seventh session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa (RC 57) scheduled for 27-31 August 2007 in the Congolese capital.

Dr Sambo explained that that this year’s Regional Committee will discuss critical health issues and three strategy documents developed by the Regional Office.

Among the issues to be discussed by RC57 are cholera, which is resurging in several countries in the region; the improvement of health system performance in Member States; key social determinants of health; public health, innovation and intellectual property, and the harmful use of alcohol.

It will also review three strategy documents - on accelerating the elimination of avoidable blindness; diabetes prevention and control, and the control of the dual epidemic of tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. Also on the agenda of RC57 is the WHO Programme Budget for 2008 – 2009 and orientations for its implementation in the African Region.

The PSC meeting, which ends on Friday, is being attended by participants from Algeria, Angola, Benin, Uganda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

For more information contact:

Technical contact

Mr Denvdre Gopaul

Tel: + 47 241 39416 

E-mail: gopauld [at] afro.who.int (gopauld[at]afro[dot]who[dot]int)

Media Contact

Samuel T. Ajibola

Tel: + 47 241 39378

E-mail: ajibolas [at] afro.who.int (ajibolas[at]afro[dot]who[dot]int)