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WHO Regional Office for Africa
Source: WHO Regional Office for Africa |

Intensifying new initiatives for Tuberculosis (TB) case-finding in Nigeria

Nigeria has the highest TB burden in Africa

Around a year ago, Mallam Mainasara Mohammad, a resident of Makera,  a locality in Kebbi State, Nigeria, became increasingly worried about his son, nine-year-old Yusuf. The child had been coughing for weeks, had difficulty sleeping and unable to attend school. “I took him to the health centre after I heard…

WHO Regional Office for Africa
Source: WHO Regional Office for Africa |

Building momentum against diphtheria outbreak in Nigeria

Cumulatively from 9 May 2022 to 25 October 2023, 15, 569 suspected (9772 confirmed) diphtheria cases that have been reported across Nigeria, 547 of whom have died

When his seven-year-old brother Jubrin was diagnosed with diphtheria in July 2023, Aminu Dayyabu Alharini had never heard of the disease, the latest outbreak of which has claimed more than 500 lives in Nigeria. Following the diagnosis, Jubrin was immediately transferred from the health facility near their home in Alharini…

WHO Regional Office for Africa

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    • Reducing out-of-pocket health expenditure a panacea to universal health coverage
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Source: WHO Regional Office for Africa |

Reducing out-of-pocket health expenditure a panacea to universal health coverage

The World Health Organization (WHO) advocates for Universal Health Coverage (UCH), where everyone, everywhere can access the quality health services they need, without financial hardship

“I recall growing up in a comfortable home and lacking nothing until my father fell ill in 2010. I was in secondary school when his sickness started.  He was a farmer and businessman who sell cocoa in Ondo state, southwest Nigeria, says Adetutu Ibironke, a mother of one residing in…

WHO Regional Office for Africa
Source: WHO Regional Office for Africa |

Mothers Adopt Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention Drugs to Keep Malaria at Bay in Adamawa State

SMC is administered monthly for four months during the highest malaria transmission periods, using Sulfadoxine-Pyrimethamine (SP) and Amodiaquine (AQ) (SPAQ) to children aged 3 – 59 months to reduce the cases of malaria outbreaks

Sitting on a wooden stool in front of her house at Dobeli community in Yola North Local Government Area (LGA), Hajara Yusuf, a (27 years old mother of three) was coaxing her sons to take the seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) drugs. “I usually look forward to when they administer the…

WHO Regional Office for Africa
Source: WHO Regional Office for Africa |

Nigeria combs communities to protect eligible children against polio

To ensure no child is left unprotected against all forms of polioviruses or suffers the consequence, the Government of Nigeria is supported by WHO to adopt an initiative to improve immunization activities

When a team of vaccinators arrived in Obele, a boundary town between Nigeria and Benin Republic, to vaccinate children against the circulating Vaccine Derived poliovirus (cVDPV2), the community leader, Chief Babafemi Ogunmade was not surprised.  “We are aware that some vaccinators were coming to vaccinate our children against the polio…

WHO Regional Office for Africa

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    • Coronavirus – Africa: European Union funding boosts COVID-19 vaccination in Africa
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Source: WHO Regional Office for Africa |

Coronavirus – Africa: European Union funding boosts COVID-19 vaccination in Africa

The funding is part of the European Union’s (EU) humanitarian initiative for COVID-19 vaccination in Africa

The European Commission’s Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) is supporting the work of the World Health Organization (WHO) to boost COVID-19 vaccination campaigns and increase coverage in 15 African countries. With a total of €16 million from ECHO, WHO is supporting operational and technical aspects…

WHO Regional Office for Africa

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    • Coronavirus: African countries scale back on COVID-19 measures
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Source: WHO Regional Office for Africa |

Coronavirus: African countries scale back on COVID-19 measures

Contact tracing is a key strategy for curbing the spread of the virus and reducing mortality

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.  Contact tracing is a key strategy for…

WHO Regional Office for Africa

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    • Coronavirus: Africa’s COVID-19 vaccine uptake increases by 15%
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Source: WHO Regional Office for Africa |

Coronavirus: Africa’s COVID-19 vaccine uptake increases by 15%

A mass vaccination campaign in Ethiopia, for instance, pushed up the number of doses administered by 136% between 23 January and 6 March 2022

Africa’s COVID-19 vaccine uptake rose by 15% between January and February as several countries embarked on mass vaccination drives to expand coverage and protect populations against the adverse health impacts of the virus. Around 62 million doses were administered across the continent in February up from 54 million in January.…

WHO Regional Office for Africa
Source: WHO Regional Office for Africa |

WHO announces first technology recipients of mRNA vaccine hub with strong support from African and European partners

Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia to establish mRNA vaccine production

At the European Union - African Union summit in Brussels today WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced the first six countries that will receive the technology needed to produce mRNA vaccines on the African continent. Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia all applied and have been selected…

WHO Regional Office for Africa

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    • An eligible child being administered with Seasonal Malaria drug
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Source: WHO Regional Office for Africa |

WHO supports Adamawa and Yobe States to administer Malaria drugs to over 1.9 million children

It is part of the larger efforts to eliminate the scourge in the states and the country in general

Maimuna Abdulraham a caregiver and four other women living in Yola South Local Government Area in Adamawa state sat patiently under a tree in front of their houses awaiting the turn of their children to receive the antimalarial drugs administered by a community health dispenser.  The drugs are administered as…