News Releases

There is increasing evidence that Africans living with noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as hypertension and diabetes are more likely to suffer severe cases of COVID-19 and die.

With several African countries now expanding COVID-19 testing, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) have launched a network of laboratories to reinforce genome sequencing of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19, in Africa.

While the race to find safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines continues, African countries are signing up to a ground-breaking initiative, which aims to secure at least 220 million doses of the vaccine for the continent, once licensed and approved.

Togo has received validation from the World Health Organization (WHO) for having eliminated human African trypanosomiasis or “sleeping sickness” as a public health problem, becoming the first country in Africa to reach this milestone.

Health Ministers and representatives from African countries gathered this week for the annual World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for Africa voiced concern over the impact of COVID-19 and stressed that the pandemic was a poignant reminder for countries to bolster health systems.

The independent Africa Regional Certification Commission (ARCC) for Polio Eradication officially declared on Tuesday that the World Health Organization (WHO) African Region is free of wild poliovirus.

The number of cases in the ongoing Ebola outbreak in western Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reached 100, a near two-fold increase in a little over five weeks.

Preventing heterosexually acquired HIV and achieving global HIV incidence goals require a combination of interventions. Voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) is one of these interventions in settings with a high burden of HIV. New guidelines from the World Health Organization (WHO) updates earlier recommendations on VMMC for HIV prevention. 

The unprecedented and prolonged school closures aimed at keeping students safe from COVID-19 are harming them in other ways, World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF said today, urging governments in Africa to promote the safe reopening of schools while taking measures to limit the spread of the virus.

Africa marks six months on 14 August since COVID-19 was first detected on the continent. While the virus has raced through many other regions of the world, the pandemic’s evolution on the African continent has been different.