News Releases | Sixty-first session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa

Yamoussoukro, 3 September 2011 -- The Sixty-first session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa ended on Friday in Yamoussoukro, Cote d'Ivoire, with the adoption of four resolutions aimed at improving the health situation in the 46 Member States of WHO in the African Region.

A resolution was adopted by the Ministers of Health on the proposed African Public Health Emergency Fund (APHEF) – a major agenda item at this year's meeting. This set the annual recommended contribution of Member States to the Fund at a total of US$50 million.

Yamoussoukro, (Cote d'Ivoire), 1 September 2011 -- The growing public health movement in Africa got a boost on Wednesday 31 August with the launch of the African Federation of Public Health Associations (AFPHA) at the Felix Houphout-Boigny Foundation in Yamoussoukro, Cote d'Ivoire.

The launch took place in the presence of African and other health leaders gathered in the Ivorian political capital for the Sixty-first session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa which opened at the same venue on Monday 29 August 2011.

Yamoussoukro, (Cote d'Ivoire), 1 September 2011 -- World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa, Dr Luis Sambo, has proposed a framework for public health adaptation to climate change in the African Region.

The framework, based on five guiding principles, is designed to guide the formulation of country-specific action plans that will form the health component of national change adaptation plans aimed at minimizing the adverse public health effects in Africa.

Yamoussoukro, (Cote d'Ivoire), 1 September 2011 -- Countries in the WHO African Region continued to make good progress in polio eradication in spite of outbreaks recorded in some Member States over the last two years.

Yamoussoukro, (Cote d'Ivoire), 1 September 2011 -- World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa, Dr Luis Sambo, has proposed a strategy for the elimination of measles in the African Region by 2020.

Yamoussoukro, 29 August 2011 – The sixty-first session of the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for Africa got underway on Monday in Yamoussoukro, Cote d'Ivoire, with a call on Member States to honour their commitment to the Abuja Declaration of allocating at least 15 % of their national budgets to health.

The call was made by Ivorian Minister of State and Minister of Foreign Affairs, His Excellency Mr. Daniel Kablan Duncan, who opened the meeting on behalf of President Allasane Ouattara.