Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - Despite the dramatic drop in polio cases in the last few years, the threat of continued transmission due to funding and immunization gaps has driven the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) to launch an Emergency Action Plan. Full text...

Luanda, Angola (PANA) - Most of the fake drugs being brought into Angola are from China and India, according to the African country's officials. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - Mobile health in Africa and the Middle East is developing quickly, but there are differences in drivers and characteristics of the 'mHealth' models employed in each of these areas, according to a new report from Pyramid Research. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The number of wild poliovirus (WPV) cases in the World Health Organization (WHO) African Region dropped from 657 in 2010 to 350 in 2011, representing a 47% decline, according to the 2011 report on “Eradicating Polio in the African Region”, released on Wednesday in Brazzaville, Congo, by the WHO Regional Office for Africa. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The appointment of the World Health Organization's Director-General and the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases are high on the agenda of the 65th World Health Assembly (WHA), which is due to hold in Geneva, Switzerland, 21-26 May. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) – Sudan’s Federal Ministry of Health, with assistance from The Carter Centre and Lions Clubs International Foundation, announced Thursday that the isolated desert area of Abu Hamad had stopped transmission of river blindness (onchocerciasis). Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - The Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, has said improved access to voluntary family planning would cut maternal mortality. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - UN agencies -- WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and the World Bank -- on Wednesday released new estimates which suggest that the number of women dying of pregnancy- and childbirth-related complications has reduced by half in the last 20 years. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A newly-released World Health Statistics 2012 report has put the spotlight on the growing problem of the noncommunicable diseases burden, amid the revelation that 1 in 3 adults worldwide has raised blood pressure, a condition that causes around half of all deaths from stroke and heart disease, while 1 in 10 adults has diabetes. Full text...

Lome, Togo (PANA) - The European Union (EU) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have jointly given a grant of FCFA 655 million to Togo in support of the country's Ministry of Health plan for the 2012-2014 period. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - The coordinator of the national network of laboratories in Senegal, Ahmad Iyane Sow, said on Thursday in Dakar that the biological analysis laboratories were fundamental to health systems in Africa. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), on Tuesday launched a campaign to help bring attention to the goal of ending new HIV infections Full text...

Dakar, Senegal ( PANA) - The Secretary General of the Coalition of civil society organizations for family planning in Senegal (COSC/PF), Maguette Thiandoum, declared on Monday in Dakar that social media can play a major role in repositioning family planning (FP) in Africa. Full text...

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The President of the Libyan National Transition Council (NTC), Mustapha Abduljalil, said Saturday night from his hospital bed in Benghazi, that he is healthy although his hospitalization was necessary following a mild discomfort caused by fatigue and stress. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - More than 15,000 health-care facilities from 156 countries are represented at the World Health Organization’s (WHO) "SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands Initiative" by committing to improve patient safety by practicing better hand hygiene. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The time it takes to communicate a HIV test result to a patient's health facility can be dramatically reduced by using mobile phone text messaging, according to research in a special e-health theme issue of the Bulletin of the World Health Organization (WHO), published this month. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said that at least one million children are at risk of dying of malnutrition in parts of Africa’s Sahel region due to a drought crisis, and called for more resources to assist those in need. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS and Venezuela have agreed to take measures to implement their 2009 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) towards the elimination of malaria in West Africa, the West African regional bloc said in a statement here Friday. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - Ghana on Thursday made history as the first African country to simultaneously introduce pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines in its national immunization programme, in a bid to fight pneumonia and diarrheoal diseases, each of which accounts Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS and the Republic of Cuba have agreed new measures to revive their collaboration towards the elimination of malaria in West Africa by 2015 through a control and elimination programme. Full text...

Brussels, Belgium (PANA) - The European Union (EU) has given Zimbabwe 13.5 million euros, through the Health Transition Fund (HTF), to support the country’s Ministry of Health and Children's Welfare, according to a statement from the EU here Wednesday. Full text...

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...