Ouagadougou – Pierre Ouedraogo, who has worked at the Neerwaya cinema in the capital Ouagadougou for some 30 years, never tires of extolling the benefits of the ban on smoking in public places. Now his establishment offers a healthier environment for everyone, especially those with respiratory conditions, allergies or smoke sensitivity. The ban on smoking

Abuja, 9 June, 2023 - The Chief of Staff to the United Nations Secretary-General (COS), Mr Earle Courtenay Rattray, has applauded Nigeria on impressive integrated health delivery services adopted by the country in delivering essential healthcare services to its citizens.  Mr Rattray also appreciated the commitment of UN staff in serving the course of sustainable

Two hundred kilometers from Uganda’s capital Kampala lies Bukakata sub-county in Masaka district. Located along the shores of Lake Victoria, the sub county is one of the areas that reported a case of yellow fever in 2022 through the sentinel surveillance system. The laboratory confirmed case scared community members, fearing the disease would spread among

Brazzaville/Malabo – The outbreak of Marburg Virus Disease in Equatorial Guinea ended today with no new cases reported over the past 42 days after the last patient was discharged from treatment. The outbreak, which was declared on 13 February, was the first of its kind in Equatorial Guinea. A total of 17 laboratory-confirmed cases and

In the face of consistent opposition from the tobacco industry, Uganda is standing firm on its successful eight-year long ban on the sale of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), says World Health Organization (WHO) Country Representative Dr Yonas Tegegn Woldemariam. The Tobacco Control Act, 2015 sought to effectively remove this globally popular tobacco alternative to smoking cigarettes

By Tatenda Chimbwanda Mazowe, Zimbabwe – On 25 May 2023, high-level officials from the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GEPI) visited the Henderson Clinic in Mazowe, Mashonaland Central Province to monitor the progress and quality of the third round of the nationwide polio vaccination campaign

Accra, Ghana - The health and wellbeing of adolescents play a critical role in their overall growth and development. However, the lack of comprehensive local data on adolescent health, particularly in lower-resource settings is hampering efforts to promote healthy behaviors and policies for adolescents, especially those in schools. To fill this gap and generate new

Owerri, 6 June, 2023 - In 2020, approximately 50,000 children below age one in Imo State, South East Nigeria, missed the uptake of the Pentavalent Vaccine due to COVID-19 disruption.  A single dose of the Pentavalent vaccine is expected to have been taken at the sixth week of age. The Pentavalent vaccine protects a child

The World Health Organization welcomes a new funding commitment made by the United Kingdom’s Department of Health and Social Care to support Nigeria in strengthening her health workforce in the vision of achieving Universal Health Coverage The grant amounting to £2 will cover two years period to support the government of Nigeria to optimize the

Abuja, 6 June, 2023 - Before 2021, the cautionary advice on cigarette packs in Nigeria was “The Federal Ministry of Health warns that smokers are liable to die young.”   Yet, this did not deter Useni Musa, a resident of the Federal Captial Territory (Abuja),  in Northcentral Nigeria, from trying out his first cigarette stick

Brazzaville – Every year more than 400 million tons of plastic are produced globally and an estimated 19–23 million tons end up in lakes, rivers and seas. However, less than 10% of the world’s annual plastic production is recycled. In Africa, which produces only 5% and consumes 4% of global plastic, growing population and urbanization

Brazzaville/Dar es Salaam – Tanzania today declared the end of the Marburg Virus Disease outbreak which was confirmed just over two months ago in the north-western Kagera region. It was the country’s first outbreak of the disease. A total of nine cases (eight confirmed and one probable) and six deaths were recorded in the outbreak