Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - On the occasion of the 2012 World Malaria Day, being observed globally 25 April, the African Regional Office of the World Health Organization (WHO) has called for a ''final push'' by African countries against the disease by putting its control and elimination at Full text...

Luanda, Angola (PANA) - Angola may start a 'pre-elimination process of malaria' in 2015 due to the reduction in the prevalence of the disease in the African country, a government official involved in the fight against malaria said. Full text...

Luanda, Angola (PANA) - The oil firm Esso Exploration Angola Limited has donated US$1.8 million for programmes aimed at combating malaria in the country. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Ahead of the observance of the 2012 World Malaria Day on 25 April, the World Health Organization (WHO) has hailed global progress in combating malaria. Full text...

Evanston, US (PANA) - In recognition of his leadership qualities and dedication to a polio-free world, the Rotary International has honoured Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, calling him "a Polio Eradication Champion". Full text...

Attn Eds: Embargoed until 00:01 GMT 25 April 2012 ) Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The partners leading the efforts to control measles Tuesday announced a new global strategy aimed at reducing measles deaths and congenital rubella syndrome to zero. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The first-ever World Health Organization’s World Immunization Week (WIW) has kicked off with activities in more than 180 countries, the global health body has announced. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – The resident representative of the UN Children's fund (UNICEF) in Senegal, Mrs Geovanna Barberis, on Monday said that some 20,000 children affected by severe and acute malnutrition had been recorded in several regions of the West African country. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday stressed the need to provide reproductive health care for young people, as well as give them access to the necessary information and the means to protect themselves from sexual abuse and violence. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - Global efforts and strong in-country partnerships involving development agencies, host country governments and local organisations are key elements of the strategies to defeat malaria, according to US Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission Director in Tanzania, Mr. Robert Cunnane. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) – HIV experts, business leaders, aid agencies and ambassadors of 22 priority countries -- home to 90 percent of new HIV infections among children -- on Friday agreed in Washington, DC, that the surest way to halt the spread of the deadly virus from mother to child was through strategic innovations. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The Executive Director of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Mr. Michel Sidibe, has called on all countries to implement new guidelines that encourage couples to go together for HIV testing to ascertain their status. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The 2012 African Vaccination Week (AVW) is to be held across the continent 23-28 April under the theme “An unimmunized child is one too many. Give polio the final push,” the WHO Regional Office for Africa said in a statement made available to PANA here Tuesday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Dementia, which currently afflicts 35.6 million people worldwide, is expected to double by 2030 (65.7 million) and more than triple by 2050 (115.4 million), according to a new report "Dementia: a public health priority", published by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Alzheimer's Disease International. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Tuesday appointed 27 global leaders from countries, organizations and the private sector to advance ''the strength and security of nations'' in improving maternal and child nutrition. Full text...

Bujumbura, Burundi (PANA) - The prevalence rate of the HIV infection in Burundi schools has grown at an alarming rate, according to a recent survey conducted by UNESCO. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - After four years of negotiations, the Inter-governmental Negotiating Body (INB), with the participation of over 135 countries, has agreed on a text of a Protocol to eliminate illicit trade in tobacco products. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Ahead of the 2012 World Health Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) has highlighted how people can enjoy a health old age, at a time the world's population is ageing rapidly. Full text...

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has completed the rehabilitation of the North Darfur State Midwifery School in Al Fashir, North Darfur, as part of efforts to improve maternal health care in remote areas of the region, the organization said in a statement on Monday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A Nigerian company, the Pan African Health Foundation (PAHF), has successfully completed an evaluation by the World Health Organization (WHO) Performance Quality Safety (PQS) as a manufacturer of AD syringes for immunization and curative syringes with Reuse Prevention Feature, the firm said in a statement obtained by PANA here this weekend. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the annual observance of World Autism Awareness Day should spur global action to combat the "unacceptable discrimination, abuse and isolation" that people with the disorder and their loved ones face. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) have signed an agreement aimed at developing joint efforts to advance sustainable response to HIV/AIDS, health and development issues on the continent. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - Senegal has joined the list of 23 countries that have eliminated maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in a statement received by PANA here. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN has teamed up with the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Agency to advance sustainable responses to HIV and AIDS, health and development across the continent. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The governor of Lagos State in Nigeria's South-west, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has inaugurated a state-of-the-art multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (TB) treatment centre. Full text...

Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - The Gambian ministry of health and social welfare, in collaboration with World Health Organization (WHO) office in Banjul, on Friday began another three-day national polio immunization campaign in the country, declared polio-free in 2004. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the UN Population Fund Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Participants at a World Health Organization (WHO) meeting have tasked the global Tuberculosis (TB) community to make greater efforts to prevent drug resistance and scale up provision of appropriate care and management to avoid a scenario where TB becomes incurable. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged countries to step up their efforts to prevent tuberculosis, including by increasing access to treatments and improving the quality of their health services to be able to ''stop TB in our lifetime''. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - Africa recorded a slight drop in infant and maternal mortality in 2011, according a document on Africa's economic and social status drafted by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the African Union (AU) Commission. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has stressed the importance of protecting the rights of individuals with HIV/AIDS, as well as of populations who are more vulnerable to the epidemic. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Some 111.1 million children below the age of five are to be vaccinated against polio in a synchronized campaign covering 20 countries in West and Central Africa starting on Friday, the organizers said in a joint statement obtained by PANA here Wednesday. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - The president of the Senegalese anti-tobacco league (LISTAB), Dr Abdoul Aziz Kassé, on Tuesday urged religious leaders to support tobacco addiction control initiatives. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) on Friday welcomed new evidence which shows that anti-retroviral therapy could help prevent HIV infections. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A new book, "The evolving threat of antimicrobial resistance - Options for action", launched by the World Health Organization (WHO), showcases examples of actions taken to slow down drug resistance and preserve the ability of medicine to effectively treat many infectious diseases. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - Negotiations between government representatives and the Medical Association of Tanzania (MAT) started here Friday, aimed at reaching agreement that will convince striking doctors in state-run hospitals to resume work. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria's Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu has said the 125 Nigerians who were deported from South Africa last week, for allegedly presenting fake documentation for Yellow Fever vaccination, were indeed carrying genuine Yellow Cards. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) – Tanzania’s Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda has warned medical doctors in public hospitals to refrain from a nationwide strike, planned to start on Wednesday, saying the government could react with very drastic measures against them. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The world has met the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of halving the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water, well in advance of the MDG 2015 deadline, according to a report issued Tuesday by UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO). Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - Twenty media practitioners from the print, electronic and online media Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - In a renewed pressure on the government to improve their working conditions and wages, medical doctors in Tanzania’s public hospitals have given President Jakaya Kikwete what is seen here as an ultimatum to sack both the Health minister and deputy health minister immediately or risk a nationwide strike starting Wednesday. Full text...

Conakry, Guinea (PANA) - About 50 cases of trypanosomiasis or sleeping sickness have been reported in parts of Guinea, according to Health Minister Naman Keita. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - After an estimated 910,000 lives were saved globally over six years by improving collaboration between TB and HIV services that protect people living with HIV from tuberculosis, the World Health Organization (WHO) Friday released an updated global policy for joint prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the diseases Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan has vowed that his administration will eradicate polio in the country before the end of his tenure in 2015. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A newly-published study estimates that around 3 million people are infected with cholera every year, out of which about 100,000 die from the disease, more than ten times higher than the official number reported to the World Health Organization (WHO). Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - By 2022, reformed healthcare systems in African countries could succeed in making quality care available to a majority of their citizens, given the political will to meet healthcare spending targets, according to a new report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) – Canada has granted Mali 9.6 billion CFAF to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality in four areas of the region of Kayes under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed on Tuesday in Bamako. Full text...

Lusaka, Zambia (PANA) - To help improve health care in Zambia, the Global Pharma Health Fund (GPHF), a charitable initiative funded by the German pharmaceutical, chemical and life science company, Merck, has donated five mobile compact laboratories to the Zambian Health Ministry to help detect counterfeit medicines. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN advocate and renowned singer and song writer, Angelique Kidjo, on Wednesday urged all UN member states to outlaw female genital mutilation (FGM), describing it as a tradition that diminishes women and seeks to destroy their identity. Full text...