Luanda, Angola (PANA) - Worried by the influx of fake drugs into the country, the Angolan government said it planned to establish 10 mini laboratories to facilitate quick sampling of drugs to ensure that drugs imported were of very high quality. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS and the government of Rivers State in southern Nigeria are pooling resources in support of the regional bloc's campaign to eliminate malaria in West Africa by 2015, through the strengthening of vector control intervention. Full text...

Nouakchott, Mauritania (PANA) - The Rift Valley Fever (RVF) epidemic which is raging in Mauritania will soon disappear, the Mauritanian Information Agency (AMI) Sunday quoted Minister of Health Hamady Ba Housseinou as saying. Full text...

Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) - Uganda's fourth outbreak of Ebola in 12 years was declared over 4 Oct., a little over two months after it started, due to a timely detection of the outbreak and a vigorous public health response, according to the Africa Regional Office of the World Health Organization (WHOAFRO). Full text...

Washington, DC, US (PANA) - An estimated 20 million people are alive today as a direct result of tuberculosis (TB) care and control, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Tuberculosis Report 2012. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The African Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (AFOG) was launched in Rome, during the just concluded International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) 20th World Congress at the Italian capital. Full text...

Nouakchott, Mauritania (PANA) – Heart specialists from Mauritania, Senegal and Tunisia have begun a meeting on cardiology at the third conference of the Mauritanian cardiology company (SMC), sources told PANA on Wednesday. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Dame Patience, wife of the Nigerian president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, returned to Abuja Wednesday afternoon from Germany where she had gone for treatment for an undisclosed ailment. Full text...

Pamplemousses, Mauritius (PANA) - Health authorities in Mauritius have extended the Accident and Emergency Department (AED) at the SSR national hospital, the biggest hospital in the island, situated at Pamplemousses, northern Mauritius, so as to offer all services required in a modern and more conducive environment, PANA reported Wednesday. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria on Tuesday formally launched an initiative dubbed "Saving One Million Lives" aimed at saving one million lives of women and children by the year 2015. Full text...

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) – The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) on Monday lamented that only 20 percent of children in South Sudan wash their hands with soap and water, a crucial practice to reduce infectious diseases. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The World Health Organisation (WHO) Monday condemned attacks on health facilities in Syria and expresses deep concern about the serious implications of such attacks on medical personnel, patients and health infrastructure. Full text...

Kinshasa, DR Congo (PANA) - Francophone Africa is not as involved in the fight against AIDS as the rest of the continent, according to a report presented in Kinshasa, on the sidelines of the 14th Summit of the International Organization of la Francophonie (OIF) holding in the Congolese capital. Full text...

London, UK (PANA) - GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, Thursday announced new measures to further advance its commitment towards greater openness, transparency and collaboration in health challenges. Full text...

Menongue, Angola (PANA) - Ten persons died in Menongue City, capital of the south-eastern Kuando Kubango Province of Angola, following an outbreak of measles from 17 September to date, according to local health authorities. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - Health authorities in Tanzania have started grappling with counterfeit anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) that find their way into the official medical supplies chain on which most of the country’s HIV/AIDS patients depend. Full text...

Beau-Bassin, Mauritius (PANA) - There has been a marked reduction in mental health cases in Mauritius, with the figure tumbling down from 130,065 in 2009 to 121,523 in 2011, the Mauritian Health Minister, Lormus Bundhoo, said Wednesday as the country celebrated the World Mental Health Day. Full text...

Lusaka, Zambia (PANA) - The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on Wednesday signed an agreement with the Churches Health Association of Zambia (CHAZ) for US$ 102 million to further support the national HIV response in Zambia. Full text...

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - The United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has revealed that Hepatitis E has caused the death of 22 people in South Sudan, mainly in camps of internally-displaced persons and refugees. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for an end to the stigmatisation of depression and other mental disorders and for better access to treatment for all people who need it. Full text...

Port Louis, Mauritius (PANA) - The Mauritius National AIDS Secretariat Tuesday launched an Integrated Biological and Behavioral Survey (IBBS) among men who have sex with men or homosexuals as part of its HIV surveillance plan, PANA learnt from the Prime Minister’s Office in Port Louis. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Partners in the Harmonisation for Health in Africa (HHA) initiative have converged in Nairobi, Kenya, as a follow-up to the recent Tunis ministerial conference for African health and finance ministers. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A global operation, covering 100 countries and aimed at disrupting the organized crime networks behind the illicit online sale of medicines, has resulted in some 80 arrests and the worldwide seizure of 3.75 million units of potentially, life-threatening medicines worth US$ 10.5 million. Full text...

Niamey, Niger (PANA) - The West African nation of Niger loses nearly FCFA 14 billion (US$21 million) to malaria attacks suffered by the population annually. Full text...

Port-Louis, Mauritius (PANA) - Mauritian Health and Quality of Life Minister Lormus Bundhoo, has revealed that Mauritians consume too much salt in their food daily, quoting a study whose findings were released Monday at a workshop in Port-Louis, the capital. Full text...

