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The Ethiopian Ministry of Health has launched a preventive measles vaccination campaign to immunize 928 000 children aged 6 months to 15 years among the internally displaced and host communities in Gedeo Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region. The campaign will also involve administering vitamin A to children aged six months to five years and deworming of children aged two to five years. Plans are underway for a similar campaign targeting 516 000 children in West Guji Zone of Oromia Region.

The Ministy of Health (MOH) conducted a  joint mission on 2 August with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners to evaluate the situation in the Mangina health area, where the majority of the cluster of new Ebola cases have been detected.

As part of the centenary celebrations of former President Nelson Mandela and Mama Albertina Sisulu, WHO joined government, other UN agencies and various social partners on 10 July 2018 on a 100 Men March through the Pretoria streets of South Africa to boldly declare that violence against women and children will not be tolerated in respective environment or communities.

The Control of Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Bill, approved by the Cabinet of the Republic of South Africa (the Bill) and published for public comment until Thursday 9 August 2018, is a highly comprehensive piece of tobacco control legislation. It is consistent with South Africa’s obligations under the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) and brings South Africa back to the forefront of international tobacco control best practice. The Bill updates existing tobacco control laws to keep pace with global tobacco control recommendations and allows the effective regulation of new tobacco products, in particular electronic nicotine and non-nicotine delivery systems (ENDS/ENNDS) and heated tobacco products (HTPs). These and other novel and emerging tobacco products are not adequately covered under South Africa’s current tobacco control legislation which was drafted to regulate cigarettes and other traditional tobacco products.

The Health Market inquiry (HMI) established by competition commission to investigate South Africa’s private healthcare market released its provisional report on 5th July 2018 in the presence of the Minister of Health, media and stakeholders from healthcare sector. The HMI was chaired by Judge Sandile Ngcobo, a retired Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court. The Commission after 4 years of detailed investigation and multiple stakeholder consultations concluded that: Private health market is characterised by high and rising costs of healthcare and medical scheme cover; disempowered and uninformed consumers; and ineffective regulation and failures of accountability at many levels. The 808 page provisional report makes several interesting findings and lists out some recommendations including (but not limited to): Establishment of a supply side regulator to set the rules of the game and scrutinize the private sector: Measurement and Public reporting of health outcomes by the private providers to improve competition and inform patients about quality of care; Replacement of Certificates of Need with hospital licences for equitable spread of facilities across the country.