New York, US (PANA) - Amnesty International says Monday's adoption of a resolution against female genital mutilation (FGM) at the UN General Assembly’s human rights committee is a major boost to civil society organisations fighting for an end to the abusive practice. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Nigerian Health Ministry, in collaboration with development partners, donor agencies and key stakeholders, is organising a three-day national conference on family planning from 27-30 November in the capital city of Abuja, according to a statement from the organisers made available to PANA in Lagos on Sunday. Full text...

Luanda, Angola (PANA) - Despite challenges posed by funding reduction, the African Region of the World Health Organisation (WHO) made "significant progress" in improving the health of Africans during the 2010-2011 biennium, according to WHO's Regional Director for Africa Luis Sambo. Full text...

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - The World Health Organization on Sunday said a 12-day vaccination against the deadly yellow fever outbreak in Darfur has been going on smoothly though the death toll among victims has risen to 127 cases. Full text...

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - Sudan's health ministry has begun a 10-day mass vaccination campaign against yellow fever in Darfur, in response to the outbreak of the disease there, according to an update by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) - Twenty persons, including former Minister of Health, Oumar Ibrahim Touré, Thursday appeared before the Court of Assizes in Bamako, Mali, facing charges of misappropriating funds earmarked for the fight against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, PANA reported. Full text...

Luanda, Angola (PANA) - The WHO Regional Committee for Africa, Dr. Luis Sambo, has listed the major challenges facing national health information systems in the WHO African Region and how they can be resolved. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) Wednesday announced it will release, during its 60th Anniversary celebrations which started in South Africa Wednesday, the results of a major survey into young people’s attitudes to sex across four African countries. Full text...

Luanda, Angola (PANA) - The World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Office for Africa has unveiled an updated Regional HIV/AIDS Strategy that provides directions for implementing the WHO Global Health Sector Strategy (GHSS), adopted by the World Health Assembly in May 2011, taking into account key regional specificities. Full text...

Luanda, Angola (PANA) - The World Health Organisation (WHO) is proposing a strategy to address the negative health and economic impact of natural and man-made disasters frequently experienced in the African Region. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The Global Fund to Fights AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Wednesday signed an agreement with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) to resume a full-scale HIV programme, including delivery of life-saving HIV treatment to tens of thousands of people Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) - Only 15 per cent of the Malagasy population have access to toilets meeting international hygiene standards, according to a joint report by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) obtained by PANA here Wednesday. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - A report released by the UN Tuesday said there is a reduction of more than 50 per cent in the rate of new HIV infections across 25 low- and middle-income countries, with more than half in Africa, the region most affected by HIV. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan, announces with sadness the death, earlier Tuesday, of his younger brother, Chief Meni Innocent Jonathan, a press statement from the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Reuben Abati, indicated here. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) will Wednesday in Johannesburg, South Africa, kick-start a series of activities, including a Gala night, to mark its 60th anniversary, the Federation said in a statement made available to PANA here Tuesday. Full text...

Balaclava, Mauritius (PANA) - Antimicrobial resistance is a critical health issue and is increasingly posing a challenge to the medical profession, Mauritian Health and Quality of Life Minister Lormus Bundhoo told a workshop at Balaclava, northern Mauritius, Tuesday. Full text...

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - The UN said Monday that cases of yellow fever are on the rise in Sudan's Darfur region, with deaths reaching 116 out of the total suspected cases of 459. Full text...

Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) - The 62nd session of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Committee for Africa is scheduled to take place in Luanda, the Angolan capital, 19-23 Nov. Full text...

Kampala, Uganda (PANA) - About one-and-a-half months after the fourth Ebola outbreak in Uganda in 12 years was declared over, a fresh outbreak of the disease has been reported in the East African nation, with four cases, including three fatalities, recorded so far. Full text...

Geneva, Switzerland (PANA) - The World Health Organisation (WHO) has welcomed Dr Mark Dybul as the new Executive Director for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Full text...

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - Over 150 women in Zalingei in Darfur's central region in Sudan took part in a three-day awareness campaign on the hazards of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), the organisation said in a statement made available to PANA Thursday. Full text...

Luanda, Angola (PANA) - Some 440 delegates from 46 member countries of the World Health Organization-Africa are expected in Luanda Friday to take part in the 62nd WHO-Africa Conference, scheduled for 19-23 November in the Angolan capital, PANA learnt from the Angolan Secretary of State for Health, Carlos Alberto Masseca. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Making voluntary family planning available to everyone in developing countries would reduce costs for maternal and newborn health care by US$ 11.3 billion annually, according to The State of World Population 2012, published Wednesday by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Full text...

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - After successfully undergoing surgery in Saudi Arabia, Sudanese President Omar El-Bashir returned home Wednesday evening to a huge and official airport reception here. Full text...

