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...

Kinshasa, DR Congo (PANA) - The World Health Organisation (WHO) and UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) have launched a joint appeal to donors for US$2 million to help the government of DR Congo (DRC) fight the Ebola epidemic raging in its eastern province, WHO resident representative, Leo Degel, said on Monday. Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) – China has donated hospital equipment and medicines, worth 77 million CFAF, to Mali to enable the West African nation improve health care delivery to its people, an official source told PANA here. Full text...

Geneva, Switzerland (PANA) - Health insurance schemes are key to achieving universal coverage of health services, according to a study of countries in Asia and Africa published this month in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization (WHO). Full text...

Ebène, Mauritius (PANA) – Mauritian Health and Quality of Life Minister, Lormus Bundhoo, has said that the authorities are determined to raise awareness on the dangers of the manufacture of and trade in counterfeit medicines, and the importance of combating counterfeit medicines in Mauritius. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Close to half a billion dollars will be distributed around the world as part of UN-backed efforts to respond to the global threat posed by HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, a UN statement said on Tuesday in New York. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Bharti Airtel, a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 17 countries across Africa, on Monday announced a partnership with Sproxil to combat the counterfeit drug market in Africa. Full text...

Brussels, Belgium (PANA) - The European Union (EU) is to give 80 million euros to the Zimbabwean government for a programme aimed at reducing maternal mortality during child birth. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) – An HIV-infected person who begins antiretroviral treatment early can reduce the risk of transmission of the virus by up to 96 percent, a clinical director of the HIV Programme in the US, Dr. Paul Sax, told a meeting of medical officers involved in the management of HIV/AIDS in Tanzania here Wednesday. Full text...

Conakry, Guinea (PANA) – The international charity, Mercy Ships, on Tuesday docked at the port of Conakry in Guinea where it will provide free medical care for 10 months. Full text...

Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - Gambia registered a total of 7,750 cases of road accidents between 2000 and 2012, the World Health Organization (WHO) country office in Banjul revealed here, saying that the accidents followed reckless and dangerous driving, over speeding and inefficiency on the part of drivers. Full text...

Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - Health experts in the Gambia have said that non communicable diseases (NCDs) are the major killer diseases in the country and are responsible for over 80 percent of all deaths annually, the local Voice newspaper reported here Monday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Some 215,000 Nigerians die from AIDS every year, according to the Director-General of the country's National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), Prof. John Idoko. Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) - The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Thursday provided Mali with medical kits for emergency reproductive health and two ambulances, worth over FCFA 208 million. Full text...

Nouakchott, Mauritania (PANA) – Mauritanian doctors have, for the first time, successfully operated on a patient with the Cantrell syndrome, PANA reports, quoting the Mauritanian News Agency (AMI). Full text...

Luanda, Angola (PANA) - Angolan authorities will host an international conference, the first of its kind, for traditional medical practitioners, on 6 August, PANA reported, quoting the Angolan News Agency (ANGOP). Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has made the elimination of malaria from the region by 2015 a major priority, using an integrated strategy that involves strengthening of the vector control (biolarviciding) intervention component, ECOWAS Commissioner for Administration and Finance Khadi Saccoh said. Full text...

Luanda, Angola (PANA) - The Global Pharma Health Fund (GPHF), a charitable initiative funded by the German pharmaceutical, chemical and life science company, Merck, Thursday donated 10 compact mobile laboratories to the Angolan Ministry of Health to enable the Southern African country identify inferior and counterfeit medicines rapidly and reliably. Full text...

Niamey, Niger (PANA) - Sixty-eight people have died from the 3,100 cholera cases reported in Niger, representing 2.19%, according to the latest newsletter issued by the UN Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA-Niger). Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - Health authorities in Tanzania intend to shift to a more targeted, science-driven approach that will maximize resources allocated to combat HIV/AIDS, a senior government official said here Thursday. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS Commission president, Kadre Desire Ouedraogo, has called for concerted efforts in support of the ECOWAS campaign to eliminate malaria in West Africa by 2015. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Marketing campaigns can double the likelihood of condom use, according to a study published this month in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization (WHO). Full text...