Yaoundé, Cameroon (PANA) - Hundreds of journalists and thousands of rescuers across Douala and Yaoundé were trained in cardiovascular resuscitation and massage during Cameroon's 'Heart Week' which rounded off Saturday with a march. Full text...

Port-Louis, Mauritius (PANA) – One-third of deaths reported in Mauritius are caused by cardiovascular diseases, says the Mauritian Health ministry. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The Presidents of Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan on Thursday in New York stood alongside donor government officials and new donors from the public and private sector to outline what is needed to step up the fight to Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday commended the recent achievements in push for maternal and child nutrition while renewing the call to Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Rotary International plans to contribute US$ 75 million over three years to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative as part of a worldwide effort to close a US$ 945 million funding gap threatening to derail the 24-year- old global health effort, even as new polio cases are at an all-time low, the global humanitarian organization said Thursday in a press statement, received by PANA here. Full text...

Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire (PANA) - Assisted by experts from Tunisia and Belgium, doctors at Cote d'Ivoire's university hospitals (CHU) of Yopougon and Treichville have successfully carried out the first kidney transplants in country’s history, the Ministry of Health said in a statement. Full text...

Yaoundé, Cameroon (PANA) - The Cameroonian Heart Foundation has launched the seventh Heart Week in Yaounde, with the support of the power supply company AES-Sonel, PANA reported Thursday. Full text...

Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) - Rwanda's health officials plan to install 700 additional condom dispensers in the most frequently visited public places before the end of the year, in an effort to reduce the transmission of HIV/AIDS among young people, sources in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, told PANA Sunday. Full text...

Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) - An outbreak of measles, which has been raging in Likouala, North-eastern Congo since April, has already killed 22 people, the state-run radio said Friday. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - The Gambian government has raised the alarm over the high volume of drugs on its streets, prompting the Health and Social Welfare Ministry to come up with a stern warning against illegal dealers, Gambia's Medicines Board said in a statement received by PANA Wednesday. Full text...

Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) - The Congolese government has taken delivery of a large batch of anti-retroviral drugs to sustain the treatment of people living with HIV/AIDS in the country, according to the Ministry of Health and Population. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The death toll from the cholera epidemic in Sierra Leone since the beginning of the year has increased from 255 out of 16,360 cases as at last week to 271 deaths from 18,508 cases currently, according to the latest update provided by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Five more cases of Ebola have been confirmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since the last reporting date of 12 Sept., according to the latest update by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Full text...

Kinshasa, DR Congo (PANA) - A suspected case of Monkey Pox has been reported in the city of Butembo, North Kivu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Dr. Mundama Witende, district medical officer, told journalists on Saturday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A recent retrospective epidemiological investigation recently identified additional confirmed and probable cases of Ebola haemorrhagic fever (EHF) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to a WHO statement quoting the country's Ministry of Health. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The pace of reducing child deaths has accelerated sharply since 2000, with sub-Saharan Africa, the region with the greatest challenge in child survival, doubling its rate of reduction, from 1.5 per cent per year in 1990-2010 to 3.1 per cent in 2000-2011, according to new data released Thursday by UNICEF, the World Health Organisation (WHO), the World Bank and the UN Population Division. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria's federal cabinet Wednesday approved free medical services for the more than 75,000 retired military personnel and their families under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). Full text...

Kinshasa, DR Congo (PANA) - DR Congo authorities on Tuesday launched an immunization campaign against measles in 6 health zones out of the 19 affected by the disease in the Equator province in the north-east of the country. Full text...

Blantyre, Malawi (PANA) - Health authorities have closed schools in the southern Malawi district of Neno following the confirmation of an outbreak of chicken pox. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) – The distribution of treated bednets last year, aimed at enhancing the fight against malaria, progressed tremendously in Africa, so says an international survey which was commissioned by the World Bank. Full text...

Freetown, Sierra Leone (PANA) - With 255 deaths so far recorded from 16,360 cases of cholera in Sierra Leone, the West African nation is scaling up its response by working with partners at national and international levels to stem the outbreak, PANA reported Tuesday. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - A medical doctor has warned that many Ghanaians could die from a potential increase in non-communicable diseases due to risky life styles. Full text...

Harare, Zimbabwe (PANA) - Sweden Tuesday gave a US$ 30.4 million grant to UNICEF for its health and humanitarian-related programmes in Zimbabwe targetting women and children. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Uganda, through its ministry of Health, and the Merck in the United States and Canada (MSD), Tuesday launched a national Cervical Cancer vaccination programme with GARDASIL (Human Papillomavirus Quadrivalent -- Types 6, 11, 16 and 18 -- Vaccine, Recombinant) for eligible girls 9 to 13 years of age in 12 districts of the country. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Humanitarian assistance organisation Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) has renewed its call for immediate government action to end the lead poisoning crisis which has killed 400 children in Nigeria's northern state of Zamfara. Full text...