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - The death toll from the Yellow fever outbreak in Sudan's western Darfur region has gone up to 107 from the 358 cases reported, khartoum local media reported, quoting the Health Under-Secretary, Dr. Isam Mohamed Abdulla. Full text...

Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) – The new death toll in the outbreak of yellow fever in the two central and southern provinces of Darfur is 97, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday evening in a statement. Full text...

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - The Sudanese Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) are mobilizing 2.4 million doses of Yellow Fever vaccines, provided by the International Coordinating Group on Vaccine (ICG), to enable them conduct an emergency response vaccination campaign in Darfur, a press release by the WHO indicated Tuesday. Full text...

Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) - The prevalence rate of diabetes in Congo is estimated at 7%, according to a statement issued Tuesday in Brazzaville by the association, Diabaction-Congo. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - A total of 176 countries Monday adopted what World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Margaret Chan called a "game-changing" global agreement to combat the illegal tobacco trade. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Member states of the World Health Organisation (WHO) have agreed on the first-ever global monitoring framework to combat several of the world’s noncommunicable diseases (NCD), such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer and chronic lung disease. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - Humanity has no excuse not to put in place measures to mitigate Africa's maternal mortality, the Africa Progress Panel (APP) has said in its latest bulletin, insisting that all stakeholders have a moral responsibility to improve maternal health on the continent. Full text...

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - A Yellow fever outbreak has claimed 78 lives out of 211 cases in Sudan’s western Darfur region, health authorities said. Full text...

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - The Sudanese Red Crescent Society on Tuesday said it dispatched a medical team to help fight yellow fever, which reports say claimed the lives of dozens of people in the Central Darfur state, one of five states in the war-fatigued Darfur region. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Fifth Session of the Conference of Parties (COP5) to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) will hold in Seoul, South Korea, 12-17 Nov. Full text...

Luanda, Angola (PANA) – Angola will keep its HIV/AIDS prevalence rate below 3% until 2015, the Angolan News Agency (ANGOP) reported Tuesday, quoting a study conducted by the National Institute for Fighting against the disease. Full text...

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - President Omar Al-Bashir of Sudan is recovering from a minor vocal cord surgical operation he underwent in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, according to the Presidential Press Secretary, Imad Sidahmed. Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) - Mining companies operating in Mali have granted the Malian government FCFA 380 million (US$742,000) for the fight against neglected tropical diseases, PANA learned from the Ministry of Mines Tuesday. Full text...

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir left Khartoum Monday for Saudi Arabia for medical check up and a meeting with senior Saudi officials, according to a press release by the presidency, carried by the Sudan News Agency (SUNA). Full text...

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Sudan (OCHA) has said that an outbreak of yellow fever in a number of localities in Darfur has killed at least 32 persons and affected dozens others. Full text...

Geneva, Switzerland (PANA) - Four in five children (83%) worldwide received the recommended three doses of diphtheria–tetanus–pertussis (DTP) vaccine during infancy in 2011, according to new data being released in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report and in the WHO Weekly Epidemiological Record (WER) Friday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Rift Valley Fever (RVF), which was declared in Mauritania 4 Oct., has so far killed 17 people out of 34 cases, according to the latest update by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Full text...

Luanda, Angola (PANA) - The Chinese ambassador to Angola, Jao Kexiang, on Wednesday pledged that the Chinese government would fund the expansion of the Luanda General Hospital, to enhance better medical services to the people. Full text...

Kampala, Uganda (PANA) - Some nine deaths have been recorded in Uganda from a total of 18 cases since the outbreak of the Marburg Haemorrhagic fever in the country, according to Full text...

Lusaka, Zambia (PANA) - Governments in southern Africa must implement comprehensive policies on cervical cancer in order to substantially reduce the number of deaths from cervical cancer, according to a research released Wednesday by the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC). Full text...

Luanda, Angola (PANA) - The percentage of pregnant women who test positive to HIV in Angola fell from 9.8 in 2007 to 4.8 in 2011, due to the government's efforts in fighting the AIDS pandemic. Full text...

Geneva, Switzerland (PANA) - The the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) Monday jointly launched the Atlas of Health and Climate that gives practical examples of how the use of weather and climate information can protect public health. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Governor Danbaba Suntai of the northern Taraba State, injured when a plane he was piloting crashed Thursday in Yola, capital of Adamawa state, also in the north, was flown to Germany Saturday in an air ambulance for medical attention, local media reports quoted the governor’s spokesperson, Hassan Mijinyawa, as saying. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Some 52 cases of Ebola haemorrhagic fever (EHF) have been reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as of 24 Oct., out of which 25 victims have died, according to the latest update on the outbreak by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The first ever Atlas of Health and Climate, to illustrate the most pressing current and emerging problems and identify solutions, is due to be launched in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - A programme designed as a “silver bullet” to fight malaria could actually be endangering lives, international agency Oxfam has warned, saying medicines are being distributed by unqualified shopkeepers and hawkers rather than trained health workers. Full text...