Lomé, Togo (PANA) - Togo's national strategic plan for food and nutrition which seeks to fight malnutrition and promote optimal nutrition in the country, has been validated sources close to the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Lome said on Thursday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Ahead of the 28 July observance of the 2012 World Hepatitis Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) is launching a new global framework to tackle the disease. Full text...

Washington, DC, US (PANA) - The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified four key actions that countries can take to prevent viral hepatitis B and C among people who inject drugs. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Brazilian government will soon begin producing antiretrovirals (ARVs) and other pharmaceuticals at a factory in Mozambique, a statement from the Brazilian presidency, obtained by PANA here Saturday, said. Full text...

Washington, DC, US (PANA) - The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued its first guidance to countries that are considering offering HIV medications, known as antiretrovirals (ARVs), to protect people who do not have the virus but who are at high risk of HIV infection. Full text...

Washington, DC, US (PANA) - More strategic use of antiretroviral HIV medications can significantly reduce the transmission of the virus, according to World Health Organization (WHO) proposals that will be presented at the 19th International AIDS Conference in Washington, DC, Sunday. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Ahead of the 19th International AIDS Conference in Washington, DC, US, next week, the UN has launched a new report that shows that a record eight million people are Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - African leaders have endorsed the establishment of the African Public Health Emergency Fund (APHEF), aimed at mobilising additional resources to respond rapidly and effectively to public health emergencies of national and international concern. Full text...

Geneva, Switzerland (PANA) - Two men working for the World Health Organization (WHO) were injured Tuesday in what the UN agency called ''a serious security incident'' in Gadap Town, Karachi, Pakistan. Full text...

Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) – The former American President, Bill Clinton, is expected on Wednesday in Rwanda where he is to inaugurate a centre of excellence for the treatment of cancer, the first of its kind in Africa, an official source said here on Monday. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - African leaders have reaffirmed their commitment to efforts to eliminate malaria, after they were informed that unprecedented success in scaling up malaria control interventions resulted in one third reduction of malaria deaths in African in the last decade. Full text...

Geneva, Switzerland (PANA) - Children with disabilities are almost four times more likely to experience violence than non-disabled children, according to a review commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO) and published Thursday in the medical journal The Lancet. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - The Ghanaian Parliament has passed a law that bans smoking in public places, the state-owned Graphic newspaper reported Thursday. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - East African leaders have arrived in London for a key family planning Summit, seeking to address the crisis caused by the lack of contraceptives in poor countries. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday committed to fast-tracking its assessment of new and existing quality contraceptives so that more women in low- and middle-income countries can obtain and use a broader range of safe and effective contraceptive products. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki on Tuesday challenged researchers to undertake more work on cancer which currently kills 22,000 out of the 28,000 Kenyans diagnosed with the disease every year. Full text...

Tunisia, Tunis (PANA) - Calling universal health coverage a noble vision for Africa, WHO Regional Director for Africa Luis Sambo Thursday highlighted the critical role national parliaments can play in adopting universal health care policy and legislation, and the allocation of adequate resources for its successful implementation to protect the poor against catastrophic health expenditures. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A study published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said government policies that ban industrial trans fats, reduce saturated fats and salt in food, and encourage more fruit and vegetable consumption could cut deaths from cardiovascular disease by 20%. Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) - The National Vaccination Days against Polio was launched in Mopti, Mali, on Monday, at a ceremony presided over by Malian Health Minister Soumana Makadji. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - The six-day annual meeting of the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission, the world's food standards body, will adopt new food safety measures to protect consumers, organisers said. Full text...

Tunis, Tunisia (PANA) - From 4 to 5 July, the African Development Bank (AfDB) will host a high-level ministerial conference, with the theme "Value for Money, Sustainability and Accountability in the Health Sector", at which 45 African ministers of finance and health as well as heads of the largest multilateral organizations working in the Health sector will brainstorm. Full text...

Geneva, Switzerland (PANA) - Some 230 million adults, aged 15-64 or 5% of the adult population, used an illicit drug at least once in 2010, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said in a statement issued to commemorates the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, celebrated by the UN every year on 26 June. Full text...